OJT is On the Job training.
I'll start by explaining what is does NOT mean. It is not Practical Training, which is done (for the Basic Training course) in a workshop to the syllabus set out in Part 66, with an instructor and a class.
OJT is NOT "work experience", either. Work experience is the performance of tasks as part of a normal work programme. It is supervised to the extent that any work would be, depending on the qualification level of the person and work required. Work experience leading to a licence issue or a type rating must be relevant to the qualification sought, done in a Part 145 environment (there are exceptions, eg military experience) and above all carefully logged and signed off for audit purposes.
OJT is structured training done with an instructor with a pre-determined programme while working on live aircraft in a Part 145-approved MRO. The Part 147-approved Training organisation that is running the Basic Training or Type Training of which the OJT is a part is responsible for arranging and monitoring the training and its documentation, while the staff of the Part 145 are responsible for the quality and certification of the work done in the usual way. The OJT done as part of a Basic Training course must cover all areas of the aircraft.
When you said that you have been told that you must "find your own OJT" alarm bells rang for several reasons. Firstly, OJT is only done, for Basic Training purposes, as part of a fully-approved course. By definition, if the Institute is not offering that, the course is not fully-approved. Secondly, in that situation you do not have to do any OJT, and the Institute seems not to understand that.
There are two routes to a Part 66 AME Cat A or Cat B Licence. The first is to do a fully-approved Basic Training course, which i have described in previous posts. This gets you a Basic Training Certificate. You must then do 2 years work experience (as above) after which you can apply for a Licence (without type rating - LWTR). The course is usually run over about 2 years, and can only be offered by a Training Organisation with a Part 147 approval for Basic Training. There are not many of those; there are a lot more TOs with Type Rating approval only.
The other way, the "non-approved route", is to pass all the Module examinations, without doing any "approved" training for them. The examinations are run periodically by National Aviation Authorities in the EASA States in their language. They can also be run by Part 147-approved Training Organisations (Basic Training approved) either as part of a fully-approved course, and/or for private candidates simply taking the examinations. NAAs and TOs charge an examination fee, but that is the only cost.
Some NAAs run examinations outside their territory; for example the UK CAA runs examinations in the Gulf and India, I believe.
We have seen that the work experience required if you have received a Basic Training Certificate is 2 years. If you have not done the fully-approved course, and simply have Pass Certificates for all the Modules, you must have 5 years work experience logged before you can apply for a licence.
The reason is simple. The fully-approved course includes Practical Training and OJT, and the "non-approved" route does not. So the additional 3 years work experience is to ensure that you have acquired the necessary hand-skills and knowledge of maintenance practices.
Your Institute is offering a non-approved, 4-year course to get the Modules only, which is ridiculous and a waste of your time and money. (Sorry!) After you complete that you will have to get 5 years work experience, but you need NOT do any "OJT". Thus, a minimum of 9 years to get the licence.
Most people start work to get the 5 years experience, and then study for and take the Modules, one by one, in any order, during those 5 years. They earn a wage, however small, and only pay for the exams. This way, it takes 5 years to get to the LWTR.
That's why I think, from the information you have provided so far in this thread, that what your Institute is offering is almost fraudulent. Either they realise that it is the worst possible way to get a Part 66 licence but are taking students' money in any case, or they are simply totally ignorant about the subject they are teaching, but taking your money anyway.
(I am slightly uncertain about the minimum time for work experience for the "non-approved" route, and can't check it where I am today. But even if it is not 5 years, it is certainly be much longer than the time needed by someone with a Basic Training Certificate from a fully-approved course, for the reason explained above.).
Last edited by Capot; 1st Apr 2015 at 13:48.