Ayrshire College welcomes Meghan Gallacher MSP

Ayrshire College was delighted to welcome the Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Meghan Gallacher MSP, to its Ayr Campus on Tuesday, June 25.   

Principal and CEO Angela Cox greeted Ms Gallacher and South Ayrshire Council Leader Martin Dowey at the College’s Dam Park Building and introduced them to Vice Principal Anne Campbell before the group began a tour of the campus.  

Guests toured the industry-standard Aeronautical Engineering Training Centre, which offers students and apprentices a superb learning and teaching environment to prepare them for industry. The modern facility includes an aircraft hangar, engineering workshops, composites room, wind tunnel and propulsion units.   

The Aeronautical Centre enables Ayrshire College to deliver full and part-time engineering courses across many levels, which includes over 400 aeronautical engineering apprentices in training each academic year.

These courses have been developed in close consultation with leading industry partners such as Spirit AeroSystems, BAE Systems, Prestwick Aircraft Maintenance Ltd, Collins, Woodward, Storm Aviation, IMT, GTS MRO, Cormack Aircraft Services, GE and Loganair.  

After visiting the Aeronautical Centre, guests were given a tour of the College’s state-of-the-art Renewables Training Centre of Excellence, dedicated to low-carbon heating technologies.  

The new training centre features the latest in ground and air source heat pumps and solar thermal hot water systems, offering students hands-on experience with industry standard equipment all of which play a critical component in meeting the Scottish Government’s Net Zero targets. 

Ms Gallacher and Mr Dowey were also pleased to learn more about the College’s recent ‘All About Aero’ day, organised in partnership with Developing the Young Workforce and SmartSTEMs, which brought together college staff, aerospace employers, school pupils, college students and the wider public for what was a hugely successful and innovative event.  

Meghan Gallacher MSP, Deputy Leader, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, said: 

“Ayrshire College’s Ayr Campus is full of innovation and is an inspiration in education.  

“It was a pleasure to see it first-hand and to meet with the management and staff who are all striving for success with their forward-thinking approach to skills planning and supporting students throughout their learner journey.  

“I look forward to keeping in touch with the College and to working with them in the future.”  

Angela Cox, Principal, Ayrshire College, said:

“We were delighted to welcome Meghan Gallacher and Martin Dowey to our Ayr Campus and hope they thoroughly enjoyed their time with staff and apprentices.  

“Our college is proud of the relationships that we have with industry and this visit was an opportunity to highlight what the the College is doing to meet the needs of industry by supporting our Aerospace cluster. 

Alastair Heron, Head of Learning and Skills – Aerospace, Ayrshire College, said: 

“We are continuing to grow to meet the needs of the local Aerospace cluster and have become the partner of choice for Modern Apprenticeship recruitment and short courses for employers such as composites.  

“We strive for continuous improvement in everything we do and are developing our curriculum to enhance learning and teaching for all levels. We are proud to have positive destinations for our students, with many gaining apprenticeships within the cluster last year.”