ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016
22
New Look
Aviation training manager approachable
Jamal Al-Foudari loves teaching, motivates students
This is the second and the last article on Jamal Al Foudari, a brilliant
Kuwaiti Aeronautical Engineer, Aircraft Maintenance Expert at the Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) till
December 2012. Presently Aviation
Training Manager at the Australian
College of Kuwait. — Editor
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By Lidia Qattan
Special to the Arab Times
mid December Jamal left Kuwait
Ithenwitharrangements
a group of Indians who made all
for him to be with them;
though he was instructed not to say a word
he felt a growing apprehension every time
the bus was stopped at a road-block; on
reaching Baghdad he felt panicking when
he saw all the other buses leaving except
his. Though one of his companions was
in charge of speaking for the whole group
if any questions were asked, he was still
in fear of being asked a question and it
would be revealed he was an Arab. Even
on reaching Jordan he felt very uneasy; he
only felt relieved when the plane entered
the Indian airspace and landed at Mumbai.
Upon his arrival he contacted the Kuwaiti
Embassy presenting his passport, which
he had hidden in a place no one could
suspect; then taking the first plane to Abu
Dhabi he was surprised to see his father
waiting for him when he landed.
For the first time the old gentleman
couldn’t hide his emotions, at the same
time he reproached Jamal for not listening to him and leave the country when
he told him to. After meeting his father
Jamal was expecting to see his mother in
Saudi Arabia, he felt cheated when she
didn’t come. Obviously she never had
the intention of leaving the country and
that made him to feel a fool and guilty
for being abroad at the time his family
needed him because the Gulf war was
well underway and he was worried for
his people safety. When the liberation of
Kuwait was announced he felt glad but
could never feel that kind of happiness
and exhilaration he would had felt if in
that glorious moment he were inside his
country!
Gathering
After the liberation Jamal and his
father were among the first Kuwaitis
allowed to enter the country; traveling
by car the moment they set foot in their
homeland they were appalled by the
destruction they saw everywhere. The
whole landscape was strangely unfamiliar: the heavy strata
of smoke rising
from the burning
oilfield hanging
between earth and
sky was blotting the
sun turning day into
twilight. At their
arrival in Bayan
when they found no
one of the family in the house his
father became very
Lidia Qattan
apprehensive, Jamal
could sense his state of mind and the
suffering he was going through; but
then he remembered it was Friday and
as usual the family would be gathering
at his grandparents house, so they drove
there. The rejoicing of family reunion
was overwhelming even for his father
who at last could put his heart at peace.
As for Jamal he finally felt Kuwait was
free when in reaching home he could
walk through his district and experience
that tangible feeling of belonging he had
been missing for so long.
At the time of their arrival the whole
country was in deplorable conditions:
the entire infrastructure of civil life was
destroyed, much needed to be done; the
production of water and electricity had
barely began; most of the land mines had
also been cleared away but some were
still lurking throughout the desert awaiting to claim new victims. At the burning
oil-field teams of engineers and experts
were trying hard to tackle the problem;
in town teams of young volunteers were
clearing the mess especially in schools
for the scholastic year to open on
schedule. Jamal enthusiastically joined
in the effort, leaving Kuwait at the head
of a team of Kuwaiti engineers to bring
back in operation the Kuwait Airways at
the GAMCO facilities in Abu Dhabi. He
was then an A/C Maintenance Engineer in both line and Aircraft Heavy
Maintenance. Subsequently he headed
the KAC engineering team in FLS
Standsted-England, and then he was sent
to the Airbus Industries Training Center
of Toulouse, France for special training
courses in Maintenance, Economic
and Reliability Control Programs and
became a member of the Follow up team
at the Air Bus Facilities in Toulouse.
Always eager to expand his knowledge and expertise in his field in 2006
Jamal went to Boston, USA for courses
in Business Analysis at the Boston
University, he also underwent the MaxiMerlin Super User training program
from the SABRE training center in
Dallas. At his return to the Boston
University in 2007, he engaged in the
Business Process Management Professional program, to widen and enhance
his experience in evaluating projects
Jamal Al Foudari
opportunities and preparing feasibility
studies for the benefit of financing such
opportunities.
With the professional experience he
gained in the USA Jamal set the implementation of plans for upgrading the
KAC’s legacy system (Maxi -Merlin )
and set up training plan for the system users. He also wrote a Heavy Maintenance
training Manual for Maxi-Merlin users and
conducted user training courses.
Improve
In everything he does Jamal gives
100% of himself, while seeking to
improve his performance through gaining more knowledge and experience.
While working in close cooperation with
the programmer to monitor the system
functionality he was training and supporting system users and auditing the
system usage.
To Jamal’s credit is the modification
and customization of the KAC’s legacy
system, the Work Card System, the Pro-
duction control system, the Maintenance
activity and control history.
During the 33 years Jamal worked at the
KAC he was a Legacy System Instructor, a Bar Code Team Leader, an Airbus
Online Service Administrator, an on Line
Documentation Team leader and he designed, developed and hosted the KAC’s
engineering Web portal. He also participated in training and instructing activities
and worked with student teams from the
Kuwait University – Industrial Engineering, and with students from the Australian
College of Kuwait – Aviation program to
fulfill their on-job training requirements.
