The Universal School of Aviation: Carving a Niche in Nigeria’s Aviation Training

Aviation as a profession is quite competitive in Nigeria. Most Nigerian youths desire to study flight courses and become professional pilots. As such, aviation schools where they can study in order to achieve their dreams are in high demand.

In Nigeria today, there are plethora of such schools that have created vistas of opportunities for prospective students to enroll, learn and pursue a career path in the aviation sector.

Some of these schools, however, are more qualified in terms of training personnel and facilities, and have more to offer to their students.

In choosing aviation institutes of learning, it is important for prospective student to go for the very best, and the very best can be found in ‘The Universal school of aviation’ or The USA, as it is more popularly known, it is one of the foremost institutes of aviation in the country, with top quality facilities and experience personnel cut across the aviation sector.

EDUCARE NEWS had an exclusive interview session with Grace Agu, who is the Head of Administration, Universal School of Aviation (USA), she spoke on varieties of issues, and highlighted the unique attributes of the USA, and how they have provided opportunities for students who hitherto believe the school of aviation is only for the privileged in the society.

IDEA BEHIND THE UNIVERSAL SCHOOL OF AVIATION

Universal School of Aviation is an Aviation training school, the idea behind it is borne out from people’s perception that the industry is for selected persons or for the affluence in the society, some other people see it as a small circle where only privileged people get into it, but that is not the case.

We at the Universal School of Aviation are here to bridge the gap and orientate the public; the industry is available for those who are interested and passionate about delving into a career in the Aviation Industry. We are training students, equipping people, and providing man power for the industry.

CRITERIA FOR ENROLLMENT

The minimum requirement is an O’ level result, even the regulation indicated that with a minimum level of an O’ level result including Mathematics and English, some people have the wrong notion that to pursue a career in the School of Aviation you must be a science student, but that is not true, no matter the discipline you have from your secondary school, whether Science, Commercial it does not matter you can have a career in the Aviation industry

UNIVERSAL SCHOOL OF AVIATION COURSES AND BENEFIT

We have series of courses, in no particular order, we have Flight Attendant Courses; Flight Dispatchers; Tourism Management; Etiquette and Reservations; Travel Agency Management; Hotel Management, Customer Management; and Helicopter Landing Officer. These are the courses we offer at the Universal School of Aviation.

We have some courses that comes with Industrial Attachment (I.T) like Ticketing and Reservation course, Tourism Management; Travel Agency Management, because we already have relationship with travelling Agencies, we give our students who take these courses with us I.T placement with these travelling agencies, though it’s not permanent employment, but it up to the students to go to the oraganisation and perform beyond expectation and get retained. Every organisation want people who create value, of course they are being trained in the classroom, but they have to apply those knowledge and go out there and practice, as an aviation student you have to be value oriented so you have the opportunity to be retained.

The idea of Universal School of Aviation is not just to work in the Aviation industry, we have students who have graduated from our Aviation school, and establish their own travelling organization, you can also be self employed, you can also start your own business, it’s a very prospective industry.

Also for courses like Flight Dispatcher that is a licensed course, after you finish the course with us, you will have to get licensed by the authority, which is the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the regulatory body that that is in charge of monitoring aviation affairs in the country. To achieve this, the student will have to go for a practical on the job training after the course with us. What we do for our students we give them recommendation letter to these Airlines we already have existing relationship with to confirm that they are from us.

They run the training for 90 days, which is an avenue to secure a permanent employment with the Airlines.

WHEN WAS UNIVERSAL SCHOOL OF AVIATION ESTABLISHED AND THE SUCCESS STORY

The school was established in 2008, we are 13 years and counting, when you talk about success, you have to weigh it from the beginning to the present moment, the trajectory of the progression, I will say confidently that the Universal School of Aviation has been successful, we have trained lots of people, if you go into the industry today, more than 50 percent of the work force have passed through the Universal School of Aviation who are working in the major Airlines in Nigeria like Air Peace, Emirate Airline, Max Air etc.

UNIVERSAL SCHOOL OF AVIATION AND COST IMPLICATION

We don’t discourage people from furthering their education because the Nigeria educational system already have a structure of primary, secondary higher institution, the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), and then searching for a job, these structured education system in Nigeria gives you an advantage, but in the the Aviation industry the minimum requirement like I said earlier is an O’ level result.

Our fees are affordable; we have designed an installment mode of payment, where our student can pay by installment.

WHAT MAKES UNIVERSAL SCHOOL OF AVIATION UNIQUE

We have a vision of equipping man power for the Aviation industry, we have focus, our Managing Director is relentless in achieving result, that’s one of the things that have been going for us, we have the right approval from the appropriate authority, we have the right certification for our courses, we are not a mushroom aviation school. We have trained a lot of people that also tell people about what we do and how it benefitted them, so they sell us out in a good way.

TRAVEL AND TOURISM

What we do in the Travel and Tourism department is to teach student how to make reservations, book ticket online, plan tour packages, guide their client accordingly, some people that wants to travel are sometimes decline visa at the embassy, but we teach our students how they can carry out the right approach to secure visa for a client.

As a travelling agent, it is your duty to guide your client on how to go through these processes

HOTEL AND HOSPITALITY

As an aviation school, some people might ask what is our business with hotel and hospitality, but the moment there is a travel, people will need a place to stay, in the Hotel and Hospitality course, we teach our students everything they need to know in the industry, how guests are accommodated, how to plan where guest would stay, how to set the tables in a standard way, these are some of the things this course covers.

The Universal School of Aviation (USA), is located in Lagos State, Nigeria, at Ejigbo. And they have been in operation for 13 years and still counting. The institute is equipped to groom students in various aviation field of study, and they also offer additional courses in hotel management and travel agency management.

While the House of Representatives Committee on Finance have asked the management of the Nigerian Aviation College to jack up its fees from N7.5 million to at least N14 million per student.

 The Universal School of Aviation is providing opportunity for prospective students to pay their tuition fee based on chosen course option, with the lowest cost going for about fifty thousand naira (N50,000), which can be paid by installment.