IIW History 1990-2015

Growth in the number of participants in the IIW IAB, particularly from outside Europe, shows that the IIW education, training, qualification and certification programmes are now part of a truly international system

in the birth of the Welding Society of Ghana in 2016. 25 In terms of training and qualification, NIW’s efforts were outstanding and produced over 400 IIW Qualified Welders, 11 International Welding Engineers, 44 International Welding Inspectors, 9 International Welding Specialists and 44 International Welding Practitioners in the period up to 2012. 26 The training, it must be said, was ably supported by the SAIW which played a key role in the encouragement and establishment of WAWF and in assisting NIW over the short period of time that Nigeria had belonged to the IIW family of nations. In order to meet the aspirations of many of the emerging nations around the world to become self-sufficient in the training and qualification of welding personnel IIW, through its existing membership, was to respond to these needs through both technical and financial support. Vietnam, conscious of the importance of welding in changing its economy to a modern, technically driven nation, was to see the enormous importance of achieving international recognition and portability for its highly motivated workforce. DVS was instrumental in assisting Vietnam to achieve such an improvement in its capabilities through the establishment of a joint Vietnam-German Technology Transfer and Training Centre (HwC) in Hanoi on 31March 2006. Through DVS’s authorisation of its facilities and training programmes HwC was entitled to not only qualify welders in accordance with European and international guidelines and standards, but also to qualify International Welding Specialists, Practitioners and

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