News: Nottingham College launches its first A Level BTEC hybrid course for aspiring engineers
For a long time, young people have been asked to choose between academic study such as A Levels, or vocational study through BTECs or NVQs. Now, students can get the best of both worlds with our specialist hybrid course in Innovation and Creative Engineering Design.
The course is designed for budding engineers who want to progress on to University or on to a Higher Apprenticeship (degree-level) to pursue a career in engineering, design or manufacturing.
It consists of two A Levels, one in Maths and the other in Product Design and a BTEC Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma in Engineering. This unique blend of qualifications combines all the necessary practical study needed to develop technical engineering skills with all the learning and theory you get from A Levels.
This blend is extremely attractive to Universities who increasingly look for practical skills alongside academic capability. This type of blended course is also incredibly appealing to future employers with many offering attractive graduate programmes within the engineering and manufacturing industries.
The course is a two year course, like A Levels, but much of the course is assessed through practical and theory based coursework and a portfolio. There will still be exams to sit in Maths and Product Design.
Gavin Varley is the head of the college’s engineering faculty. He said:
The College is focussed on ensuring that we offer courses that give our students the very best opportunity to get into their chosen career. The UK’s engineering and manufacturing sector has experienced a shortage of skills in recent years, mainly because the sector is continually evolving and changing as a result of new technologies, robotics and competition globally. It makes it hard for universities and colleges to keep up with the changing skills demands. This hybrid course develops the student’s capacity for theory based and practical learning and will equip them with the skills necessary to move onto a degree or into the world of work. Our Highfields campus is a dedicated, state-of-the-art engineering facility, in the heart of Nottingham’s Science Park and with its very own STEM centre, complete with robotics and AI technology.
— Gavin Varley (Head of the college’s engineering faculty)
The tutors on the course will be a mix of academic experts and those who’ve worked professionally in engineering, again another reason why this course offers the best of both worlds. The course is suited to those who have a keen interest in pursuing an engineering or manufacturing career as well as a good academic grasp of maths and design. You’ll need 5 GCSEs at Grade 9 – 4/A*-C, including English Language at grade 9 – 4/A*-C and Maths at grade 9 – 6/A*-B. It would be helpful if you had a GCSE subject in a design technology subject
Published on:
- 12th April 2019 (3:30 PM)
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