Virtual Hawaii

TNE-Saab (Demo)

Staff from StPatsTech recently took a trip to Hawaii. That is to say, they virtually went to the Pacific islands thanks to an immersive experience at Saab Australia’s headquarters at Technology Park.

Saab Australia is one of the College’s P-TECH partners along with Century Engineering and PMB Defence. The three leading defence industry companies recently hosted teachers and staff for a professional development session to help the educators better understand the businesses and their specific work projects.

BHI-SaabFrom managing a battlefield, thanks to Microsoft’s HoloLens, to seeing inside the security system for a prison and learning how the Royal Australian Navy is able to combat missile and torpedo attacks, the College staff were able to get a picture of Saab Australia’s multifaceted business.

The group also heard from Kerryn Smith, Director of Industry at the Defence Teaming Centre, who spoke about the current and future employment opportunities in South Australia’s defence industries. Ms Smith said with the number of large defence contracts now in place, programs like P-TECH were integral in ensuring a consistent and well-trained local workforce. This workforce would ensure the on-going success and strength of defence industries in South Australia, Ms Smith said.

The group were hosted during the site visits by Saab Australia Managing Director, Dean Rosenfield, Century Engineering Managing Director, David Heaslip and PMB Defence’s Engineering and Program Manager, Claude Messina.

Earlier this year, StPatsTech announced its partnership with the three companies. The College has already started delivery of the industry led P-TECH Engineering program (with Century Engineering) and Electrotechnology program (with PMB Defence).

The Saab Australia P-TECH partnership will see the introduction of a new Information Technology program for the College in 2018 featuring a Certificate IV in Programming. This industry-level certification will see students concurrently study the IT qualification alongside a fully contextualised SACE course over two years. In addition, the students will receive unique mentoring, work experience and access to projects with Saab Australia.

Typically, Saab Australia recruits its next generation workforce as engineer graduates from software, mechatronic and electronic disciplines, but the world is changing. Fast.

Saab Australia’s People Development Manager, Rebecca Giovine says, “We know we need to engage with and inspire students early to show them the exciting, rewarding careers our industry offers. Our collaboration with StPatsTech through the P-TECH program certainly helps with that objective”.

College Principal, Rob Thomas, said the Certificate IV in Programming presents a great opportunity for students to gain valuable skills, industry mentoring and connections and real-world experiences.

“These P-TECH courses could lead to an amazingly diverse and interesting long-term career across a range of industries,’’ Mr Thomas said.

“The College is working to broaden the skills of students so they can take their place in the workforce and have the knowledge and skills which makes them more competitive in the jobs market and P-TECH will be a big part of that vision going forward.’’

Enrolments for all StPatsTech programs in 2018 are now open. Visit www.stpatstech.sa.edu.au for more information.