IN SUPPORT of providing vocational education and training to citizens and residents of Brunei Darussalam, the Energy Week 2014 is featuring the Energy Industry Competency (EIC) Fair and the Brunei Maritime Academy (BMA) at the Exhibition Hall 1 of the Bridex International Confernece Centre, Jerudong.

His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam officially launched the Energy Week 2014 yesterday at the Bridex International Convention Centre.

The Energy Industry Competency Framework (EICF), established in July 2013, is a joint collaboration between the Energy Department at the Prime Minister’s Office (EDPMO), the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the energy industry with objectives of defining the competencies required to perform jobs and roles in the workplace in the energy industry, creating alignment between training providers and industry requirements, as well as increasing employability by up-scaling the skills obtained by locals to increase the number of Bruneians to work in the energy industry.

In conjunction with the Energy Week 2014, the fair aims to promote careers and employment opportunities in the oil and gas industry as well as to share with the public the vocational programmes available to join the industry. This is one of the many on-going initiatives under the EICF to increase the required expertise for critical occupations in the industry.

The EIC Fair section is divided into different networks such as engineering, construction and maintenance, logistic and marine, well engineering services and drilling as well as other general service companies.

The Discover Oil & Gas area showcases a number of interactive displays and exhibits suitable for all ages. Students can also take the advantage of the EICF e-registration counters that provide easy-to-use online registration for the vocational programmes.

It is hoped that the close cooperation that has led to the EIC Fair will lead to beneficial opportunities for the youths, in line with His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s titah for the country to produce quality human resources and to generate employment opportunities for locals.

In an interview with Syafie Nadi, a lecturer from the Mechanical Training Centre who is participating in the EIC Fair, he share that the EICF is basically a combination between the Energy Department at the Prime Minister’s Office and MoE’s Department of Technical Education that brings in several courses that give training for higher skill and industry skill qualifications.

“For the Mechanical Training Centre, we offer courses such as welding, scaffolding, rigging and pipe fitting. Basically we would ask the companies the number of students they require to fill their vacancies once they graduate. Right now our students are training with RTO and they will be placed in companies and have been offered a conditional offer of just passing the RTO,” explained Syafie.

The Mechanical Training Centre lecturer later added that after the students register online at the EIC Fair, the training institutes and centres will look through their applications for the next intake.

Meanwhile, the BMA is one of the centres of excellence under the new system, operating under the purview of the MoE and supported by the EDPMO as well as the Ministry of Communications where one of the aims of the academy is to produce Bruneian maritime professionals and seafarers approved and recognised by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to work in the maritime industry of Brunei Darussalam.

In order to meet the immediate demand of the maritime industry, the BMA targets to enrol students for programmes in Deck Rating, Engine Rating, Diploma in Marine Engineering and Nautical Studies as well as bridging programmes for cooks and stewards.

The objective of the BMA Exhibition is to promote the programmes on offer by BMA, thus encouraging local participation in the high in-demand maritime industry.

The BMA Exhibition Pavilion showcases Marine programmes, career paths and interactive exhibits. The pavilion hopes to share with the visitors the various job descriptions such as seafarers, career paths for both Ratings and Officers (NCV) and qualification as seafarers (NCV) for both Deck and Engine Ratings as well as Deck and Engine Officers.

In an interview, a student currently undergoing training at the BMA, Rafiuddin Bidain, said because of the limited choices of programmes for some students in furthering their studies, the BMA has started to offer maritime courses for them to expand the choices that students have as well as to create job opportunities once they graduate.

“Students can send their CVs before the next enrolment in July. Those with GCE ‘O’ levels could go for the diploma courses first which are on-shore based and then when they decide to continue, it’ll be bridging programmes for offshore courses,” explained Rafiuddin.

Visitors can also learn more about the training facilities, apprenticeship programmes and the Computer Based training by Singapore Maritime Academy. The first batch of BMA students will enrol in April 2014, which will be followed by another group in July and October 2014. - Borneo Bulletin (25 March 2014)