Rigworld International Services Ltd, an oil and gas service company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) with the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) to support the Department Chemical and Petrochemical Engineering to acquire the needed equipment and offer students the opportunity to intern.
The MOU also seeks to explore avenue to offer scholarships to brilliant but needy students and to liaise in areas of research on innovations in the industry.
Speaking at a short ceremony to sign the MOU, the Managing Director of Rigworld International, Emmanuel Brotons noted that “The problem of industry's inability to employ fresh graduates from our universities due to lack of capacity continues to bedevil the industry. One major reason is the inability of students to apply what they learn to practical work in the place of work. This lack of synergy between the industry and the academic world has been the number one headache of CEOs across the country This competency gap between the level of competency and academia has resulted in teaming unemployment”.
“It is in line with this that Rigworld has positioned itself to help bridge this gap. We at Rigworld believe that today's Petroleum student at UMaT is tomorrow's Managing Director of Rigworld, the Head of Petroleum Commission etc”, he added.
Emmanuel Brotons was hopeful that “as the department takes advantage of this opportunity for further collaborations, students shall see this as a channel to explore career potentials and ultimately help bridge the knowledge gap between academia and the practical industry”.
The Vice Chancellor of UMaT Prof Rich Kwasi Amankwa who was happy about the agreement noted that this will give students internship opportunities, scholarships, national service and promote knowledge on the UMaT campus.
According to him “technical knowledge is very important for any engineering student; it is important that they have some kind of hands-on activities in the field so that it will make them better prepared for the world of work. And from the engineering side we always say that the typical engineering graduate needs to learn from the corporate engineers for about three years to gather the necessary practical skills to continue on his own”.
He explained that “In Ghana the medical field people do it better because after human biology you work in the hospital continuously for three years and that is more like apprenticeship. So that, immediately you will finish you can walk into the ward and start working”.
However, there not too many industries from the engineering side and therefore engineering students and graduates are not able to work continuously for three years to get that kind of apprenticeship.
Prof Amankwa noted “it is for such reasons that engagements like this are very important to us. And then we believe that with Rigworld coming on board to support our petroleum engineering program, we will get the industry space where our students can try their hands-on real-life issues so that they can be prepared for the world of work in a shorter time. So, we are very grateful for this engagement”.