A Technical Report on Student’s Industrial Work Experience Scheme (S.I.W.E.S) Undertaken at Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Benin City.

                                

This report is based on Student’s Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), a programme designed to complement the theoretical knowledge acquired by the students in the academic environment for the past four (4) years, for a period of six (6) months, in the respective establishment of their discipline. This SIWES Training was undertaken at 330/132/33KV substation of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Located at Sapele Road, Benin-City, Edo State. This report gives brief explanation about the SIWES program vis-à-vis its history, objectives and aims, while it also provides a brief description, roles and functions of TCN Benin work centre. This report also encompasses the totality of technical exposure and workplace experience garnered from the core departments which includes; Lines and Maintenance Department, Protection Control and Metering Department, Electrical Maintenance Department.

This report also gives the basic maintenance and safety procedures from the HSE(Health Safety and Environment) Department, especially in the switch yard, activities at the Transmission stage of electricity generation and distribution which forms the intermediary position of the entire cycle are the main focus of this report.

It finally gives an account of the equipments used; types and their function respectively as well as some of the problems and challenges encountered during the program and also suggested ways for improving the scheme.

CONCEPT OF SIWES

The Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) is a skill training program, designed to expose and prepare students of Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Technology, Colleges of Agriculture and Colleges of Education for the industrial work situation they are likely to meet after graduation. The Scheme also affords the students the opportunity of familiarizing and exposing themselves to the needed experience in handling equipment and machinery that are usually not available in their institutions. Before the establishment of the scheme, there was a growing concern among our Industrialists that graduates of our Institutions of higher learning lacked adequate practical background studies preparatory for employment in Industries.

The employers were of the opinion that the theoretical education going on in higher Institutions was not responsive to the needs of employers of labour. It is against this background, that the rationale for initiating and designing the Scheme by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) during its formative years – 1973/1974 was introduced to acquaint students with the skills of handling employers’ equipment and machinery.

BACKGROUND OF SIWES

The Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) was initiated in 1973 by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF). It is a tripartite program involving the Students, the Tertiary Institutions, and Industries. It is funded by the Federal Government of Nigeria and jointly coordinated by the ITF and the National Universities Commission (NUC).

SIWES is a generic program cutting across over 60 programs in the universities, over 40 programs in the polytechnics and about 10 programs in the colleges of Education. Thus, SIWES is not specific to any course of study.

OBJECTIVES OF SIWES

• Prepare Students for the work situation they are likely to meet after graduation.
• Provide Students with an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge in real work situation.
• Enhance Students’ contacts for later job opportunities/placements. 
• Expose work methods and techniques in handling equipment and machinery that may not be available in their institutions.
• Help in bridging the gap between university work and actual practice.

IMPORTANCE/EFFECT OF SIWES ON GENERIC, TECHNICAL AND RESOURCE SKILLS OF PARTICIPANTS

Growing public demand and legislative expectations for accountability in the past two decades have made it imperative that higher Education administrators and researchers pay attention to the potential impact of Student Work Programs on skill development, which in turn impacts directly on national development objectives. The skill aspects acquired from active participation in the scheme are highlighted below;

Communication Skills: Communicates oral messages appropriate to listeners and situations, demonstrates good vocabulary and listening actively.

Creative/Innovative Thinking: Generates new ideas, combines information in new ways, and makes connection between seemingly unrelated ideas.

Problem Solving: Recognizes a problem, identifies possible reasons for the discrepancy, and implements a plan of action to resolve it. Time Management: Selects relevant, goal related activities, ranks them in order of importance, allocates times, prepares and follows schedules.

Leadership Skills: Ability to influence others towards the achievement of a goal.

Uses Computers To Process Information: Employs computer to acquire, organize, analyze and communicate information.

Numeracy: Performs basic computations and approaches practical problems by choosing appropriately from a variety of mathematical techniques.

To Continue Reading, Click to download the Report

To get the LogBook, Click to Download it here.

Have you any questions as regards the Report and Logbook? Kindly leave them at the comment Section and be sure to get rapid response. Share to family and friends if you got value from using this website.