Design and engineering consultant Atkins has had its oil and gas training scheme for graduate chemical engineers re-accredited by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) for a further four years.
The firm has also expanded the programme to four offices across the UK and plans to double the number of trainees enrolled in the coming year, it said.
The company took on 21 chemical engineers this year – the equivalent of employing more than the total number of this year’s chemical engineering graduates from Aberdeen University.
Twelve will be joining the training scheme this year in the firm’s oil and gas business, four of those based in Atkins’ Aberdeen offices.
Overall, Atkins said it has more than 200 chemical engineers and, since the training scheme began, 22 graduates have formally enrolled on to the scheme.
The training scheme was first accredited by the IChemE in March 2009, for a period of three years. The current accreditation period will run until March 2016.