An innovative collaboration between one of Fermanagh’s leading businesses and a local grammar school will enhance pupils’ careers prospects.
Quinn Industrial Holdings Ltd (Quinn) has demonstrated its commitment to local education by launching its Quinn People School’s Programme with St Michael’s College in Enniskillen. 
The five-year partnership involves a range of initiatives to support St. Michael’s College and designed to combat the ‘brain drain’ in the local area providing a clear pathway for pupils to develop their educational attainment as well as the option to secure sustainable and highly skilled employment at Quinn. 
Quinn Chief Executive Officer, Liam McCaffrey explained: “This new partnership with St. Michael’s is part of a wider educational engagement programme that we have been developing at Quinn. We are in the process of launching our Quinn People Schools, Apprenticeships and Graduate programmes in the coming weeks with the core aim of targeting home grown talent to build and grow the intellectual capital of the company. We are delighted that St. Michael’s have come on-board with us and we are committed to working with them to develop sustainable careers for our future leaders.”
St Michael’s College acting Principal, Mark Henry added: “We are delighted to formalise our partnership agreement with QIHL. This promises to be an exciting adventure which will be hugely beneficial to the students and the staff here at St Michaels. We are deeply fortunate to have such great partners in QIHL who have been hugely committed to the partnership from the outset and we look forward to deepening the relationship in the future.”
The partnership will ensure significant investment by Quinn in the College estimated at £25,000, particularly in the Technology and Design department over a five-year period. This sponsorship will involve financial assistance towards the department’s capital investment programme as well as bursary awards for the Top GCSE Engineering and Top GCSE Technology & Design students, paid work placements for Year 13 pupils, technical support and expert assistance from Quinn technical experts on construction curriculum and related software tools like Autodesk Revit and open access tours of all Quinn facilities as well as dedicated mentorship from the Quinn Technical Team and access to accredited CPD modules in construction, design, structure and material.
It will allow the College purchase a LaserCAM cutter, 3-D printer and A3 scanner, new livery and signage.
The first three pupils on a paid placement with Quinn this summer are Josh Kyle, Riagain Grainger and Adam Iwanicki.
Further areas of collaboration with the Careers Department and Quinn Holdings over the next few months will include junior year group visits, chemical engineering specific visit and developing industry specific accredited courses.
Sean Carlin, head of careers at St. Michael’s College, said this partnership is the first of its kind and could pave the way for more partnerships in the future between schools and private industry that allows schools to continue to invest in its infrastructure to allow more effective curriculum.
Among those attending were Liam McCaffrey, Kevin Lunny and Caroline McCaffrey from Quinn Industrial Holdings as well as Tom Elliott MP and MLAs Michelle Gildernew and Ritchie McPhillips. 
The Education Minister, Peter Weir was unable to attend the event but is to visit the College at a later date.