Students on an exciting new international BP Apprenticeship training programme based at Forth Valley College’s Falkirk Campus – have now graduated.
The BP Mauritania and Senegal National Apprentice Technician Training Programme – a collaborative project between FVC and Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) who acted as strategic partners to the global oil and gas giant – have developed and trained national technicians in the production, mechanical, instrumentation and electrical fields to prepare them to work safely, efficiently and compliantly on project facilities in the west African nations by attaining internationally recognised, accredited qualifications.
A total of 46 apprentice technicians have now graduated from the programme and after a 68 week (12 of which was online) course. They are now ready to progress to the next stage of their apprentice program. As they wait for the innovative, multi-billion-dollar investment to develop a world-class gas field on the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal, where BP is the Operator to come on-stream, they are moving onto assets in Trinidad, Indonesia, Oman and Azerbaijan.
A special ceremony was held at Glasgow Caledonian University on the evening of Monday 5 December, where the Principals of FVC, Professor Ken Thomson, and GCU, Professor Pamela Gillies, as well as senior management from BP gathered to help the graduates celebrate their achievements.
Another event to mark them attaining their new – and much sought after – qualifications was held at FVC’s Falkirk Campus on Wednesday 14 December, where they were presented with their scrolls and certificates.
All the apprentices were registered students of Forth Valley College and studied a range of oil and gas specific HNC qualifications within the College’s specialised lab and simulator environment at the Falkirk Campus, graduating with an SVQ Level 2 in Performing Engineering Operations and a HNC in either Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Measurement and Control (Instrumentation) or Chemical Engineering.
Sustainability was also a core aim of the programme as BP’s new strategy as of 2020, will seek to pivot from being an international oil company focused on producing resources, to an integrated energy company focused on delivering solutions for customers within a sustainability framework, linking the organisation’s purpose with net zero ambitions. The GTA project will therefore be within the Low Carbon Electricity and Energy stream of BP’s strategy.
Professor Ken Thomson OBE, Principal of Forth Valley College, said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to host our students from the BP Mauritania and Senegal National Apprentice Technician Training Programme at our Falkirk Campus on this new and exciting partnership course – and collaborate with Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) who are acting as strategic partners to the global oil and gas giant BP.
“They have been a credit to themselves, their families, their employers and their countries and they have enhanced our College community enormously since they started in September 2021.
“We will be sorry to see them go, but we are very proud of them all and we wish them well for the future and will be monitoring their progress in the years to come. Hopefully, many of them will return to Forth Valley College in the future and help to inspire the next generation of engineers with tales of their success.”
