This week’s announcement that French shipbuilder, DCNS, will undertake the future submarine build project here in Adelaide, is great news for students studying at St Patrick’s Technical College. Our team has developed a strong working relationship with ASC over the past ten years that has seen over 20 apprentices, mainly from the Electrotechnology and Engineering programs, gain apprenticeships at both the ASC North and ASC South facilities at Osborne. Many other StPatsTech student-apprentices and graduates have picked up apprenticeships with employers who supply to the submarine and Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) projects.
As recently as 2014, one quarter of all apprentices at ASC were students and/or graduates of StPatsTech including:
Anika Williams – a great role model for our female students and has been back to speak to our students over the past few years.
Jack Donaldson – recently named Apprentice of the Year at ASC North
Mason Browning – recipient of the Australian Vocational Student Prize in 2014 and our own Electrotechnology Apprentice of the Year that same year.
Jarad Hearnden – featured in a ‘Where are they now?’ newsletter as part of the SA Government’s Advanced Technology Program in Aug 2014.
Among the reasons the Australian Government established St Patrick’s Technical College (then the Australian Technical College) in northern Adelaide was to support defence industries by developing a local skilled, job-ready workforce. Notwithstanding changes in governments since that time, St Patrick’s Technical College has maintained this focus with over 700 apprenticeship commencements across all industries to date. Many of these are with defence industry employers including those with ASC and its suppliers.
We are very excited about this week’s announcement and anticipate that demand for our Electrotechnology and Engineering student-apprentices will increase over the coming months and years. This, in turn, should see an increase in enrolment numbers in these courses given our proven track record assisting students gain apprenticeships in the defence sector.
We look forward to continuing our work with ASC, with DCNS and, through our association with the Defence Teaming Centre, the many defence industry employers across northern Adelaide.