In an exclusive interview with The Brunei Times, Dr Hj Omar Hj Khalid said that due to limited facilities, at the moment, they can only accept 10 students for their petroleum engineering degree programme and 10 for the chemical engineering programme.
"Based on our projections we need 60 (petroleum and chemical graduates) per year," he commented on the sidelines of the 19th ITB convocation ceremony yesterday.
"There were many applicants with good A' level results which we had to turn away because of that limited capacity," said Dr Hj Omar.
"Unless we increase the physical capacity at ITB for petroleum and chemical engineering, we cannot expand (the number of places in the programme)." However, the institute intends to increase that number with the help of a $1 million grant from Brunei Shell and Shell International Exploration which will be used to expand and develop the programmes over the next five years.
The vice-chancellor said that part of the contribution will be spent on extending the existing building so that they can accommodate more students for petroleum and chemical engineering. Construction is expected to be completed by 2011 under the third phase of the 2007-2012 national development plan.
According to statistics provided by ITS, over 60 applications were received each for chemical engineering and petroleum engineering.
"The (oil and gas) industry requires more than the 20 (graduates) per year absorbed through our programme. Hopefully this year, we will add four more places. Next year, when the extension is completed will be able to increase that number to maybe 40," said Dr Hj Omar.
The objective of producing 60 petrochemical graduates per year can be achieved by 2018, remarked the vice-chancellor. ITB is the only tertiary institute to offer a petroleum and chemical engineering degree programme. Undergraduates will spend one year at ITB and three years at University of New South Wales in Australia as part of a twinning programme. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
reference : http://www.bt.com.bn/news-national/2010/05/30/more-graduates-needed-oil-and-gas-sector
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