SIT and SPTC team up to provide joint training programmes |14 February 2020
The signing of the MoU (Photo: Joena Meme)
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT) and the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) was signed yesterday.
Both organisations have been collaborating for decades in the provision of training for the young technical professionals. This MoU allows SPTC and SIT to undertake joint training programme development that better meets the required skills of the workplace.
“Under the MoU, it will enable SPTC to send trainees to attend theoretical aspects of their training at SIT campus, thus tapping into the skills of the highly trained lecturers at SIT on one part and on the other part improves work based training.
Similarly, SIT students will be able to undertake their practical training or do their work attachment at SPTC’s workshop, which is one of the most well equipped mechanical workshops in the country. Furthermore, when SPTC has visiting overseas experts, SIT students will also benefit through skills transfers,” noted the chairman of the SPTC board, Andy Moncherry.
He further stated that this MoU sets the platform for diverse and multi-faceted exchanges and experience sharing between SPTC and SIT. It spells out an array of areas of collaboration and cooperation between the two organisations.
Mr Moncherry recalled that last year SPTC revamped and re-launched its internal training school in its quest to widen training opportunities for its staff and provide other specialised training unique to SPTC.
“Additionally, the aim was to boost the quality of training offered to TVET and other training schemes participants, through the Ministry of Employment such as skills acquisition scheme.
“What is primordial for SPTC is that through this MoU, we expect to attract more SIT graduates to take up employment with SPTC and gradually reduce the number of expatriates employed with SPTC, especially in the technical and mechanical departments,” stressed Mr Moncherry.
In order to facilitate the new cohort of graduates, SPTC is inviting them to come discuss with them if they want to develop a career in their selected field and in return SPTC will provide them with more advanced overseas training and locally and also with supervisory and management skills, obviously depending on their commitment, dedication and hard work.
The director of SIT, Hubert Barbe, also noted that SPTC expressed about the issue of keeping the local workers. “They thought by working closely with SIT they could receive our students on work attachments, groom them and encourage them to join the organisation when they graduate. Finally we agreed on a MoU and presented it to the Ministry of Education. The main objective of the MoU is to ensure that both parties benefit from it. The important part of it is that now companies are coming to us to assist them with local staff. Right now we currently have five apprentices with the SPTC. We have a big demand in the mechanic studies and as first choice we had 87 applicants but we can only take a cohort of 18,” noted Mr Barbe.
The event was attended by the principal secretary of tertiary education and human resource development, Dr Linda Barallon; the chief executive of SPTC Patrick Vel; deputy CEO of SPTC Maxwell Julie and the members of the SIT governing board.