Testimonials – Student Stories

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Cameron Norris

Cameron Norris took a Level 4 Business Management programme at Warnborough College with the vision of starting his own business one day. He had found high school to be a difficult and isolating experience. He wasn’t sure if Higher Education would be an option for him. He took a chance on the Level 4 Diploma and he was impressed with the lectures, tutorials and helpful feedback from the teachers. He describes his Warnborough experience thus: “It’s been good, no one is overlooked. There’s a good atmosphere. Sincerely, without Warnborough, I would never have achieved as much as I have.”

Cameron went on to complete his Bachelor’s degree and is now completing his Master’s degree. In the meantime, he has created a million-dollar start-up in India that designs and manufactures robotic arms/hands.


Maria Campanella

Maria Campanella hails from Argentina. She came over to the UK to study on a Level 3 Business Management programme to give her better job possibilities in the future. She liked the structure of the Warnborough course, feeling that the course was designed to prevent students from falling behind. It was also a wonderful opportunity for her to improve her English and experience life in an English-speaking country. After achieving her Diploma, Maria was head-hunted by the Intercontinental Hotels Group in the United Arab Emirates to manage their Human Resources. She is now the leading recruiter for one of the largest cosmetics companies in the Middle East.

Here’s Maria in her own words:  “I had a fantastic experience, I learnt a lot. The course was really useful… After the course I became more organized…I gained some new knowledge. The lessons and teachers were really good. The courses are very helpful and useful and taught in a nice style.

Life in Canterbury was quite easy, everything is handy, the city is small and has lots of interesting places to visit… I was really impressed by being in a place so full of history. It’s also a place full of students and young people, so it’s really easy to make friends…there’s a chance to meet people everywhere.  Fortunately, Canterbury is very close to Ashford International, with the Eurostar train which connects to the rest of Europe (via France). Also, you can get very good deals on plane tickets…so it’s really handy, you can go anywhere in Europe. 

I would definitely recommend people study at Warnborough College. I had a brilliant experience – not just the teachers, but all the staff were very supportive. When I wanted to talk to somebody, there was always someone there to listen to me…


Christopher Colman

Chris Coleman came back to the UK after living abroad for a while. After contemplating his university access options, he chose to do the Level 5 Diploma in Business Management.

He says: “I really wanted to do a course that was specific to business management and I also wanted to do one that could gain me access to university. The course applies quite a lot to real life, to actual work situations. It gives you good experience with the work processes that would come into a university course or any other form of education afterwards. If you’re looking to do anything to do with business management, I would definitely recommend it.

“It’s not just an alternative to A Levels – even if you have A Levels it’s a good thing to do to link in between university… If you’re going to do something along the lines of business management, if you just do A Levels then when you go to university you won’t have heard of any of the concepts. You might be trained academically, but not in the field of business… So, I would say I’m at quite a big advantage over someone who took the university route. This course has definitely saved me time and effort.


Margarita Myrktchan

Margarita Mkyrtchan completed her Levels 4 and 5 Integrated Diploma in Business Management.  She says: “Two things made a big impression on me when I came to Warnborough. The first was the beauty of Canterbury. The second was the people in the College – everybody was friendly, kind and nice.

Despite missing her home in Armenia, she found it easy to make friends here.  She adds: “I am an ambitious person and I am pleased that Warnborough College helped me to make my dreams come true…my aim is to learn everything I can to start my own business. I was very privileged to be able to study what I want in such a happy and helpful environment.

 


Barbara Conlin

Barbara Conlin never had the chance to complete her education due to family illness which led to her being taken into local authority care. She says: “I only went to a ‘normal’ school for about five days in total and I was bullied on account of my disability. I managed to get an NVQ Level 2 in Health and Social Care from West Kent College but it was very hard for me because of my lack of basic schooling.  I wanted to improve myself at a higher level, but at a College that would be really supportive to  me and not just presume that I know more than I do“.

Barbara completed her Level 4 Diploma and enjoyed  every minute. She says: “I always had this dream about designing holidays for other disabled people but I was too shy to go back to college. I felt safe and confdent at Warnborough because it is  such a friendly place”.

Barbara says: “I used to think that college life was just something that happened to other people, not me.  Now, even though I am 30, I feel like my life is just beginning. I never imagined that somebody like me would be debating, or studying economics, but our tutors are so encouraging that they help us to believe that anything is possible. I really had a great time!”.


Khum Raj Pathak

Khum Raj Pathak left Nepal on the dream of achieving a great British education. He studied on our Level 6 Diploma and was subsequently accepted into Birkbeck College in London to do his Master of Science in Education.  In 2017, he graduated with a PhD from Canterbury Christchurch University.

He is indebted to his experience at Warnborough College. In his words: “I am very grateful to Warnborough College for showing me the way. Those early classes were tough – relearning how to learn effectively, being challenged and learning to challenge. It changed my mind forever and that enabled me to go on to further study at distinguished universities. Thank you very much, Warnborough College.