Bahrain national carrier Gulf Air has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bahrain Polytechnic offering the institute’s IT students the opportunity to perform final year industry projects at the airline’s IT Department.

Satisfying the needs of Bahrain’s labour market and further enhancing students’ and graduates’ technical skills and knowledge base, Bahrain Polytechnic students can now enrol in internships, receive on-the-job training and conduct industrial visits related to their field of study.

Speaking at the signing ceremony on the Bahrain Polytechnic campus, Dr Jassim Haji, Gulf Air director IT, said: “The field of IT is fast paced and ever-changing, resulting frequently in critical gaps between the academic studies of this field and what is actually being practiced in the workplace. With this training programme, Polytechnic students will gain real-life experience at Gulf Air in a broad range of information and communication technology (ICT) projects.”

Dr. Mohamed Al Aseeri, Acting CEO of Bahrain Polytechnic said: “Producing work-ready graduates has always been our aim, and the main ingredient here is practical experience. We want to keep working with renowned companies such as Gulf Air, so that our students can benefit by gaining practical experience in a well-established and prestigious organisation that operates internationally. We are certain this collaboration will be a win-win for both our students and the organisation.

Gulf Air provides comprehensive training for Bahrainis and leads the way amongst regional competitors in terms of nationalisation - recording 64 per cent Bahrainisation in 2014. As a key employer committed to developing a national workforce of aviation professionals Gulf Air collaborates with local institutions to develop the skills of young Bahraini aviation professionals in the kingdom further reinforcing its commitment to the local community. – TradeArabia News Service