Glasgow Clyde College set to welcome new students to water course

Glasgow Clyde College, the UK partner of Pilot PoVE Water, is set to welcome new students on its HNC Water Operations course in August. 

Glasgow Clyde College, which has three campuses across Scotland’s biggest city, is the only training provider in Scotland that delivers this water qualification.  

While the course follows an apprenticeship model, it is designed for and suitable for operative jobs at various levels in the water industry.  It teaches all aspects of the business of water, including water quality management; materials and components; wastewater treatment processes; the structure and organisation of the water industry; and water resources, supervision and management.  

Many water industry employees have used the course to assist career progression, and completion offers entry to degree-level courses.  Scottish Water, Scotland's publicly-owned water supplier, invests in the HNC qualification for many of its employees. 

Nicola Murray, senior lecturer at Glasgow Clyde College, said:

“In Scotland, the water industry is an attractive career option.  Scottish Water is a large employer with a workforce of 3,600.  We work closely with them to deliver the HNC qualification to a range of their employees across the organisation, making sure they understand the legislative, environmental, technological and organisational requirements of the water industry.

“As a partner in the Pilot PoVE Water, we are able to share our experience and knowledge of delivering vocational education training to our water industry, and the benefits of our partnership with Scottish Water, which has undoubtedly helped to improve the skills base of the water sector in Scotland.”

Glasgow Clyde College was set to host a three-day visit from the Pilot PoVE Water partners at the end of May to experience methods of delivery, including workshops and a site visit with Scottish Water.  However, due to Covid-19, this was delivered as a three-day online seminar. 

David Innes, Assistant Principal: Engineering, Computing and the Built Environment at Glasgow Clyde College, said:

“We hope to welcome the partners to Scotland in future, but the online seminar was a great opportunity to share information and best practice.  

“We’ve had to pivot a lot of our business online in the past few months and many of our courses, including the HNC Water Operations, will be delivered as a blend of online and campus learning.  We’re embracing the online approach because it creates opportunities to make it accessible to a larger group in future, but we must make sure participants have access to the right equipment at home.  That’s another learning process we will experience and can share with the project in due course.” 

For course enquiries email wateroperations@glasgowclyde.ac.uk or call 0141 273 3339