By Jemal Hassen and Lemessa Demie
Kirubel Seyoum has been teaching at General Wingate Polytechnic College (GWPTC) for 14 years. He recently underwent industrial attachment for the first time at ALTA Computec which exposed him to the latest technologies in computer industries. The attachment was made possible with support from the World Bank through EASTRIP Project.
During his industrial attachment, he practiced both assembling, repair, and maintenance of: Precision; XPS; Latitude; Inspiron; Vostro. “It gave me practical skills training with the latest technology which the college currently doesn’t have for training,” Seyoum said.
He further explained that in addition to skills training, he gained great exposure to ALTA’s working culture, their work procedures and sharing experiences which enabled me to appreciate the company’ work processes starting from receiving order up to final delivery of the maintained equipment to the customer.
His supervisor at AITA Mr Elias Habtewold explained that computer technology changes rapidly and the industrial attachment was a great opportunity to expose trainers to the latest technology. “I hope this will enable them to train their students based on the current industry demand,” Habtewold said.
Seyoum is one of the 34 trainers from GWPC who have been undergoing Trainer Industry Attachment (TIA) at various industries and private sector organisations in Ethiopia. Out of the 34 trainers, 6 were female.
The core purpose of GWPTC-TIA was to increase trainers’ ability to connect theory and practice of workplace skills and policies for enhancement of the quality and relevance of the GWPTC TVET programme.
The TIA programme at the college was started with pre-engagement activities including trainer gap assessment, work plan development, industry identification and logistic and accommodation arrangement for the programme.
Seyoum shared the Knowledge and skills gained at ALTA Computec in maintenance and installation of Computer and laptop (concentrated on Dell Products), Photocopy Machine (concentrated on Sharp products), Printer, UPS (concentrated on Eaton products), Projector with colleagues during a Knowledge sharing workshop of TIA held on 18th March at Harmony Hotel in Addis Abba Ethiopia. The workshop was organised to share knowledge and experience of the industry attachment during which the attached trainers presented their experiences and lessons learned.
The trainers who are undergoing industrial attachment and their supervisors shared the experience and best practices captured during the attachment programme workshop participants from the college community, representatives of the hosting industries, and potential industries for hosting the second round TIA programme.
From the deliberations, it was evident that the attachment exposed them to the latest technologies in industries. The college trainers were formally placed at selected industries, Belayab Cable Manufacturing Plc and ALTA Computec Plc, to update their skills through on-the-job skills maintenance.
During the engagement time the attached trainers were exposed to the industries workplace guided by the industry supervisory. Beyond the day-to-day support and follow up by both industries the college, TIA coordination team of the college was conducting on site visit at both industries to maximize the benefits gained through the program.
Mr. Jemal Hassen, GWPTC/EASTRIP Project Coordinator stressed that institutionalizing industry linkage is one of the project components and trainer industry attachment is among the Disbursement Linked Results of the project.
Mrs. Martha Wolde ,Vice Dean of the college, briefed the audience about the college and the EASTRIP project. She indicated thanks to the EASTRIP project General Wingate Polytechnic College is regaining its historical excellence since its establishment in April 1946 as a secondary school during the reign of his imperial majesty Haile Selassie.
She indicated that now the college had developed a strategic investment plan to establish centre of excellence in electrical and digital applications and got a support worth of about 14.85 million USD for implementation from the World Bank.
Mr. Tsegaye Tefera Industry Liaison officer of GWPTC-EASTRIP-PIU presented and overview of Trainer Industry Attachment indicating the rationale for TIA, purpose, benefits, objectives, implementation approach to the workshop participants. He indicated that the college was following a well-articulated TIA Model for the effective implementation of the program.
Hassen is the EASTRIP Project Coordinator and Demie is the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at General Wingate Polytechnic College.