Notes on the workshop Oil & Gas, sustainable?
Bendiks Jan Boersma, TU delft
Frederik de Wit, De Haagse Hogeschool
Bendiks Jan starts by showing several slides. The group rests at the slide showing the Oil & gas
Industry in various countries. The conclusion is drawn that just having a look at The Netherlands is
useless, because this industry is too big and too well spread.
The tendency of the discussion is that the O&G Industry needs more knowledge (people). And the
question is ‘how do we get them?’
The students point out that O&G is only one option and nobody knows what the future will bring.
Teach O&G as one of several options/aspects and let the student make the choice for a certain
sector/branch. Then in your course you can offer optionals / tracks that cover specific
sectors/branches, like already is done at the university for technique.
There are too many ways of producing energy to only choose one
In education more of the several ways to produce energy should be shown. That is only possible at
companies, so cooperation is necessary.
Education is basically based on what the market asks for. If the market needs piping courses those
will be developed.
The basic skills of the current graduation students are sufficient. The industry only misses specific
subjects that it asks for. For example piping knowledge. And the question with that is, how many
people can acquire that specific knowledge. Are courses after the university education the answer?
Corporations are reluctant to let others have a look on their premises. That’s why it would be smart
to work on questions like this on neutral ground (facilitated by neutral partner), who for example
teaches/starts with a course in piping. This course could be offered to companies as well as students.
Result from the central session: Students should get an earmark that states what level of education
they can handle when knocking on a company’s door (a sign showing the quality level – KIVI should
know more about the subject).