Outdated University Curriculum Produces Bad Engineers'

Society of Pretoleum Engineers

Outdated curriculum and facilities used in schools to teach students are responsible for producing bad engineers in Nigeria, the chairman of the Society of Petroleum Engineers in Nigeria Council, Mr. Osayande Igiehon has said.

Igiehon said this in Abuja at the Oil and Gas Education Summit 2013.

The Summit was organized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers in Nigeria Council (SPENC) and Committee of Heads of Petroleum Engineering Departments (CHPED) in Nigerian Universities.

The theme of the Summit is "Identifying and Bridging the Skill Gap in Oil and Gas Education."

Igiehon said: "The curriculum for Petroleum Engineering has remained the same over the years despite the enormous changes which the industry has undergone. As a result, Nigerian students and graduates have continued to study using archaic methods and facilities."

He lamented the poor infrastructure and laboratories in the schools which makes students study under difficult conditions.

"The obvious disconnect between the industry manpower demand and supply from the universities is widening by the day owing to the neglect over the years of education system which churns out poorly baked engineers," he said.

He said the summit has come as a platform for changing the status quo and will be sustained until the required change is enforced.