New course to meet the needs of the building industry

Dec. 17, 2012 - PRLog -- Coventry University College (CUC)has brought forward the start date of a new course because the demand for places has been so great.

The HNC in Building and Civil Engineering was originally planned to start in April 2013 but because of the level of interest the course has generated from within the building industry, it will now be starting in January 2013.

The HNC will be running as a day release programme on Wednesdays.

CUC’s Departmental Head for Engineering, Health and Social Care, Information Technology and Life Sciences, Lorraine Gearing, said:

“We have already had a lot of interest in this course. There are new housing projects being planned in future across the UK and companies will be looking for more qualified people to work on them. The day release option is often favoured by employers as it means little disruption to the workforce.”

The first three modules taken by the student are common to either the building or civil engineering qualification and it is not until the student does their final project in conjunction with Coventry University that they have to decide which option they want to specialise in.

The successful completion of the HNC course could lead to a degree programme at Coventry University should the student want to take the subject further.

Lorraine Gearing added:

“The HNC qualification would be suitable for people already working in a building or civil engineering environment or would appeal to the smaller company that would like to reward a loyal employee who wants the opportunity to up-skill.

“Funding is available for part-time study, so if the employer cannot afford to pay, the student can take out a loan and negotiate the time off with the employer, which is one of the options.”

The HNC programme runs over three modules and covers 24 teaching weeks which is followed by a supervised practical project module. If the employer is paying for the course, the student employee does not have to spend a lot of time out of the office or off site to do this qualification.

Lorraine Gearing added:

“There are a lot of new projects in the pipeline and even though there has been a housing squeeze, affordable housing projects are coming up all the time and they will want qualified people to work in those areas. We are getting interest from within the industry already as a number of people who are applying to do this course are coming to us from within building profession.  Although the course is due to start in January, places are filling up fast and if needs be, we will run two cohorts to keep up with the demand.”

For more information about the course, contact Lorraine Gearing on 024 7765 9607 or email: lorraine.gearing@cuc.coventry.ac.uk