According to our electrical graduates, electrical skills are the most asked questions during their job interviews and exams. They often come back and seek help before going for a job interview to enhance their knowledge related to this subject.

As a response, an "Electrical Skills Enhancement Workshop" was arranged by the Engineering Department through the MS Team on 28th of March, 10-12 PM and 1st of April 2021, 8-10 AM; a two-day session opened to our students from Diploma and Advanced Diploma levels. There were 31 electrical students divided into two batches that participated in the two-day online workshop.

It aimed to help students in preparing for their job hunting requirements and in facing real-world jobs. It is an enhancement program that provided students extra pieces of information excluded in their Electrical Skills course.

The sessions had three different activities. The first part was an interactive activity that prepares the students for the actual workshop. Ms. Mofeeda Pangadil facilitated the opening activity in which the students were given a review of their electrical skills knowledge through an online Kahoot quiz show game. With time pressure as the constraint, the students were able to test their knowledge of electrical skills, and three students were declared winners during the quiz show.

The second part of the workshop was the input sharing by Mr. Rajababu N, a technical instructor in Electrical Skills Course in the Engineering Department here at UTAS-Ibra. He discusses the processes needed and tips in acquiring electrical licenses here in Oman. This license surely helps our graduates in meeting the standards of the industries as electrical engineers.

Mr. Rajababu also discusses the health and safety protocols and the electrical standards used in Oman based on IEEE and IEC International Standards. He continued his discussions by showing students how to design a residential building based on these standards and the acceptable practices in the industry. Practical examples and additional techniques and tools were the highlights of his discussion.

In the last part of the workshop, the participants had actual exercises and two practice sets related to residential building designs and following IEC International Standards and Oman safety practices. The given problems and scenarios tested their understanding, and a filled design form had collected from the participants. According to Mr. Rajababu, the participation was between 90-95%. The activity sheets also showed that the students followed more than 85% of the steps and standards in preparing this medium-level residential building design.

Thus, the two-day workshop was a success. We are hoping for more enhancement training for our students to help them prepare for their job-seeking preparations.

This workshop was organized by Mr. Rajababu N. and Ms. Mofeeda Pangadil, through the support and encouragement of our Electrical Section Head, Mr. Shamganth. It was inspired by the dedication and efforts of the Engineering Student Development Committee headed by Dr. Praveen in providing more interactive activities amid the pandemic that benefits our students.