CASE STUDIES
What do our students have to say?
Jake Stickley - Mechanical Manufacturing Engineering Apprenticeship Level 3
Jake Stickley, a previous Level 2 and 3 Engineering student at Petroc, completed an industry placement at Eaton Aerospace Engineering. This enabled him to be offered a place there as an apprentice!
‘I thought doing an industry placement would be the perfect way to get a real insight into the engineering industry. My Dad used to work here and had lots of positive things to say. My parents were encouraging and supportive of my decision.
'My course taught me so much, but nothing compared to experiencing the day-to-day operations of Eaton myself. While I was on placement, it was engaging and interesting because each day was different. Now that I’m on an apprenticeship, each day still varies!
'Eaton offers multiple opportunities in the industry, however from my experience at I have decided that I would like to become a Manufacturing Engineer. I really enjoy being a part of the manufacturing process and production of our clients’ products. Eaton is an international organisation and present in 112 countries. It's nice to have the possibility of future opportunities to move to other countries all over the world.
'I would recommend an industry placement to anyone who is considering a similar career path to me as I found it beneficial to learn while on the job. It has made me grow up sooner rather than later, become more independent and put me on a career path which I love. The sky is the limit for me now and I am looking forward to my future with Eaton!'
Joshua Ballard - Full time Level 3 Student
"I wanted to be an engineer from year 11 while taking product design as a GCSE so when I started Petroc I knew the direction I wanted to head in. I started my journey at Petroc studying AS levels, I chose a variety of STEM subjects (Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Product Design). These subjects are challenging but Petroc offered great support and the lecturers used a wide variety of teaching methods and extra support to help guide me and achieve my goals. At the end of my first year I decided that I wanted to pursue Engineering through a more direct route and with guidance from the staff at Petroc I decided to enrol on to the engineering course."
"I have enjoyed every minute of the engineering course and the lecturers have ensured that my experience has been interesting and rewarding. Petroc has great facilities on offer, including a fantastic engineering block with a workshop and learning spaces like computer rooms and classrooms. I have really enjoyed this course because it is interactive, for example, learning in the workshop which has machines and equipment installed that are used in industry or learning in the computer room using up to date industry standard software really embeds the knowledge learnt in the classrooms."
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