ME Construction News
by Anirban Bagchi
A Volvo-supported vocational education academy with a capacity to provide industrial training to 150 students per batch was inaugurated late last month in the Moroccan city of Settat by the country’s monarch King Mohammed VI.
Part of the Volvo Group’s programme of developing vocational training schools in Africa, the school is based on an 84-hectare campus and features training workshops, classrooms and an auditorium, as well as a restaurant and residence halls. Apart from Moroccans, the school will also train students from Senegal and the Ivory Coast on the use of a wide range of construction equipment, with the objective of graduating up to 2,000 students a year.
Volvo partnered with USAID, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Government of Morocco and the OCP Foundation, which is connected to the country’s largest mining company.
Volvo will help develop the curriculum, train the trainers and provide technical assistance and equipment. The company has already provided both electrical and hydraulic benches for the workshops along with a D7 engine, a D16 engine and other equipment, including tools and components. The school has also bought six Volvo machines, including a paver, hauler and graders. The Swedish giant has also made its online training material available for the school’s teachers and is advising on curriculum development. Deliveries of 14 Volvo engines are also planned for the near future.
“As the local dealer, we at Volvo Maroc will provide practical support and assistance to the school and students with regard to site visits, access to our workshops and securing work placements with suitable Moroccan companies,” said Tim Richardson, General Manager of Volvo Maroc’s Construction Equipment Division.
