Over the years, the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) and the team at GE Kuwait Technology Center (GEKTC) have built a great relationship and many of ACK’s engineering students have interned at the Center. It was a norm for ACK to take their students on field trips to GE Kuwait Technology Center pre-COVID19. Restrictions did lead to a pause to in-person workshops, but one was held virtually last year.

Earlier this year, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, ACK and GEKTC collaborated to hold a training day for 30 aspiring electrical engineering students. The idea behind the event was that their professor, Dr. Majdi Alomari, wanted his students to experience hands on training to compliment what they hear in class.

The trip to GEKTC included a tour of the facility and a series of small practical sessions that allowed the students to experience the simulation of digital/analog IO’s interfacing with programmable logic controllers (PLCs). They also got to experience and learn about control systems.

As Dr. Alomari said, “It was a good opportunity for our students to see large generators, steam turbines, and gas turbines. This field trip allowed them to touch, feel, and listen to what they are learning about, which in turn helps them build on the knowledge they receive in class, gain a better understanding of topics, and expose them to worlds outside their own.”

The first facility of its kind in Kuwait, activities at GEKTC focus on three core areas – training, tooling, and research and development (R&D). The training cell has the capacity to train up to 900 people a year in areas such as servicing and repairing gas turbines, steam turbines, generators, and other aspects of the power generation industry. The courses offered are both hands-on and theoretical.

“It was very refreshing hosting students at the Center once again after a long pause and seeing the appetite and interest they have for learning about the power sector and what we do,” said Amani Ramadhan, Lead Education Specialist at GEKTC. “We want to keep building on these efforts at GEKTC and continue to set up workshops that will benefit students, ultimately contributing to strengthening Kuwait’s power sector.”