Group canvasses digitisation of varsity curriculum to meet current trends

As part of efforts to meet with current trends and new innovations in the sector, the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), has called for digitisation of university curriculum, especially for teaching and learning of Geoscience.

They also canvassed collaboration between university and industry, as there is the need for academia to align their research and development activities to suit industry needs.

Addressing journalists at a virtual conference at the end of its 15th NAPE-University Assistance Programme (UAP) leadership forum, themed: “Bridging the industry-academia gap: Consolidating the gains of the past and projecting into the future,” the group decried the lack of high-quality workforce needed for the country’s energy transition, saying it has been a nagging concern for the industry and the academia over the years.

NAPE is the umbrella association for persons involved in the professional application of geosciences and related disciplines to the exploration and production of oil and gas in the country. The forum was conceived to provide a platform and ambience for students studying the geosciences in Nigerian tertiary institutions for the exchange of technical knowledge, exhibition of new technologies and industry/ academia collaboration.

At the conference addressed by the President, Dr. James Edet, and Publicity Secretary, Tunbosun Afolayan, the group stressed the need to bridge the gap between the old and new generations of workforce in areas of grounded knowledge, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and innovations to avoid knowledge loss and stimulate energy growth.

“The lack of high-quality workforce needed for Nigeria’s energy transition has been a nagging concern for the industry and the academia. The situation is further exacerbated by talent flight and high level of competition for the relatively few skilled and well-trained professionals.”

The group tasked universities on the need to work closely with the industry in a mutual and symbiotic manner, where values are created on both sides.

Edet also stressed the need to re-engineer university-industry collaboration in research and development, current trends and emerging technologies for solution-driven challenges.

He said: “There is need to provide basic upstream geoscience and reservoir management and operations geology training platforms for internship with the intent of building local human capacity for future use and good succession plans. We need to build our society and stop capital and knowledge flight.

“There is need for universities and industries to collaborate on special project that would add value to the academia and industry by way of SIWES and Internship programmes where teamwork and business goals can be reached.”

The group also appealed to NOCs and IOCs to offer more internship and sabbatical opportunities for Nigerian Geoscience students and lecturers, respectively, to enhance knowledge transfer.

Edet added that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) would be encouraged to collaborate with NAPE to enable data access for the academia for research and training.