News Releases

UWI talks extending Petroleum Engineering education to Guyana

For Release Upon Receipt - September 4, 2015

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago. September 4, 2015 – At the recent ‘Topping Off’ Deed handover ceremony for The UWI St. Augustine’s new South Campus in Penal-Debe, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, His Excellency David A. Granger expressed a keen interest to re-open a longstanding dialogue about the reintegration of Guyana into The UWI system as a contributing country once again. Emerging from this was an invitation from the Minister of Education of Guyana, the Honourable Dr Rupert Roopnaraine for representatives of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) to visit Guyana to meet with relevant technical experts and define a plan of action for building a capacity in Guyana for graduates in Petroleum Engineering and Petroleum Geoscience in particular. A UWI team, headed by Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal of The UWI St. Augustine, Professor Clement Sankat, met with Prime Minister of Guyana, the Honourable Moses Nagamootoo on August 13, 2015.

The Hon. Prime Minister strongly endorsed the purpose of the visit and indicated his support for quick movement given the current status of Guyana’s investment in its energy sector. In Georgetown, the team also met with the Minister of Education, Chief Education Officer and representatives from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment. The UWI team, which also comprised Professor Andrew Jupiter, Distinguished Fellow of the Petroleum Studies Unit in the Faculty of Engineering, along with Mr. Sharan Singh, Director of the Office of Institutional Advancement and Internationalisation, shared their experience in building the Petroleum Engineering capability in Trinidad & Tobago since the late seventies and teaching programmes at the Master’s level in Project Management, Construction Management and International Relations in Guyana was shared with the Guyanese counterparts.  

A proposal was put forward for The UWI to offer its masters programmes in Petroleum Engineering on the ground in Georgetown, from January 2016.  The duration of the programmes would be for 2 years with 18 months of classes delivered both “face-to-face” and using distance technology followed by a 6 month capstone internship where students would spend this time assigned at an energy company in T&T. In addition to strengthening the knowledge, understanding and awareness of the students, the proposed expansion will help build the bridges between the Petroleum Industries in T&T and Guyana. Discussions were also held about the possibilities for conducting executive education and short courses for technical skills development along with a wider suite of graduate programmes that would be delivered in Guyana to support the high level professional development there.

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About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: http://www.uwi.edu/  

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

 

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