By Ramona Luthi
Nations University in collaboration with Canada based Learn Corp International –whose objective is to provide specialty training services to clients in the energy sector- is slated to offer internationally recognised technical training courses to Guyanese in 2018 pending consultations with Government Ministries, Oil and Gas entities as well as the Service Sector.
This is according to the Director of Nation’s, Dr Brian O’Toole and the President and Vice-President of Learn Corp International (LCI), Lucia MacIsaac and Donald MacIsaac, respectively, during an interview with INews on Friday.
“We would bring to the table expertise in oil and gas training for technicians, for technical specialists for the oil and gas industry and Nations brings to the table, that they’re a local company that has a demonstrated education and training background and long term history here in Georgetown for meeting the needs of the people of Guyana,” the President of LCI told this publication.
According to the Vice- President of LCI, the Technical Training program will have three courses which targets Mechanical Technicians, Electrical Instrumentation and Operators.
MacIsaac explained that the course that is now coming to Guyana has been conducted in several other countries before, namely Angola, Russia, and throughout the United States of America, among others.
Further, the media was told that it is mandatory for every person interested in joining the program to have received a High School diploma.
The first stage of the course will be applicable for everyone, since according to Lucia MacIsaac, everyone should form a foundation. This step is expected to last 6 months, after which the students will be branched out into their various fields [Operations, Mechanical or Electrical] to complete a 1 year course.
“Once you have your high school diploma, the first part of training that we do is a training that is applicable to everybody so as I said, I don’t care what job you have in the Oil and Gas industry- you should know something about drilling, you should know something about exploration, production, the fluids and processing, environmental and of course safety and safety is the highest priority of those courses…That will take somewhere around 6 months and then we will split them into the specific technical disciplines” she explained.
Upon completion of the program, each student will be awarded an internationally recognised Technical Training Certificate from Scotland based OPITO –which is an educational and training organisation in the oil and gas sector aimed at developing the industry standards.
The representatives of LCI indicated that they have been involved in this specific field of training for some 15 years and “over the past number of months, we’ve had several meetings with Dr O’Toole of Nations and we think that we’ve got a good fit for a partnership for a training centre based here in Guyana.”
When probed on the possible cost of the course, Dr O’Toole explained that the fee had not yet been set since consultations were still ongoing. Nevertheless, he posited that “we will do everything we can to bring the price down to what the local market can meet.”
The LCI President further noted that financial subsidies will be accepted, while emphasising that the course does not focus primarily on the oil and gas sector but on other entities that may need highly trained individuals.
“Sometimes a person may be sponsored by a company so it may be one of the oil and gas companies, it may a service company, it be a Government agency that would give them a scholarship program to take the course. In other cases, it may be that the person foots the bill by themselves and at the end of that time, see that it may be a long term career for them with an industry sector that may be the oil and gas industry or it may be the energy sector in a broader range, like the power company, or it may be logistics or it may be mining, or other industries that can use highly trained technicians,” she said.
The Technical Training course is also aimed at raising the level of quality within companies and is said to be a “good opportunity for Guyana.”
