WHAT do a construction worker, investment banker and an agency worker have in common?

They have all returned to education after a number of years and are looking forward to drastic career changes.

South Essex College is celebrating Adult Learners Week this week with a number of open events and applauding those who have already made the leap.

They include Rebecca Fuller, 23, Jonathan Desbrow, 27, and Kuda Mazendame, 47.

Their goal is to gain the skills and qualifications they need to apply to universities across the country in a wide range of subject areas, all in a single year.

They are all near to completing an access to science course to become a forensic scientist, veterinarian and a radiographer. Here, they tell what drove them to go back to college: Jonathan Desbrow, a former builder, from Canvey, is swapping hands-on physical work for the detailed and interesting work of forensics. He decided to do an access course as the quickest route to university.

He hopes to go on to study a degree in forensic science with anthropology at the University of Central Lancashire.

Jonathan said: “Science is always something that I’ve really enjoyed, even when I was working in construction.

“I’ve done lots of different jobs and know what I really want to do now. “I’m here because I want to be here not because I feel I have to be or someone wants me to be.”

He added: “Forensics combines both science and helping people, two areas that I really care about, and this course has helped make that a reality.”

Rebecca Fuller admits animals have always played an important part in life. The former investment banker has given up the fast pace of City life to retrain and combine her first love with work.

She works at a horse vets in Witham and volunteers for the South Essex Wildlife Hospital, based in south Orsett and is looking forward to a new career.

Rebecca, from Southend, said: “Lots of people have an aim of what they want to get out of this so they’ve got a specific goal in sight of what they want to do.

“I want to be a vet, so obviously studying science at university is what is required.

“When I originally went to college, when I was younger, I did completely different subjects, so those qualifications wouldn’t get me where I want to go.”

Rebecca now has places secured at the University of Lincoln and Surrey to study bio- veterinary science.

Kuda Mazendame, from Basildon, is the oldest of the three, and is looking to go on and study radiography at the University of Kent in Canterbury.

He has had a number of jobs through various agencies but is now aiming to settle down. Kuda said: “It’s a great opportunity for me to have the chance to go back into education at the age of 47.

“I’m finding this course really interesting.

“It’s great there are so many varied places for people to go on to learn, especially people of my age. I last went to school more than 30 years ago and education has changed an awful lot in that time.”

It takes a lot of guts to come back into education after a long gap, but any initial worries were to be unfounded.

He added: “At first I was quite concerned about the number of young people and the amount of work, but that wasn’t the case.

“The tutors have been really helpful and the other students are just a fantastic group of people.

“I think one of the good things about the course is it covers a wide range of different areas and just opens up so many doors of study In our class we have people wanting to go on and do everything from psychology to pure sciences.”