City and Guilds offering fully subsidised diploma in engineering

The City and Guilds Institute is offering a fully subsidised diploma in engineering to secondary-level students, as one of its Skills Proficiency Awards, through a contract with the Ministry of Education and Youth.

A 10-year contract was signed in November 2019 for the provision of examinations in mathematics, English, customer service and skills proficiency awards across 12 occupational pathways, including engineering.

Speaking during a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ on Wednesday, September 4, chief business executive at City and Guilds, Dr Ventley Brown, informed that the diploma is internationally recognised and gives students the opportunity to be awarded a postnominal attachment to their names as a basic technical operator in the field.

He advised that four regional workshops are planned for September to increase uptake of the Skills Proficiency Awards, with an emphasis on the engineering programme.

“We want to have one in Kingston, one in St Elizabeth, and one in Clarendon. We’re trying to pull, at least for each workshop, 250 participants from the respective high schools for skills proficiency and engineering. In September, we’ll be having our online workshops for maths and English and customer service,” he said.

The skills proficiency award in engineering can be offered on a part-time basis to students, beginning in Grade 10.

Dr Brown said students who complete the two-year programme will put themselves in a prime position to fill gaps in the workforce for maintenance engineers.

He urged students to take up the opportunity, noting that vocational education remains viable as part of the fourth Industrial Revolution.

“We have seen a major decline in the country, where entities are struggling to find maintenance engineers. I saw an article where one wanted to recruit some 146 maintenance engineers. The Ministry of Education, in partnership with the City and Guilds Representative Office, offers a fully subsidised two-year diploma in maintenance engineering and electrical engineering that can be taken up at any of our partnering high schools or our local [stakeholders],” Dr Brown said.

Some 200 high schools across the country are currently partnering with City and Guilds to offer their Skills Proficiency Awards, with more institutions being engaged.

“We enjoy greater registration from the technical high schools … but we’re seeing more traditional high schools come on board. We are moving a little bit more aggressively in terms of trying to push forward with these Skills Proficiency Awards,” Dr Brown said.