BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Conditional offers of employment were awarded to 332 trainees from IBTE Pusat Latihan Mekanik (Mechanic Training Centre) by 16 companies yesterday.

The students are the Industrial Skills Qualification (ISQ) 4th intake of IBTE PLM under the Energy Industry Competency Framework (EICP) ISQ programme.

They are training under ISQ programmes for welders, riggers, scaffolders and marker fitters. IBTE PLM is one of the technical institutions under the Ministry of Education that specialises in automotive engineering and science-related fields.

The students were awarded conditional offers of employment by companies in the oil and gas industry upon successfully completing IBTE PLM’s ISQ programme.

They must demonstrate the right attitude and conduct throughout their training at IBTE PLM and registered training organisations. They must also pass the company’s approved medical examination.

In an interview with The Brunei Times on the sidelines of the ceremony, PLM Deputy Principal (Education and Training) Hjh Farizah Norin Hj Abdul Jalil said she hoped the idea of giving the students conditional offers of employment would motivate them.

“They know the job is waiting, but they must pass and work hard for it. Every time we have a job fair, we will also bring our role models from ISQ 1 and ISQ 2 who had been working with the oil and gas industry to showcase their experience and attract more students,” Hjh Farizah said.

“We hope that more companies will participate because the programme is demand driven. The more demand we get, the more students we can accommodate,” she said.

“We see participation by many new companies. Next week, the trainees will go for industrial orientation, where they will go to these companies to see their daily activities. Because some of the companies are new (to the programme), we have explained to them about our expectations, and for them, they expect the trainees to be competent (in their respective fields) and also to have acquired the international certifications needed for their particular programmes,” she added.

IBTE PLM has a six-month tracking system to follow up on the students’ progress.

“This has been our practice since ISQ 1. We conduct courtesy visits to the respective companies, ask about the students’ welfare and whether they are given staff development,” she said.

The programme ranges from 10 months to one year, depending on the course taken.

“If the trainees fail in the first six months in IBTE PLM, they will repeat their modules. This, however, depends on the number of modules they fail. If they fail more than three modules, they have to repeat the whole programme. If they fail only one or two modules, they just come (for class) for the particular module or modules,” she said.

“However, if the trainees fail to fulfil the requirements under the registered training organisations, there is nothing we can do for them,” she added.

She said cases of trainees failing to complete their programme are not common.

“So far, we’ve only had six cases. This was due to unfortunate circumstances. Since the requirements also include attendance, if the trainees have transportation problems, it will affect their attendance. That’s why we encourage them to take up the hostel. We collaborate with Jefri Bolkiah College of Engineering’s hostel to arrange for their accommodation and transportation. This is managed on a case-by-case basis,” she added.

IBTE PLM offers two enrolments annually in April and September.

“The response has been encouraging. Throughout the year, people will keep coming here asking when the next registration is. At the moment, we are opening from 10 August to 31 August for the fifth intake, which will start in October,” she said.

The Brunei Times