Providing Internships to give real working experience

GAIN PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

Internships allow students to apply their learned skills practically on real client design projects

Calvin Academy is there to equip young people first through computer software skills development, then internships, then employment by becoming highly skilled digital/ graphic designers and ultimately self-employment. Every parent and business owner’s support towards these goals is vital as it secures the success of our young peoples’ future careers.

PARTNERSHIPS

Gain access to proper internships which is a partnership between local small business and Calvin Academy

Internship Programme

We are closely associated and connected to small/med business owners in our community (Bellville, Parow, Goodwood and surrounds) to ensure our students get Internship opportunities.

An Internship programme is important for every student to enable them to apply practically what they have learned in class. Students get exposure to real clients and real projects which helps them adapt to the working environment and company culture before they apply for a job.

This is hands-on experience and I a student must not struggle to get an internship when he/she is a registered student.

Most colleges offering Graphic Design courses, leave it up to students to find their own internships but this should definately NOT be happening because students struggle to find quality, study-related internships on their own.

In the past, I have had many students from other colleges asking me to get them internships because word-of-mouth gets around of the success of my internship programme which I have in partnership with small/medium companies in my community (northern suburbs).

I put a lot of emphasis on internships as it is the the best method for students to evaluate their digital graphic design skills and knowledgeand open up design employment opportunities.

INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME

Students gain confidense in their design abilities when they do our Internship Programme

Open letter to all Parents

Financial hardship due to SA’s high unemployment rate means that many matriculants wont be able to go to college. Many parents will no longer be able to afford it, especially divorced, single parents.

Hi Calvin here, I think we can agree that most parents today know that a matric certificate will not get their child a job and that a college diploma have become vital to secure a good job for the future.

After spending around R2000 a month per child on high school education, the financial burden is not going to stop after matriculation but instead it is going to increase as college fees become too much for parents to bear as the cost of living goes up -food and petrol inflation is at an all time high and is going to get worse as SA has now been down-graded to junk status and the rand has reached the norm of R19 to the dollar …the rand unfortunately seems to just get weaker over time.

This financial hardship means that many matriculants wont be able to go to college as many parents will no longer be able to afford it, especially divorced, single parents.

This is a pretty grim picture but we have to face up to the truth and do something concrete about it. We cannot be forced to allow our children to take a gap year simply because we cannot afford the college fees.

We have to hunt down legitimate colleges who are willing to offer lower prices yet offer quality training.

Unfortunately the majority of “cheaper” colleges offer courses at around R35 000 a year and after achieving a Diploma 3 years later after spending around R100 000, their child still does not find employment in their chosen field of study and have to revert back to getting a low paying job even though they are “over-qualified” and their Diploma holds no real value.

In the USA the unemployment rate is only 4% and the average standard of living is not high, yet we South Africans have to face an unemployment rate of around 32% which is alarming.

These are the facts and we cannot just shrug our shoulders in powerless disbelief but we have to stand together and do something about it. We simply can’t keep on feeding the “school and college money beast” while our children has no garanteed career future.

I believe the answer to this problem is simple yet not as unrealistic (pie in the sky) as the free education campaigns suggested by many.

The answer is two-fold: Parents should only pay HALF the current college fees as the current profits of colleges are extremely high (just look at the cars and the wealthly life-style of the owners and their directors) and secondly, students should have access to proper internships which is a partnership between enterprise and educational institutions.

A student must not struggle to get an internship when he/she is a registered student and definately they should NOT be looking for internship opportunities on their own which is predominantly the case at most colleges even though they may deny it.

I have many students from other colleges asking me to get them internships because word-of-mouth gets around of the success of my internship programme which I have in partnership with small/medium companies in my community (northern suburbs).

It is my mission to implement these two basic solutions of financial affordability and quality training/internships to all parents and young people (19-25 years) in my community through my college, Calvin-Academy, I founded in 2016.

Internships - most colleges are getting it wrong

Internships
Most colleges are getting it wrong.
Here’s why and how I believe it
should be done

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