Gurteen College

Virtual College Open Day June 2020

Working and learning together to create a better life in rural communities.

Gurteen College is a leading provider of agricultural education, having a long and distinguished track record (since 1947). Our excellent facilities, on the largest working commercial scale agricultural college farm in Ireland, ensures that students are encouraged by hands on learning to develop their skills fully.

Gurteen College is situated 12km from Birr, Co Offaly and 25km from Nenagh, Co Tipperary just off the N52. We provide transport to Birr, Co. Offaly every Friday to aid students to reach connecting bus routes.

Innovation & Sustainability

Gurteen is an independent college with a particular focus on innovation. The management team is committed to investing in the infrastructure and facilities required to keep abreast of the constant change taking place within the industry. One example of this is the decision to establish a new milking parlour completed in 2018. The college is also involved in sustainable energy initiatives as part of a renewable energy programme which significantly reduce the College’s carbon footprint and running costs.

Facilities

We welcome residential and non-residential students. The accommodation has 100 newly refurbished single occupancy study/bedrooms. Currently we have over 500 students attending the college at different periods, on day time, part- time and evening courses. Often more than 200 students on campus at one time.

The college boasts very good recreational facilities with games pitches, floodlit tennis and basketball courts, an outdoor heated swimming pool, indoor sports hall, billiards, two badminton courts, student computer rooms and Wi-Fi. In the student lounges there are vending machines, pool tables and multi-channel TV’s.

The catering is superb. There are kitchen facilities with a free tea and coffee making self- serve option.

Student teaching areas include classrooms, lecture theatre, three computer rooms, state of the art large technical training workshop, a smaller technical training work shop, a welding workshop, indoor sheep handling unit and cattle unit.

Gurteen College Farm

The college farm has grown from an initial 125 ha to 405 ha (1,000acres) of commercially led enterprises with constantly upgraded buildings and machinery. The primary function of the college farm is to support hands-on practical and enterprise management experience, in ‘best practice’ settings.

There has been considerable investment in the college farm in recent years. The upgrading of farm facilities include a superb 30 unit milking parlour, a spacious new sheep shed and a 130 cow cubicle shed. The farm’s commercial enterprises consist of the dairy - 240 cows, 125 dairy heifers; beef - 70 suckler cows, 280 head of cattle; 450 ewes, 40ha tillage, 40 ha forestry and 33ha biomass. Farm performance figures (including profit monitor) are used with students.

Equine Unit

The facilities include 45 loose boxes, tack room, indoor and outdoor arenas, cross country course, feed room, rug drying room and a horse walker.

Contact

Jon Parry, Principal
Gurteen College,
Ballingarry,
Roscrea,
Co Tipperary.
E53 TP93
Phone: 067 21282
Email: info@gurteencollege.ie
Web: www.gurteencollege.ie
Social: www.facebook.com/GurteenCollege/