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Chesterfield College students’ prospects boosted by new technology
08/07/2008
Students at Chesterfield College are reaping the benefits of using state of art surveying equipment funded by the East Midlands New Technology Initiative (NTI).
The college, which is a member of the NTI’s Construction Network, is improving the employment prospects of hundreds of civil engineering and construction students thanks to the grant from the NTI.
As part of their qualifications, the students at Chesterfield College are required to complete a surveying field course. The course has an intensive programme where the students work in groups carrying out a number of surveying tasks. For all the students it is an opportunity to use state of the art surveying equipment in an outdoor working environment, developing and using leadership as well as team working skills to achieve given tasks.
One past student, currently an engineer in the Operational Services department of Mansfield District Council with responsibility for highway tree maintenance, new vehicle crossings, resurfacing footways and conservation schemes, is Teresa Morgan, who studied Civil Engineering part-time at the college following a complete change of career.
Teresa says: “Surveying, using either a dumpy level or the Trimble Total Station, is part of my job. After being taught the background at college, and having a deeper knowledge into surveying, I am competent enough to take on surveying projects at work on my own and take people out who don’t know how to use the equipment and train them up.
“The use of the NTI funded equipment on consecutive days on the ‘Great Hucklow’ field trip played a huge part in making all the theory in the classroom makes sense. I feel that the practical side is just as important as you can’t fully understand the principles until the practical has been done a few times. A subject like surveying can get complicated and confuse people, even the basics of setting an instrument up and why it must be level can help to put all the bits of the jigsaw together to understand all the elements of surveying in the real world. I’d definitely recommend the course to other people. There wasn’t anything I studied I haven’t been able to use within my daily work.”
Phil Goulding, programme manager (Construction) at Chesterfield College, added: “Over the past few years it has been difficult to keep up with the changes in modern surveying equipment. Therefore the support from the NTI to purchase new ‘state of the art’ equipment was a real bonus. We use the equipment through the academic year on a number of courses, with the Surveying field course being a focal point. This gives the students the chance to use the equipment under similar conditions to those found when working out in industry. We have also offered a ‘surveying short course’ to local SME’s to enable them to take advantage of the equipment and up skill their workforce.”
East Midlands NTI is an initiative backed by leading universities and colleges to help small businesses invest in state of the art technology. It is funded by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
As well as giving match funded grants to businesses, the NTI also provides funds for member colleges and universities to invest in cutting edge technology. Local businesses who work with NTI can also have access to the new technology and work with students on product development and improved production techniques.
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