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News from April 2009

College part of pioneering scheme for up skilling gaming industry

Date: 30/04/2009

Description: NVQ

North Warwickshire and Hinckley College Website

Staff from North Warwickshire and Hinckley College are poised to take part in a pioneering new training project offering a nationally recognised qualification to the gaming industry, and on Wednesday 18th March, Circus Casino, Star City, Birmingham became the first to sign up to the scheme.

As part of the scheme the college, which is just one of three nationwide who make up the National Gaming Academy, is to send its highly qualified and experienced staff to train and staff at Circus Casino Star City towards nationally recognised NVQs.

The college's gaming academy has operated from the Bermuda Innovation Centre just outside Nuneaton since June 2007, and is part of The National Gaming Academy, which also includes Blackpool and Flyde College and Greenwich College. All are working closely with City and Guilds as the qualifying body and People First, the sector skills council, to offer level 2 and 3 NVQs in gambling operations and to help existing casino staff gain recognition for their skills in-house.

The first intake of NVQ students recently started studying at the college, and now the first work-based induction pilot scheme is taking place at the Genting UK owned Circus Casino Star City.

"Prior to these qualifications becoming available, the gaming academy offered BTEC and NOCN qualifications. The NVQ options are an extension to this offering and will be more universally recognised within the industry," said Eric Williamson, Training Manager for the academy.
When carried out in the workplace, the NVQ qualifications take 5 to 6 months to achieve, and 15 weeks if studied for at the academy.
The courses falls in line with JSA requirement and are delivered within their 16 hour ruling allowing to allow job seekers to attend. At the end of a successful programme trainees will be referred to the industry to participate in a table test.

The qualifications will be delivered by the college's highly qualified and experienced staff and the college is preparing for a growth in demand.
We already work closely with Carnival Cruise Lines, the biggest in the world, and in the past month one student has joined their Casinos on board the Royal Princess."

"Now Gentings who are the largest casino operator in the country have signed up with the National Gaming Academy to deliver training there is the potential that once we have undertaken the pilot we could deliver this service to all their venues across the country. This is a real demonstration of colleges working in partnership through the National Gaming academy, thus having a best model of practice to meet employer needs effectively. This offering demonstrates the role of partnership between the three colleges of further education and employers and will be tailored specifically to the needs of the industry."

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