After 36 years of offering high quality education to thousands of successful graduates from all over New South Wales and Queensland, local businessman Duncan Passmore is retiring from Passmores College at the age of 77. As he enters a new phase of consulting only, the College will be closing its Hunter Street Campus for face to face learning and transitioning towards a purely online study model.

 

Passmores College was originally founded in 1982 by Duncan, his wife, Pamela Butler-Passmore and Pamela’s father, the late Hon. Chairman of the Board, Gilbert Manley Butler. They saw a need for young people to have access to education that would result in absolute employability. Over their decades of service to the community, the college has grown from humble beginnings to an educational empire, achieving their goal of almost 100% graduate employment rate since inception.

 

Affectionately known within the college and classroom as Mr P, Duncan’s years in the industry have also seen him delivering hundreds of motivational seminars to HSC students throughout NSW. Many Year 12 students have thanked him for his words of wisdom and advice, and also credited him as being a major help in their surviving the HSC. Many local businesses ranging from SME’s to large corporations have also thanked Passmores College for instilling in their students a strong work ethic, dedication to whatever task they are given and their adherence to grooming standards.

 

Duncan and his team have always believed in giving back to the community and in the years of operation, the students of Passmores College have donated over $550,000 to local charities, including Ronald McDonald House, SIDS for Kids, Hunter Breast Cancer Association, Variety, Camp Quality, Salvation Army, Vision Australia and many more.

 

Of his impending retirement Duncan says, “Pamela and I, with our dedicated teams over the years, have worked tirelessly to have students reach their potential and get where they want to be. We have taken great joy in our life’s work and have seen so many students succeed and do remarkable things. Now it is time to hang up my figurative hat, join my wife in retirement, and enjoy some time with our seven children and 17 grandchildren. Passmores will continue but from now on without face to face courses and Pamela and me at the helm particularly with the ever-increasing demand for online courses."

 

This is further enhanced by an agreement with certain universities that any Passmores student who graduates with their Nationally accredited Diploma of Business will be granted 48 credits which is the first year of a Bachelor of Business.