The department, which teaches around 200 students each year, will be using the guillotine for finishing booklets and swatch books produced by the students.

The college offers a range of courses including a National Qualification (NQ) in screen printing and a choice of HNC and HND courses in digital media and creative print making.

Senior print technician David Stevenson said: "We needed a new guillotine because ours was over 20 years old and the repairs were running into thousands of pounds a year. We needed something that was accurate, reliable, came with a range of professional features and wouldn’t break the bank."

The college, which is planning to move to new premises in the 2015/16 academic year, purchased the guillotine from local dealer Well Finished.

Stevenson added: "As part of the move we’ll be looking to reduce costs and downsize wherever possible. The IDEAL 5222 is about half the size of our previous guillotine which fits in with our future plans."