He also supervised on junior aircraft
maintenance engineers providing them
with in-depth training to produce topquality teams.
During the last period of the 33 years
Jamal worked at the KAC he set-up a
Maintenance and Engineering support
group office he himself headed, in order
to update all aircraft and component
activities, to monitor and track all
functions and to provide all necessary
reports, especially Aircraft and components maintenance cost reports.
To turn the KAC engineering from a cost
center to a profit center he wrote the KAC’s
engineering requirements for a new MIS
system and carried out studies to replace the
Maxi Merlin with the Latest MRO solutions
available in the market.
Jamal thrives on challenge, when
the KAC became too uneventful and
unchallenging for him; he retired and
applied for a job as an instructor at the
Australian College of Kuwait Aviation.
In December 2012 Jamal left the Kuwait
Airways for his new job.
Jamal soon discovered he loved teaching; he loved working with students, to
motivate them and bring the best out
of them and gain their confidence and
cooperation through mutual respect and
understanding, while providing them
with in -depth training to create a top
quality team.
So successful he was as an Instructor
that he was soon upgraded to evaluate
staff performance, and finally he was
promoted to be the Manager of the
whole department. Jamal’s affable nature
combined to his social skill soon gained
him the love and respect of everyone. He
started his managerial responsibility with
altering some rules and regulations using
his expertise in strategic planning and
problem solving to create a good working
team atmosphere.
After meeting with his staffs he
discusses every points with the students
to get their opinion and only will pass
a resolution or come to a compromise
that satisfies them and he gains their full
cooperation. He also created a Student
Council and encouraged every class to
chose one student among them to voice
their complaint or suggestion which will
be studied with his staff. The result of
the meeting is then discussed with the
students to reach a solution that satisfies
every party. To make everyone feel
at ease he created an atmosphere of
conviviality when at coffee-break his
office becomes the gathering of students
and instructors all discussing over a cup
of coffee what needs to be done in solving a problem or a situation and reach a
solution that satisfies everyone.
By such a policy Jamal not only could
gain the full cooperation and respect of
both his students and their instructors, he
also could create the top working team
he has been aiming to achieve.
Concluded
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The UoM campus
University produces highly qualified professionals
UoM recommended for Kuwaiti students
By Cinatra Fernandes
Arab Times Staff
Latest
T
he University of Malta (UoM), a
relatively new and lesser known station for Kuwaiti students, comes highly
recommended to prospective students
based on the positive experiences of current students and alumni.
UoM is a public university, whose
presence goes back 420 years on the
Maltese island, and is today spread over
the three campuses in Valetta, Gozo and
Msida. It has become a hub for teaching
and research with courses at undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral level on
offer that include internationally recognized taught and research master level
programmes and joint and dual degree
programmes. The University also boasts
an excellent student-staff ratio especially
at the PhD level.
“The degree courses at the University
are designed to produce highly qualified professionals, with experience of
research, who will play key roles in industry, commerce and public affairs in
general”, stated Stefania Fabri, Director,
International & EU Affairs at UoM.
Faculties
She informed that the university had
145 faculties of Arts, Built Environment,
Dental Surgery, Economics, Management & Accountancy, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Information
and Communication Technology, Laws
Media & Knowledge Sciences, Medicine & Surgery, Science, Social Wellbeing and Theology and interdisciplinary
institutes and centres.
The International and EU office is
the point of contact for all international
students, outbound exchange students,
visiting and outbound staff and acts as
a liaison for embassies, delegations,
agreements, marketing, promotion. The
office is tasked to assist international
students from the pre-departure stage
until the completion of studies in arranging accommodation, visa and residence
permits, overseeing orientation and integration and providing personal and
psycho-social support.
UoM’s relations with Kuwait goes
back to the late 1970s when Maltese
doctors providing their services, first established links with the Faculty of Medicine at Kuwait University. “This legacy
remained and in 2002, we had our first
Cancer online support group: If
you are Cancer patient or family member fighting with this deadly disease,
come join our online support group.
Best way of dealing with this disease
is providing support and share our
experience with each other. There are
lot of things which even doctors can’t
tell so be member of this website and
start sharing your experiences which
may help others. October is recognized
as National Breast Cancer Awareness
Month (NBCAM). The primary purpose
is to promote self examination and
screening mammography as the most
effective way to save lives by detecting
breast cancer at early stage. For more
information visit: http://fightingwithcancer.webs.com/
KDA elects officials: At the Area
Kuwaiti students at UoM organise ‘Kuwaiti celebrations’ to mark National and Liberation days.
intake of Kuwaiti students on a scholarship from the Government of Kuwait —
funded through the Ministry of Higher
Education”, Fabri shared.
She informed that the main focus of
Kuwaiti students has been in the fields
of medicine and dental surgery. The total number of students has risen from 25
students in 2007 to 78 students in 2016
with 18 set to graduate this year.
