Three graduates stood out among their class of 300 as they received their Trades Professional Certificates from Red Deer Polytechnic in Alberta, Canada, during the National Energy Skills Center’s (NESC) graduation ceremony last Friday 29th July 2022.
Like their peers, graduates Kerry Sebro and Aquil George from Tobago and Stacy Ramsaroop, a female student from Trinidad, successfully completed their NESC diplomas. However, the trio also earned their NESC Journeyman Certificates and their Trades Professional Certificate in Automotive Services from the Canadian institution.
Thanks to an affiliate agreement between NESC and Red Deer Polytechnic, all NESC diploma graduates are eligible to receive the Canadian credential after completing one year of relevant industry experience. The Trades Professional Certificate is an accredited international qualification, which graduates can use to seek jobs in Canada.
Once this year’s graduates gain one year of supervised work experience in their field of study, they too would be eligible to receive the NESC Journeyman Certificate and the Trades Professional Certificate from Red Deer Polytechnic during the 2023 graduation exercise.
Last Friday’s graduation ceremony was especially significant because it was the first graduation since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the graduating class of 2022 overcame significant pandemic-related challenges to achieve this monumental milestone in their academic careers.
In her feature address, Dr the Honourable Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Minister of Education, urged the graduates to be reliable trades professionals and to elevate the standard of the trades professions in Trinidad and Tobago, as she revealed that she studied domestic electrical installation on her own because of the challenges of finding an appropriate tradesman.
NESC’s diploma programmes are accredited by the Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT). They are Level 3 programmes, based on the Trinidad and Tobago National Vocational Qualification (TTNVQ) framework and qualify graduates at the technician level. Students graduated from several diploma specialty areas including drilling rig operations, welding, electrical, automotive services, heavy equipment, refrigeration and air conditioning, millwright (mechanical maintenance) and IT Networking.
Students who successfully completed Level Two Craftsman Certificates in autotronics, domestic electrical and heavy equipment operations as well as students from Atlantic-sponsored short courses in Introduction to Solar Photovoltaics and Valves and Valve Servicing also graduated on Friday.