by Richard Buckley, Editor, Business Eye

Belfast Met has awarded honorary fellowships to the Managing Directors of Allstate and Hastings Hotels. The college honoured John Healy and Howard Hastings its Higher Education Graduations, held in Titanic Belfast on November 13 and attended by over 1500 graduates and guests.


In ceremony one, students from the school of Creative and Digital industries graduated and enjoyed a speech from Mr Healy who heads up the company which provides technology, business and cybersecurity services for its American parent company, the Allstate Corporation.

John is a fitting honorary fellow for the college which is the Northern Ireland further education sector lead for the curriculum area of IT.

In ceremony two which included graduates from the college’s Belfast Business School, Dr Howard Hastings spoke vividly about his success in the hospitality and tourism industry.

Dr Hastings is the Managing Director of Hastings Hotels Group Ltd which includes some of the country’s top luxe hotels including the five star Culloden Estate and Spa, the world-famous Europa Hotel, the magnificent Slieve Donard Resort and Spa and Northern Ireland’s largest hotel, the Grand Central Hotel.

Belfast Met’s Principal and CEO, Marie-Thérèse McGivern, said: “We are thrilled with our choice of honorary fellows this year. Our theme for this year’s celebration is ‘inspiration and transformation’ and we have filled this brief with John Healy and Howard Hastings. Both honorary fellows are a source of inspiration for our graduates and their areas of expertise tie in with Belfast Met’s aim of producing a highly skilled workforce and filling a skills gap in key growing areas such as IT, tourism and hospitality. We are also delighted to strengthen business links with these two leading companies.”

Mr Healy told graduates: “I was so honoured to be asked by Belfast Met to be an honorary fellow. The future is in your hands – grab it. Compete fiercely for the things you want.”

Dr Hastings said: “I am hugely honoured to receive this accolade. Belfast Met is a college with a fast growing reputation, and I admire particularly their outreach into the business community to offer courses to upskill our workforces. In a tightening labour market, retraining and retaining key staff members has never been more important, and Belfast Met is a vital component in Belfast and Northern Ireland’s economic engine.”

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Belfast Met Principal Marie-Therese McGivern with John Healy and Howard Hastings

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