NIMechE Unilag Trains Over 150 Students in Maiden Bootcamp

By Faith Enang

The National Institute of Mechanical Engineers, University of Lagos Chapter has trained over 150 students in the maiden edition of the Mech Communities Bootcamp event.

The training held between Monday, March 18th and Wednesday, March 20th, 2024, is the brainchild of the NIMechE UNILAG 2023/2024 Executive Council led by the president, Favour Olayode.

During the semester, the department was divided into four communities air conditioning, design and manufacturing, automobile, and energy for the first time in history.

Each community organised various sessions including introduction and technical sessions which eventually culminated into the boot camp at the end of the semester examinations.

The boot camp was supported by industry sponsors including NitHub, Hybie Consults, National Centre For Energy Efficiency and Conservation (NCEEC), MechoMedics, Rubix, and the Alumni sets of 1985, 2016, and 2017, and was held at different locations for each community.

When asked the reason behind this initiative, Olayode said the purpose of introducing communities was to help students identify their interests and specialise to avoid frustration.

His words, “The purpose of this community is for students to specialise because mechanical engineering is a broad course and there are many fractions in it.

“Students usually have problems with identifying their area of specialisation and as time goes on, they lose sense of direction and feel there’s nothing tangible in mechanical engineering.

“So to give them a unique experience, we decided to create these four communities so that they’re able to contextualise their understanding as regards a particular field. The whole idea was to give students exposure”

Different companies sponsored the communities as seen in a report presented by the council’s General Secretary, Justice Esiri, to UnilagSun. This gave students practical lessons in their chosen fields of study.

Students in the Energy community learnt about Energy Auditing Training from the National Centre For Energy Efficiency and Conservation (NCEEC).

MechoMedics, an Automobile Service company that provides quality Consultancy, Diagnostics, Repairs, Sales, Technology & Training, taught the Automobile community about the Automobile Diagnostics Workshop.

The Air Conditioning community got training on Load Calculation techniques from the Engr. Ibrahim Ogundeko’s led Hybie Consult.

NitHub introduced members of the 3D Printing community to the fundamentals of 3D printing technology, including design principles, material selection, and printing processes.

When asked to give a review of the boot camp, several students declared the initiative a welcomed and enlightening one, applauding the executives for such an event and requesting that subsequent editions be organised.

A 300-level Design and Manufacturing Community student said, “It was a very educative and informative event, it was worthwhile and I look forward to a bigger and better boot camp with Nimeche.”

A 100-level student who chose to be anonymous commented, “I feel it was a nice opportunity to know more about the things mechanical engineering entails, the diversity but the striking similarities.”

An automobile student stated, “It was a wonderful learning experience. I was able to see the things we are taught in school being implemented in real-life applications. It was a whole lot stressful, but I want to believe that comes with the job of a Mechanic.”

Some students had other opinions and complaints including the venue for the training not being ‘conducive’, ‘finding it hard to follow the sessions virtually’, expecting to produce a ‘3D printing’, and hopes that the students were given projects to test the knowledge gained.

According to Esiri, the boot camp does not end here as the executives have plans to “expand its activities, including industry field tours, workshops, and collaborative projects, which will lead to another inaugural event tagged ‘Mech Community Week’ by the 2023/2024 second semester.”