Jubail Industrial College beckons Bahraini students

Jubail Industrial College runs associate degree courses for students who join the institution after completing their school and they are employed as assistant engineers --- at the technical level, said the Industrial Relations Director of the institute. He told the Bahrain that students from Bahrain would benefit much from joining the institute. “We have students from all over the GCC. But now Saudi students form about 99 per cent of the student population. We also accomodate students from other parts of the GCC,” the director told the Bahrain News Agency. He added that the institute enrolls about 1000 to 2000 students every year. These include students fresh out of school and employees of oil companies. “In addition to the associate degree, we have now launched a bachelors degree course,” he added. The institute, he said, maintains a good link with Aramco and Sabic. “We also have tie-ups with training centres such as Olympus and Eclipse. In the area of non-destructive testing we have specialised courses run for employees from industries. These applicants work for four to seven years and then want to upgrade their skills and approach us,” he added. Asked about the prospects for students joining the Jubail Industrial College, he said, “Our students join Aramco, Sabic and the mining giant Ma'aden. We also have applicants from Bapco in Bahrain.” Rupesh Nair, NDT Training Centre Instructor, said the Bapco crowd was from mechanical and quality assurance departments of Bapco. “They are with us for certification in non destructive testing. They look at extending the lifespan of their plant. This helps the company get skilled manpower abreast with the latest and also ensure the facilities are well maintained.” Turning to the sectors of training and the benefit from it for the companies, he was quick, “We provide skilled manpower, but it is upto the facilities and their owners to use the skills to fight corrosion at periodic levels. The frequency of monitoring the health of plants gets more and more frequent as the plant grows older.” They said that the position of the college in Jubail “gives us the benefit of working hand in glove with the industry. The proximity to industries gives us the benefit of having an advisory committee with people from the industry. They review the curriculum and suggest additions and deletions, depending on the industrial needs,” they added. In addition to the associate degree the college also conducts short programmes for the industry. These are tailored for companies. For example the college has a programme for Sabic that ran for 15 years. “Every year they send us 300 to 500 students,” they said. The proximity and cooperation with industries ensures availability of jobs for the students coming out of associate degrees. 90 per cent of them have received employment. The remaining 10 per cent decided to go higher for better degrees, said the director.