Creating Skills for life
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2013 NEWS ARCHIVE

Carpentry students from Kiribati continue training at APTC

Jan 25, 2013

An accord between the Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC) and the Kiribati Institute of Technology (KIT) has brought a group of i-Kiribati students to Fiji to continue their vocational training in the APTC’S School of Trades and Technology.

Sixteen carpentry students from the Kiribati Institute of Technology (KIT) who have successfully completed the Certificate II in Construction program are now continuing their vocational education with the Australia-Pacific Technical College at its campus in Suva, Fiji.

They’re the first i-Kiribati students to enrol at the APTC as a complete class. They’re in Fiji following completion of the Certificate II Construction Kiribati TVET Strengthening Sector Program. The KIT -APTC Agreement leverages the benefits of these two AusAID projects for the citizens of Kiribati, and indeed across the Pacific.   Last year the students completed the Certificate II course – a carpentry bridging course – in Kiribati. This meant that they had completed their preparatory Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level 2 pathways program and could continue their training in the Certificate III Carpentry program in the APTC’s School of Trades and Technology. The group began their APTC studies in January.

The APTC-KIT agreement is designed to provide opportunities for i-Kiribati citizens to acquire the qualifications they need for skilled employment both within Kiribati itself and outside the country, regionally and internationally.

The agreement is part of the overall strategy by which the APTC, which is funded by the Australian Government and has campuses and teaching centres throughout the Pacific region, enters into partnerships with other regional centres to widen the availability of the courses and skills it offers.

The fact that the APTC confers qualifications at the Australian level is of great value in securing the widest possible opportunities for skilled workers in the Pacific region, for many of whom migration is often the best way of finding the right job.

James Knynenburg, Director of the School of Trades and Technology, said that a second carpentry group from Kiribati is scheduled to undertake the same training in Fiji to complete the Certificate III in Carpentry course in the second semester this year.

APTC is an Australian Government initiative in partnership with the Pacific and Timor-Leste.

APTC is implemented by TAFE Queensland (RTO 0275)

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