Fighting the gender divide

FRANKLY, I believe girls are better at a number of tasks in aircraft maintenance,” boldly states Low Joe Ee (or Joey to her friends) who is in her final semester of the Advanced Diploma in Aircraft Engineering programme at Nilai University (Nilai U).

She backs up this claim with the number of distinctions scored by female students in the diploma programme over the years.

She finds the female students in Nilai U’s Aircraft Maintenance Engineering department more thorough than their male counterparts.

Joey may be among the minority in her field and she is hoping she can encourage more young girls to consider aircraft maintenance engineering as a career option.

She was influenced by a family friend who happened to be the first Muslim female fighter pilot in the country. Her friend convinced Joey that gender was no barrier to success in the aviation industry. She also spoke of the lucrative salaries that fully qualified aircraft maintenance engineers command, especially abroad.

Naturally, Joey’s online research led her to Nilai U, as it is a market leader in this field.

Nilai U offers a Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering programme. Its syllabus prepares students for the important European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Category B licence examinations.

Do note, however, that only a student who has successfully completed all relevant EASA modules and gained the necessary industry experience can be a certified aircraft maintenance engineer.

There is also a pathway for students who have completed the Diploma to gain a BSc (Hons) in Aircraft Engineering from Kingston University, in the United Kingdom.

The one-year top-up programme is known as an Advanced Diploma domestically as legislation states that one-year post-diploma programmes can only be eligible for that qualification.

However, Kingston University recognises that Nilai U’s Diploma programme is equivalent to the first two years of its degree programme and therefore only a further year’s study allows students to gain an internationally recognised degree.

Having completed the Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering programme, Joey decided a degree would help her move up the career ladder faster.

“During my on-the-job training at AirAsiaX, I noticed quite a number of items that were beyond my comprehension. Having studied for the degree programme, I now better understand most topics,” she explains.

“Furthermore, I believe that in this day and age, paper qualifications are important. Yes, the EASA licence is important but I believe having a degree will help separate me from the crowd.”

She also hopes to complete the remaining six EASA modules while studying for the degree.

The petite student who hails from Puchong, Selangor, says to female school-leavers that they are not at a disadvantage in this field due to their gender.

“The need for physical strength is greatly exaggerated. More important is a person’s ability to focus, be absolutely thorough in whatever task they do on the maintenance schedule and to be able to think on their feet.”

Nilai U was established in 1997 and all its programmes are approved by the Education Ministry. It is also ranled “Setara 5 / Excellent” by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency.

For details, go to call 06-850 2308 / 07-226 2336.

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