Kuwaiti students can avail of tailormade pre-foundation and foundation
programmes. “We identify gaps are in
the education system of our international students, many of whome come
from the Middle East, and make sure
that our foundation prepares them for
their study in Malta. So students in
the medical foundation do biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, genetics
with 50% medical English”, remarked
Dr Isabel Stabile, from the Faculty of
Medicine.
Maram Al-Ali, a fourth year Kuwaiti
student in the faculty of medicine, shared
“I am doing my undergraduate degree
and decided to come here based on the
recommendation of my friend who was
studying architecture here. She told me
that it was a nice place and really safe.
That was my main concern.”
Amna Al-Mutawa, who is pursuing
her PG degree in dentistry, told the Arab
Times, “I decided to study in Malta for
a number of reasons. My experience at
the undergraduate level was very good.
I didn’t have any problems here. At the
post-graduate level, I had applied to several places and on comparing this programme to several others, I felt it was
very strong. So I decided to go for the
best.”
Al-Mutawa shared that Kuwaiti students coming to Malta should be prepared for the high standards they are
required to observe, “The teaching is of
a high level and the coursework is not
easy. It was a bit of a struggle for me
when I first came here but the Maltese
taught me how to study and how to improve myself.”
Mohammad Jamal who is in his final
year of medicine, and who had previously studied in a different European
centre, noticed a difference between
how Kuwaiti students were treated in
the foundation course. He also shared
that the negative marking system not
only made him take his studies more
seriously but also push beyond passing
to excelling.
He shared that finding an apartment,
opening a bank account, obtaining residence permits and other necessities were
easy and set up with the help and care
of the University. “Malta is a very safe
country. It is very easy to integrate with
the Maltese culture and have an active
social life. The language is very similar
to Arabic so it easy to understand. Communication is not a problem because everyone here speaks English anyway.
Passion
Kuwaiti students Mohammad Jamal, Amna Al-Mutawa and Maram Al-Ali with
Stefania Fabri and Carol Zanmit from UoM’s Intl and EU office Dr Isabel Stabile from the Faculty of Medicine.
“As an international second year Dental Surgery student, I find the Dental
Surgery course extremely interesting as
it strengthens my passion towards the
profession and brings about my artistic
character. Another day in this course
means a new skill to be learned; our
lecturers, being experienced dentists,
doctors and hygienists share their professional experience providing us with
the essential knowledge. Apart from
the academic aspect, life could never be
safer, less financially demanding and full
of wonderful places to visit”, Fatemah
Abdullah, 3rd Year student, Master of
Dental Surgery shared.
“For future Kuwaiti students who are
coming to Malta, go for it. You will have
to work hard but you will have someone
guiding you all along,” Al -Mutawa remarked.
General Body meeting of the Kozhikode
District Association held in Fahaheel
area, the following were elected as office bearers and executives for the year
2016–2017. Noufal Bareena (President),
Mohammed Haneefa (Vice-President),
Noushad K.K. (Secretary), Umesh
K.T.K. (Joint Secretary), Jothi N.V.
(Treasurer). Also Muneer Markan, Das
K.T., Majeed M.K, Mujeeb M, Taha
K.V., Sivadas P, Abdul Najeeb T.K.,
Jeneesh M.C., Santhosh Kumar and
Zubair Parakadave were elected from
Fahaheel to the Central Executive Committee.
The following were elected officials
for Mahilavedi: Mrs Febina Mubin
(President), Mrs Kamaruneesa K. (Secretary), Mrs Haseena (Treasurer). Also
Reja Santhosh, Mrs Nuziha Yashiq, Mrs
Smith Ravindran, Mrs Sajitha Sivadas, Mrs Raji Jineesh were elected to
Mahilavedi as Fahaheel area representatives.
At the Area General Body meeting
held in Kohinoor Auditorium Fahaheel,
Association’s Acting President Jawed
Bin Hameed inagurated the meeting. Area President Das K.T. presided
the meeting and General Secretary
Abdul Najeeb T.K. briefed Association
activities. Also Area Secretary Noufal
Bareena presented Area on the annual
report and Treasurer Jineesh presented
financial report. Association’s President
Jawed Bin Hameed, Secretary Abdul
Najeeb T.K, Treasurer Najeeb P.V.,
Patrons Rajagopalan Edavalath and
Hameed Keloth, Mahilavedi President Mrs Reja Santhosh, Mahilavedi
Area President Mrs Febeena Mubin,
Executive Members Haneef C, Shyjith
K, Das K.T., Raouf Mashoor, Shaji
K.V., Basheer Kulangara, Sidharthan,
Sameer Vellayil, Taha K.V., Muneer
Marakan, Majeed M.K., Rishi Jacob,
Zubai Parakadve, Sajith Das, and Mrs
Divya made felicitation speeches. Siraj
Eranjikal and Raju S. Kandi were the
presiding officers for the election. Noufal Bareena welcomed all attendees and
Jothi expressed the vote of thanks.
Indian Embassy notice: At the
initiative of the Hon’ble Prime Minister,
a scheme for Voluntary Certification of
Yoga Professionals has been launched
Continued on Page 26