Lord Burlington toured the Equine, Animal Management and Sports facilities at the college to learn more about opportunities for further education (FE) students to progress onto HE programmes at Broomfield Hall which are run in partnership with the University of Derby.
He was invited to the college after attending the recent graduation ceremony when Derby College HE students all achieved either First Class Honours or 2:1 degrees and one had a dissertation published.
These included Megan Edwards (21) from Pilsley who joined the college as part of her GCSE programme at school and progressed through to graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Equine Science, Management and Training.
Lord Burlington also joined a masterclass led by equine nutritional expert Gillian Higgins and heard about equine fitness from HE student Katie Allan.
After meeting the Sports team, he moved onto Animal Care where he met some of the species which are studied and cared for by students including wallabies and the latest addition to the college – two-month old meerkat, Scout.
Lord Burlington said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the impressive work achieved at Broomfield Hall which offers extensive opportunities for young people to progress onto HE – studying in familiar surroundings and close to home – and for external students to progress into HE at the college.
“I have been particularly impressed with the calibre and obvious passion of the teaching staff here and the strong links between the College and the University for the benefit of students.”
