Technical educational and occupational traditions emerge locally, evolve under complex influences, and become transmitted generation to generation over time. However, newly resource-rich countries in the Middle East face a conundrum: native technical capacity constrains their ambitions for sustainable social and economic growth. This case study examines the tensions a Canadian technical college encountered in fostering education pathways for Qatari nationals. Analysis of interviews of key personnel reveals several localized factors that impact student persistence and mediate the college's institutional outcomes: basic life skills, academic and technical preparedness, beliefs and expectations about learning, and life priorities (i.e. family, occupational prestige, expectations/rewards of technical careers). The findings suggest that transnational educational innovations need to attend to the localized conditions that mediate their effectiveness. Positive mutual adaptation, through academic and technical apprenticeship, aimed at supporting student persistence is a necessary condition to shifting the culture of Qatari nationals to embrace new educational and work traditions.