Student Stampede to study at Longy
By Bronwyn Hastings, The Weekly Advertiser (Ag-Life). Photos by Paul Carracher, The Weekly Advertiser.
Longerenong College’s new year enrolments have ‘delighted’ staff, with an overwhelming amount of interest in its agricultural courses following its annual open day.
College marketing and business development co-ordinator Brad Barber said about 40 students had already enrolled.
“We had some fantastic conversations during the open day and have been really pleased with the response since,” he said.
“There is a lot more choice now and we’re trying to give students a bit more of what they want.
“We are adjusting our courses to suit what we’re seeing in the industry, and what the industry wants from graduates.”
Mr Barber said students could ‘mix and match’ to study two courses each year, taking in the college’s agronomy, agribusiness, and wool classing qualifications.
“We expanded on our displays this year, with agronomists in the agronomy rooms, wool classers in the wool classing room, and we had one of the trainers with our drones in the technology room,” he said.
“We had a lot more interactive displays where students and their parents could come and talk to the trainers and get an understanding of how the students learn on campus.”
A jump-on, jump-off bus toured groups to show steers, an historical display, partner RAGT’s on-site greenhouse, and the college’s agribusiness centre.
“We set up stations where prospective students could speak with current students about courses, scholarships and apprenticeships, finance, and generally living and studying at Longerenong,” Mr Barber said.
“We had students doing walking tours as well, which took in the on-campus living and dining areas.”
Mr Barber said the open day was a culmination of a number of touch points, after meeting some of the applicants at career expos and field days.
“Prospective students are excited, but by the end of the day, parents are getting excited because they can see the potential for their children as well,” he said.
