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Mark makes the change from Royal Engineer to lecturer, thanks to UHOVI

24 May 2011

After a career in the army and running his own business, engineer Mark Lewis has found his ideal career teaching the technicians of the future, thanks to the valleys’ new university initiative. Mark’s experience as a senior NCO in the Royal Engineers, together with his engineering qualifications, gave him the knowledge of his subject and, by studying for a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course at Coleg Morgannwg in Aberdare, he has taken up a job teaching young engineers at Coleg Morgannwg’s Nantgarw campus. Mark’s success has been welcomed by Cynon Valley AM Christine Chapman at an event for adult learners studying under UHOVI, the Universities Heads of the Valleys Institute, at Coleg Morgannwg’s Aberdare campus.

Christine Chapman AM said: “We know that people in our valleys don’t lack ability, but it can be very difficult to access the benefits of higher education. Mark’s success is just one of many. UHOVI is a vital initiative, helping to tap the potential of so many of our young people and adult learners in the Cynon Valley. It is showing the early signs of success in bringing together our FE colleges, universities, communities and the Welsh Government to give people a real chance of entering higher education.”

Talking about his own experience, Mark said: “UHOVI has been ideal for me. I had hoped to go back into university education, and UHOVI has allowed me to study again, while teaching and bringing up our family. It’s a brilliant way of bringing high quality higher education into our communities here in the valleys.”

UHOVI is a partnership between the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales, Newport, which brings access to higher education courses into local communities in the valleys.

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