UCOL BLOG

This week’s Open Day at UCOL Wairarapa will have a focus on carpentry, as well as other vocational programmes available at the campus.

A kitset mini house will be amongst the activities on offer at Open Day which runs from 11 am to 1 pm on Wednesday 25 January. The materials for the five square metre house, donated to UCOL Wairarapa by timber company JNL, can be built and dismantled in less than a day and is used to teach Carpentry students.

Programme Leader Brett Tickner says anyone who wants to pick up a drill, a measuring tape or a hammer at the Open Day can lend a hand with the building.

Read More: “Building will be the biggie at UCOL Open Day”…

Some great new facilities will be ready for UCOL Wairarapa students at the start of the new study year.

Construction programmes such as carpentry and joinery will have a brand new facility to work from. Students will be able to build houses in a purpose built area on the upper campus’ Chapel Street frontage, in real, on-the-job conditions. A big new construction building will have all the equipment needed for construction activities covered in UCOL’s National Certificate in Carpentry, which offers students skills equivalent to those learned in the first year of a building apprenticeship.

The joinery programme offers foundation skills that prepare students for work within the industry. There are some free fee places available for 16 and 17 year olds who want to leave school but also gain some qualifications, as part of the Youth Guarantee Scheme.  People interested in this, and other Youth Guarantee programmes such as automotive, hairdressing, cookery, early childhood education, health science or business administration and computing, should contact Sharon Jolliffe at UCOL on 946 2300 up until 21 December and then from 9 January 2012. Programmes start in February 2012.  Read More: “New Facilities at UCOL”…

UCOL Wairarapa is now able to increase the number of places on the Youth Guarantee programme which provides free study to 16 and 17 year olds who want to start vocational training.

Campus Manager Angela Hewlett says applications for the new places are open now.

This year UCOL Wairarapa filled four allotted places on the Government’s Youth Guarantee initiative which aims to make tertiary education available to students who may be struggling in school settings and want to focus on vocational qualifications. UCOL has now been allocated extra places for next year.

Read More: “Teenagers offered more free study places at Wairarapa UCOL”…

Thirty 16 and 17 year olds were recognized at a scholarship award ceremony at UCOL on Wednesday, receiving certificates in front of proud family members and UCOL teaching and support staff.

These young people are part of the government’s Youth Guarantee Scheme, which gives them an opportunity to improve their educational achievements funded by the Ministry of Education which UCOL administers as a scholarship. Youth Guarantee scholarships are for 16 and 17 year olds who are ready for a new educational challenge, have made a start towards NCEA, want to enrol in full time tertiary study, and want to learn practical skills.

UCOL has fifty five youth guarantee students, the students receiving these certificates are the second semester intake. Students are studying towards certificates in Hairdressing, Electrical and Related Trades, Science and Health, Panel and Paint, Motorsport, Tourism, Travel, Professional Cookery, Hospitality, Trade Skills, Tertiary Study Skills, Fashion and Beauty, and National Certificates in Motor Industry, Early Childhood Education, Mechanical Engineering, and Welding.

Bonnie Dewart, UCOL’s Deputy Chief Executive (Academic) said that the students receiving youth guarantee scholarships are a motivated group of young people who are great to have on campus. “The Youth Guarantee Scheme is important to UCOL because we are passionate about providing opportunities for the young people in our region to succeed, and be given a chance to study in a supportive, tertiary environment. It’s essentially a scholarship, it’s an opportunity that not everyone is given. We only have 55 youth guarantee places here at UCOL. Students have the opportunity to participate in tertiary education without accumulating debt. We want them to be successful and go on to enrol in the next programme up on their journey towards employment”.

“Youth Guarantee is a partnership – the government provides funding, UCOL provides support and the programmes, and students put in the effort, turn up to class, involve themselves in their studies, succeed in gaining a tertiary qualification and the opportunity to go onto further study and the job that they want” says Bonnie.