Alongside the academic programme, MTC delivers training specifically designed to ensure that students develop the competencies required to be successful in their workplace. TNA training is defined by Ministry of Defence competency needs and includes a range of prescribed knowledge and skills, some of which will be covered in academic modules and some that will be delivered separately via individual modules and during Department Specific Activities (DSA). TNA training is an invaluable opportunity for students to become familiar with a professional engineering environment.
Key objectives of TNA training:
- To prepare technicians with the scientific knowledge and practical skills required to build capable cadres
- To prepare licensed technicians with advanced theoretical education and practical training, thus reducing the period of practical training after graduation
- To develop employability skills, intellectual skills, core practical skills, and attain competence skills and knowledge of their future places of work
- To consolidate, complement and extend the academic programme and enable the integration of competence in, and application of theory to professional practices
- To enhance students’ familiarity with the real environment of the workplace and enable them to reflect constructively on issues related to work practices
- To ensure that the training needs of the beneficiaries are integrated within the academic curriculum
- To liaise between the College and the beneficiaries for training development
Students are assessed on their performance in activities related to TNA competencies and must meet the TNA requirements in order to graduate and/or progress to higher levels of study.
Department Specific Activities (DSA) play a prominent and important role in TNA training. DSA are a student’s first contact with the military engineering sector, in a real workplace, where students learn to apply the knowledge and skills that have developed within the professional context of their own specialisation. Students have the opportunity to make maximum use of what they have learned in their studies, reflect on issues related to work practices and gain a deeper understanding of the standards that will be required of them in your future career. It is an invaluable chance to develop the employability skills that will be important throughout their professional life.
DSA take place throughout the Engineering Foundation Year and Advanced Diploma/DipHE programmes and are generally scheduled for either 2- or 4-week periods at the end of a semester.
Students may be divided into smaller groups and take part in training on campus at MTC, or off site with personnel from their service unit.