Oyu Tolgoi Partnership
Southern Gobi Desert and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Holmesglen has been delivering Australian accredited qualifications and skill sets to its Mongolian partner Oyu Tolgoi (OT) at the Southern Gobi Desert mine since 2012. The mine is Mongolia's largest copper and gold mining company and is a strategic partnership between the Government of Mongolia, Turquoise Hill Resources and Rio Tinto. Holmesglen is the only Australian TAFE institute to operate in Mongolia.
Holmesglen was contracted to assist OT to set up a system of training in Mongolia to develop and upgrade the training curricula and assessment principles in line with the Australian Qualification Training Framework (AQTF).
The Holmesglen/OT partnership is a capacity building program focused on the upskilling of the Mongolian workforce. After nine years, over 1,250 trades and technical mine workers have undertaken training in Australian qualifications with Holmesglen.
Working directly with OT, the two main goals remain to:
- broaden the skill base of Mongolian trades workers, who would potentially work in the copper mine; and;
- upskill local trainers to deliver apprenticeship programs in Mongolia to AQF standards.
The services are provided at OT’s copper mine in the Southern Gobi Desert as well as in Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia with support provided remotely from Australia.
This partnership has facilitated the set-up of a Trades Training Centre at the mine site for OT employees.
- Through the partnership the following key outcomes have been achieved -
- The delivery of a staged apprenticeship program for a range of electrical and engineering trades delivered in Mongolian;
- The establishment of an RTO based training system to enable the transition of training and assessment from an expatriate workforce to a local workforce;
- Established a Verification of Competency (VOC) program for contractor companies and their staff;
- The transfer of the engineering and electrical pre-apprenticeship programs to Subutai Mining Services (SMS) in order to enable the delivery of the pre-apprenticeship off site;
- The development of a skill set program to build the capability of tradespeople who had not been through the apprenticeship program;
- The completion of the RTO based training system and the successful transition to an entirely local workforce in 2018.
Subutai Mining Services
Dalanzadgad and Khanbogd, Mongolia
Subutai Mining Services (SMS) is a training provider operating in the Southern Gobi Desert. SMS manages training colleges in the regional cities of Dalanzadgad and Khanbogd.
Holmesglen and SMS have worked together since 2018 to provide pre-apprenticeship programs to young men and women in the region. The programs delivered are Australian accredited Certificate II qualifications in Engineering and Electrotechnology.
This relationship provides internationally recognised awards and outstanding employment opportunities for participants in the program. In a region plagued with high youth unemployment, graduates of the Holmesglen SMS partnership are welcomed into full employment at Oyu Tolgoi mine, Mongolia’s largest employer.
The services provided by Holmesglen to SMS include:
- Resource and assessment materials for all core and elective units that make up the qualifications.
- Provision of enrolment service for all students undertaking certificate programs.
- Registration of students in the Holmesglen Learning Management System (Moodle).
- Validation and review of assessment tasks completed to ensure overall compliance.
- Issuance of certificates to students who have met all course requirements.
- Since the commencement of activities:
- 122 students have competed Certificate II Engineering
- 33 students have been awarded the Certificate II in Electrotechnology.
- Resources and assessment documents have been contextualised and tailored to fit the Mongolian context, with reference to the expectation of Oyu Tolgoi.
- Graduates moved to employment at Oyu Tolgoi and have been given the background to enable them to easily transition into further training and development.