Education Section
The CEO of the Institutes’ owner, ADNOC, HE
Yousef Omair bin Yousef, is also chairman of the
board at the Petroleum Institute. This man’s own son
attends the Institute. “This speaks volumes for the
high calibre education one receives at this college”,
Dr. Ohadi explains, “Our chairman could have sent
his son to any University in the world but chose us,
because he really believes in the quality of education
here”. Seventy seven percent of the Institute’s
students are UAE nationals, the other twenty-three
percent are from different countries around the world
who gain access to the college through high profile
scholarships. A maximum total of thirty percent of
foreign nationals will be accepted to the Petroleum
Institute as it is important that:
“UAE nationals receive places as we want to have
as many qualified, educated nationals as possible,
in keeping with Vision 2030’s theme of having a
knowledge based society” explains the provost.
Whilst the institute has a relatively small number of
students attending, this is deliberate according to Dr.
Ohadi,
“We are primarily concerned with the quality of our
graduates here and not the quantity”. Engineering
has in the past typically been a male dominated
profession but the Institute is working on changing
this through their WISE (Women In Science and
Engineering) programme. The results of this can
already be seen with about thirty percent of the
student body being female. Dr. Ohadi tells us that;
“The girls seem to outdo the boys performance-wise.
Perhaps this is because they have more appreciation
for the opportunity given to them”.
Whether or not this is true, one thing is certain
according to Dr. Ohadi, “An engineering degree
will never be a waste of time. It gives an excellent
grounding in any discipline. If a student decides
not to enter the engineering profession many other
opportunities are available to them as they already
have a good solid base in engineering to start from”.
Dr. Ohadi has first hand experience of this since his
own son studied engineering but has since gone on to
medical school.
What is imperative according to Ohadi is that
there should be an interest developed in maths and
science amongst young people. He says “this should
begin in high school. Many students are put off
studying maths, science and engineering during high
school. This has to change. For instance we had an
open day recently and tried to pique their interest
by explaining the part engineering has to play in
everyday life”.
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