Belfast Metropolitan College, also known as Belfast Met, is a further and higher education institution in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The college offers both vocational education and academic qualifications. With over 37,000 enrolments and an annual budget in the region of £60 million,[1] it is the largest FE college in the UK and the fourth largest post-secondary institution in the UK.
History
The college traces its origins back to the beginning of the twentieth century when the Belfast Municipal Technical Institute was established in 1906. It was in a grand building in College Square East, constructed between 1902 and 1906.
College Square East survived the Belfast blitz with students often having to hide in its air-raid shelters during WWII.
College Square East was known colloquially as the ‘Black Man Tech‘. This is because of the statue of Dr Henry Cooke, a leading 19th century Presbyterian minister, which stands outside the building. The statue of Cooke is not marble, but copper, like most other architecture around the city of Belfast around the same time. Due to exposure to the elements, most of these statues and domes around the city have oxidised, producing a green colour of copper oxide, especially noticeable on the nearby City Hall.
Other specialist colleges were subsequently established in the city including Stanhope Street, Rupert Stanley, and the College of Business Studies in Brunswick Street. In the early 1990s, these colleges amalgamated as the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education which in turn merged with Castlereagh College to form the current Belfast Metropolitan College in 2007.
In September 2011, Belfast Met opened a new £44 million campus in Titanic Quarter. It was officially opened by Princess Anne on 10 November 2011. Michael D Higgins visited several months later.
Campuses
Belfast Met has three main campuses. They are Millfield Campus, Castlereagh Campus, and Titanic Quarter Campus.
Belfast Met also has several smaller centres around the city such as e3 at Springvale Campus, opened in 2012.
The city centre campuses at Brunswick Street and College Square East were sold when the Titanic Quarter campus opened in 2011. College Square East was made into student accommodation in 2016 at a cost of £16 million, but it retains its exterior appearance due to being a listed building.