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BURSARY CASE STUDY :
Perth College
Alice Oywera (Mwangi), went to Perth College in 1999 to do the Professional Chef Award. On successful completion of this she progressed to HNC Hospitality Operations and HND Hospitality Management, and on graduating articulated to the BA in Hospitality Management at the University of Abertay, Dundee.
Prior to going to college, Alice was at catering college close to her home in Kenya. She was sponsored to come to Scotland, as education opportunities in Scotland are better than at home and UK qualifications more highly regarded. Long-term job opportunities are also perceived as being better in the UK. Alice benefited from a bursary awarded to Perth College by HIT Scotland.
Alice really enjoyed her time at college and found the lecturers very helpful and very supportive. With her first language not being English, Alice found grammar particularly problematic. However, additional specialist tuition helped to overcome this.
She now works at the Gleneagles Hotel on their management trainee programme and hopes to progress into Human Resource Management.
Rhona McCluskey was working part-time in a local pub-restaurant and bringing up four children as a single mum. She enjoyed her work but felt that her brain was dead and that she needed a fresh challenge, so decided to go to college.
Her youngest child had just started nursery, so the two-year HND course fitted in well with her circumstances as she would be finishing as her youngest child started school.
She chose Perth College partly because it was local, but also because friends and family had been there and recommended the course.
Rhona benefited from a bursary awarded to Perth College by HIT Scotland.
There were a lot of positives about going to college – meeting new people, and a good confidence boost after being at home. She surprised herself at what she achieved with merits in a number of areas. She loved time in the production kitchen.
Her biggest fear was IT and computing, although with the help and support of tutors she got through this too. It was difficult being a single parent, juggling commitments at home and study, but staff at college were so flexible and supportive that they helped her through the difficult times.
Longer term, Rhona’s aim is to run her own small establishment or become a lecturer. She is currently working in a local hotel and helping out with a number of classes at Perth College – particularly schools programmes and NQ courses. Rhona feels she is in an excellent position to advise them on the progression opportunities available to them
