Walsall College has launched a range of new flexible courses to help more adults get back into work, change career or gain a promotion. From Access to Higher Education and part-time programmes to distance learning and continuous professional development courses, Walsall College has more courses than ever before to help adult learners achieve their career goals. Courses are available across a range of levels and in a number of subjects including Accounting, Business, Construction, Computing, ESOL, GCSEs, Hair and Beauty, Health and Social Care and Teacher Training.
Adults who have been held back by their finances in the past, can now apply for an advanced learning loan to help with the cost of their course fees at Walsall College.
A new scheme now allows any UK resident aged 19 or older and looking to enrol on a level 3 course or above, including QCF Certificates and Diplomas and Access to HE courses, to access funding.
Students aged 19 – 23 who do not already have a full Level 3 qualification, will be entitled to receive free tuition.
Jatinder Sharma OBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Walsall College, said: “We are passionate in our belief that education should be accessible to all, regardless of age or background. Learning new skills should be a continuous journey and a means of helping individuals to achieve their goals.”
Amy Kirk, 21, left school with hardly any qualifications, but after successfully completing a one-year Access to Higher Education: Business and Law course, she is firmly on route to a career as a barrister, with a place secured at The University of Law.
She said: “From the very beginning I knew coming to Walsall College would be the best academic decision I would make. As a single mother I could fit the course around my home life and the support I received from the tutors was fantastic.
“My grades exceeded the minimum marks I needed to secure my place at university and study criminal law. It’s unreal how much I have turned my life around after just one year at college, and with a few more years of hard work at university, I be will a qualified barrister.”
At fifty, a career change wasn’t on the cards for commercial banking officer, Paula Thorp, but when redundancy loomed, she saw it as an opportunity that she couldn’t ignore. She retrained for a new career as a teaching assistant, which is a world away from her former role in banking, but one she finds both life-changing and rewarding.
Paula said: “I was on the PTA at my son’s primary school and was aware that they needed support in listening to children read, so I volunteered my time and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. After speaking to the headmistress, she enrolled me on to a course at Walsall College so I could gain the qualifications I needed to turn my volunteer role in to a permanent job.
“Going back into education and retraining was a bit daunting at first as it had been a long time since I was at school. But all the hard work paid off when I successfully completed the course and received the student of the year award.”
