South Korean delegation visiting World Water Academy
On Thursday the 7th of November 2019 a South Korean delegation visited World Water Academy in Nieuwegein, The Netherlands. A group of 28 people were in The Netherlands for the Aquatech Amsterdam. They were in search of information about training and examination for qualified personnel at the water sector. Agnes Maenhout (Managing director) and Kevin Michies (Course coordinator) shared some information about the activities of World Water Academy and the development and process of the KIAD certification, a personal certification for people who install drinking water pipes and carry out interventions on the drinking water distribution network.
The Dutch organization of World Water Academy (Wateropleidingen) celebrated their 25th anniversary last week. In 25 years they developed 388 different courses on topics like water supply, water distribution, sewerage and other disciplines. More than 50.000 students participated. World Water Academy has developed their own teaching material and books for all these courses and have bundled the knowledge of the Dutch water sector.
The KIAD certification has started in February 2018. It’s an initiative from the Dutch drinking water companies to ensure, now and in the future, easily demonstrable skilled personnel and guarantees safety and hygienic construction. 3300 people need to be certified every 4 years. To get certified, the participant need to successfully complete a theoretical and practical exam. The theoretical exam behold 50 multiple choice questions and is taken digitally at one of the 20 exam centers throughout the Netherlands. The practical exam takes 3 hours in which the participants need to proof their skills and knowledge in a assignment that is very similar to reality.
After the presentation a lot of questions were asked by the attendees about World Water Academy, the Dutch water sector and the KIAD certification. We would like to thank the delegation for their attention and questions and hope they had a pleasant visit in The Netherlands.
