Lack Of Training Centres

[Latte]

After reading this months Service Engineer magazine and reading the articles relating to training i convinced myself that it would be good for me to take a city & guilds refrigeration course.
We all know that refrig/AC engineers need to be properly trained & have all the relevent qualification. So what did i find when i went onto the city & guilds website. "THERE ARE NO TRAINING CENTRES WITHIN A 50 MILE RADIUS OF YOURE ADDRESS".

How are engineers meant to become qualified if there are no training centres locally !!!!!!!

I live near Newmarket, Cambridge,Ipswich & Norwich are all in commuting distance and yet there is no local training centre.

My message is this, OK people can harp on about untrained engineers trying to do the job but while there is a lack of training facilities out there what else do you expect.:(

[Stuart]

:( I agree totally with you on that one.

There are not enough training centers around.....Also the ones that are running are not easy to locate.

See my post - Lack of engineers in Air conditioning forum.

There is the odd person who belives that you cannot be an A/C engineer or fridgie unless "BORN" into the trade....:D

One name springs to mind...........

Lets get the people trained to the necessary standard in well run & equiped training centers.

Then there will be less fridge gas discharged into the atmosphere.................

[Tony]

There is a company called Training 2000 in Blackburn, which offers Refrigeration apprenticeships. Ask for Tony Coe on 01254 54659.

[Stuart]

Tony:

Training 2000 do offer aprenticeships, but they dont offer the same chance to people who are "mature students" as it were.

I know this because I enquired with them several years back & received no reply.

I recomend PRTC or Elite specialist Training. These are two exellent centers.

Sorry rdocwra but they too are in the north.

But if you look in Service Engineer I am sure you will find a center that you can try.

Stuart.:D

[Big Ed]

rdocwra,
AMP at Welwyn Garden City is just by the A1 - you'd go that far for a job, wouldn't you?

Our friends in the US would be amazed that we think a 150-mile round trip is too far. And they have a 55mph speed limit!

You can do the course in a day and go back a couple of weeks later for the assessment. There's an article on that in Service Engineer, too.

[condenseddave]

The problem in the US seems to not be a lack of training centers, trade schools, etc. But a lack of decent ones with full curriculums.

One has to really travel to find one that even touches on commercial HVACR in my neck of the woods.

It's a shame, but I was at a wholesaler today, and a young man came in asking for a schematic for a reach-in freezer. Seems one of his boss' customers picked up a freezer cheap on ebay that had been the recipient of a bad "haircut", with all controls missing.

I was talking to this fellow, and found out that he's been in the refrigeration trade for 6 years, yet has no idea where to start in rewiring this single door reachin freezer.

No formal training, yet his boss expects him to know this sort of thing.

Hard to believe.

[Gary]

The "TECH Method Lesson Series: ACR Trouble Shooting" book, available at my website, has just such a wiring diagram, along with the piping diagram, sequence of operation, and a complete diagnostic flow chart for this and many other typical systems from A/C to cascades.

I specialize in teaching what the refrigeration schools should have taught you but didn't.

[Tony]

:) I am glad to announce that we are just about to open a new Training Centre dedicated to Refrigeration and Air Conditioning.

Its located just off the M18 Junction 3.

We are busy setting up all of the classrooms and workshops.

Already an approved City & Guilds and CITB Centre, we are able to offer: C&G 2078, CITB Safe Handling of Refrigerants and Pipework and Brazing, Basic Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, as well as electrical courses.

We are having an Open Day on 2nd September 2004 anytime between 10am and 4pm. Anyone who would like to come along send me a message and I'll give you the details.

[andr3w]

After reading this months Service Engineer magazine and reading the articles relating to training i convinced myself that it would be good for me to take a city & guilds refrigeration course.
We all know that refrig/AC engineers need to be properly trained & have all the relevent qualification. So what did i find when i went onto the city & guilds website. "THERE ARE NO TRAINING CENTRES WITHIN A 50 MILE RADIUS OF YOURE ADDRESS".

How are engineers meant to become qualified if there are no training centres locally !!!!!!!

I live near Newmarket, Cambridge,Ipswich & Norwich are all in commuting distance and yet there is no local training centre.

My message is this, OK people can harp on about untrained engineers trying to do the job but while there is a lack of training facilities out there what else do you expect.:(

Hey,
Talk about it !! I have been trying to get an apprenticeship for months now. No luck. So the UK has huge skills shortages of qualified trades peeps, but trying to get an apprenticeship is impossible almost. A couple of people told me to actually get signed on the doll as this would help :confused:

I dunno something is very wrong there man.....

[airconadam]

iwent to training 2000 and worked with tony coe great team they have there thanks alot

adam:D

[Pooh]

Guys
Yes there is a shortage of training centres in the UK however what you are failing to see is why?

Firstly the cost of equipping a refrigeration workshop to the standards required without the building is in the region of £300,000-00 add to that the electrical workshop, refrigeration Lab and theory classrooms your nearer half a million.

Secondly you have the staff needed to deliver the courses, we have 9 all costing £30,000-00 each plus admin support at another £30,000-00. To this you have to understand that getting suitable staff is a nightmare it takes us at least 6 months to find a tutor of sufficient quality and experience.

Unless you have all of the above and a building to put them in you are dead before you start.

Then comes the main problem, refrigeration companies in general do not want to pay for training as if they do train somebody as soon as they finish the training another company offers them a few quid more and they leave.

The problem for the training centre is getting enough students to support the massive overheads and stay afloat but then you have to keep the government inspectors happy such as Ofsted and Ally who come round every couple of years.

The centre I work for has fantastic facilities and good staff but we are stuck out on a limb on the East Coast, most of our students come from all over the country which means the employer has to pay for travel and digs. Nothing in my mind will change until a central fund for training apprentices is formed in the same way as it is done for the construction industry.

There are ways of getting training without going to a training centre, have you considered distance learning it is available for the City & Guilds Level Two Technical Certificate and the Level Three will be soon, then you can do the NVQ using the Experienced Worker Route.

Ian

[Brady Chalk]

Hello

My name's Brady Chalk

I was just wondering if anyone could help me in the Refrigeration Engineering Apprenticeships industry.


I'm currently attending college doing a Refrigeration course and i am wondering if anyone has any free placements in their company or if they know anywhere that i can apply at.

Any replie's would be helpful,Thankyou

Brady Chalk
brady723@hotmail.co.uk

[taz24]

[quote=Brady Chalk;124938]Hello

My name's Brady Chalk

I was just wondering if anyone could help me in the Refrigeration Engineering Apprenticeships industry.


I'm currently attending college doing a Refrigeration course and i am wondering if anyone has any free placements in their company or if they know anywhere that i can apply at.

Any replie's would be helpful,Thankyou

Brady Chalk


Hi Brady.

Brady take your email address off the sytem and your address from the header bar
at the top. Lots of strange :confused: people read this site and you do not want that type
of information getting out.

People can get intouch with you via the PM service through this site.

Cheers taz.