The oil and gas industry is experiencing an ageing workforce and skills shortages, while petroleum engineering schools are struggling and many industry recruits are coming from other degree disciplines. This paper describes how these challenges are being addressed in a Western Australian (WA) context. The overall aim of the oil & gas engineering program at The University of Western Australia (UWA) is to give students an orientation to the extraction, processing and infrastructure requirements of the oil and gas industry. This is achieved by offering maximum flexibility in course offerings (entry level, duration and subject matter) and through maximum utilization of existing teaching resources. Strong industry interaction is another key feature of the program.

Keywords:
undergraduate, new degree program, personnel competence, first degree, upstream oil & gas, university curricula, society of petroleum engineers, discipline area, offshore, specialise
Subjects:
Asset and Portfolio Management, Professionalism, Training, and Education, Personnel competence, University curricula
Copyright 2002, Society of Petroleum Engineers
You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.