College teams up with major Russian petrochemical company

College teams up with major Russian petrochemical company
College teams up with major Russian petrochemical company

Forth Valley College recently marked an official partnership with SIBUR, Russia’s largest integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company.

Forth Valley College Principal Dr Ken Thomson and SIBUR Director Victor Kuklinov signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the College’s Stirling Campus today (Friday 2 December).

The signing event was also attended by the Russian Consul General Andrey Pritsepov and Stirling Provost Mike Robbins.

The College and SIBUR have already embarked on their first joint initiative.  A two week training programme launched on Monday 28 November which will help SIBUR implement a corporate vocational management system.  Tailored training is being delivered to four separate groups including directors, supervisors, employees and representatives from SIBUR’s Russian partners Tyumen Industrial University and Tobolsk Technical College.

A team from SIBUR visited the College earlier this year in March and September to find out more about Modern Apprenticeship training on offer.  Whilst here they took part in workshops and classroom observations and also went on site visits to a number of the College’s industry partners.

Dr Ken Thomson, Principal of Forth Valley College, said:

“We’re delighted to announce an official partnership with SIBUR.   We are confident we have the expertise and knowledge to support the high quality training they are looking for and there is scope to work together on a range of initiatives.  This is an exciting collaboration which will deliver significant benefits for both organisations.”

SIBUR Director Victor Kuklinov, said:

“Sibur is a leader in gas processing and petrochemicals industry in Russia. We continue to make significant investment in the construction of new facilities, whilst building our capacity to meet the modernisation of global production. We continuously look to improve the technological processes and the quality of our products, the catalyst for this improvement is in the constant development of our employees as we continue look at improving efficiency.

“Working with Forth Valley College and their experience and knowledge in delivering vocational training, will enable us to implement best practice in the delivery of our own Modern Apprenticeship programme contributing to the professional development of our staff. I hope that our cooperation with Forth Valley College will be productive.”

Jonathan Wilson, Head of Education for Scottish Development International, said:

"Scotland occupies a unique position in the world’s oil and gas sector. Our oil and gas heritage and significant skills and training experience in this sector means we are extremely well positioned to undertake transformative partnership roles with companies around the world. Forth Valley College's close collaboration with Sibur in Russia is another great example of Scotland's international reach through partnerships to deliver its globally recognised education and skills platform."