The Road to Morocco goes through Shoreline - and the SCC Automotive Program

Oujda, Morocco.  Photo courtesy SCC.

By Jim Hills, Academic News, Shoreline Community College

The Road to Morocco goes through Shoreline...

Maybe not exactly like Bing Crosby and 
Bob Hope, but Susan Hoyne and Janos Szablya are off on the road to Morocco.

Mohammad University of Oujda
Photo courtesy SCC

Hoyne, the Dean of Science at Shoreline Community College, and Szablya, an instructional technician at the college,
 left September 16, 2011, for the University of Technology of Oujda, Morocco, affiliated 
with Mohammed University of Oujda.

“This is a train-the-trainer opportunity,” Hoyne said before the trip. “This is coming to us because of federal grant funding and our partnership with NC3 (National Coalition of Certification Centers) and Gateway Community College (Wisconsin) and Francis Tuttle Technology Center (Oklahoma).”

Along with Snap-on Tools, the colleges are working with NC3 to develop an automotive diagnostics training program for Morocco. Shoreline’s Professional Automotive Training Center leads the nation in new-car automotive technician training.

“We know how create training programs that work for the students and industry. We’re going there to share that expertise,” Hoyne said. Oujda is about 40 miles from the Mediterranean Sea, near the Algerian border. “This is just the first visit of what we hope will be an ongoing relationship.”

Hoyne said Szablya will stay in Morocco for the week-long trip, working with Moroccan educators. Meanwhile, Hoyne and other administrators from Gateway, Tuttle, Snap-on and NC3 will head to Madrid, Spain, for initial talks with a university there.

“They want to do the same thing, build an automotive technician training center,” Hoyne said. “We’re happy to help.”