Forth Valley College welcomed a high level delegation from Ghana to their Falkirk Campus recently (Wednesday 6 September 2017).
The delegation – which included Joseph Cudjoe (MP) Deputy Minister Finance & Infrastructure at the Ministry of Energy, Dr Kwame Amoah Baah-Nuakoh, General Manager, Sustainability, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Patrick Ofori - Manager, Sustainability, GNPC, and Mr George Okley from the Ministry of Energy - were interested in finding out more about oil and gas training provision available at the College and to discuss possible partnership opportunities, to assist with ongoing up-skilling work across oil and gas and mining sectors in Ghana.
The group were accompanied by Andy Monaghan from the Scottish Development International (SDI) Oil and Gas Team and Selasi Adzo Nukpe from the Department of International Trade (DIT) Team in Accra, Ghana and were welcomed by Forth Valley College’s International Development Manager Andrew Campbell and Head of Electrical, Instrumentation and Chemical Engineering, Dean Williams.
GNPC play a lead role in ensuring the sustainability and growth of the oil and gas industry in Ghana and are keen to add specialist Vocational Education and Training to their existing oil and gas engineering provision.
The trip was organised by Scottish Development International (SDI) and Department of International Trade (DIT) to enable the Deputy Minister and GNPC managers to find out about the wide range of oil and gas training provision available from institutions across Scotland. The visit to Forth Valley College was part of wider Off-Shore Europe events held in Aberdeen from 5-8 September.
Andrew Campbell, said: “We were delighted to welcome the delegation from Ghana. The growth in the oil and gas industry in Ghana and the focus on vocational education and training makes this an attractive market for FVC. The Ministry and GNPC know what they want and I'm delighted that they chose to visit the college to engage in discussions. I think they left with a full understanding of our capabilities and the value FVC can add to delivering the skills required by employers in the oil and gas or mining industries in Ghana. Both the Deputy Minister and GNPC were impressed with our capabilities and strengths and over the next few weeks we will explore ways in which GNPC and FVC can work together.”