REDCAR & Cleveland College is helping to develop the skills and knowledge of dozens of Libyan students in the oil industry.
This year a record 75 engineering students from the oil-rich country are studying at the college for a range of industry- recognised qualifications.
The college, which has been training students from Libya for the past 15 years, delivers bespoke and certificated courses to Higher National Diploma Level.
Course subjects include plant & processing engineering, fabrication & welding, mechanical engineering and instrumentation & control. The college is also providing Higher National Certificate (HNC) training, lasting 39 weeks, in chemical engineering and electrical engineering.
The courses are being delivered at the main Redcar & Cleveland College campus and also at the Wilton Centre, where the college has taken over an entire floor on ‘A’ block.
The college said many of the people it had helped to train were now in senior-level jobs in Libya.
Chris Coupland, engineering & technology commercial manager, said: “Attracting the Libyans in such numbers has been good for the college as we have created new jobs for lecturers, but it is also good for the local economy as a whole as many of the students are accompanied by their families during the duration of their course.”
Two of the current crop of students are Salah Abedrabbah and Hassan Shatewi, both of whom work for the Sirte oil company and are studying for a Higher National Diploma in mechanical engineering.
Salah said: “This is my second time in the UK and I love it. The teaching methods are very different to those we are used to in Libya - for example using a blackboard - but the course is really very enjoyable and the people here are very friendly and treat us nicely.”
Redcar & Cleveland College is developing a new £3.5m higher education facility with the aim of producing more process engineers for the chemical sector.
The centre will cater for people who are studying higher education courses and will feature a 250-seat lecture theatre and ICT and learning resource facilities.
