Professor Elvis Asare-Bediako, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) has opened the university’s second edition of career fair to expose students to career opportunities and changes in industries.
The Departments of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering and Computer and Electrical Engineering are organising the two-day career fair on the theme, “Energy Transition Prospects and Challenges: The Role of the Graduate Engineer”.
It would help to bridge the gap between what the students studied in the classroom and the actual activities and expectations of industries, and enhanced students’ relationships with industry players, including Ghana Gas, National Petroleum Authority and Electricity Company of Ghana.
Other industry players attending the fair are drawn from the Bui Power Authority, the managers of the Bui Power Generating Station, Energy Commission, GRIDCo and the Kofi Annan ICT Training Centre.
“Hopefully, our students will learn how they can land jobs with your companies, and certainly, we can foster relationships that can make UENR a choice institution partner for research and other innovative activities,” Prof Asare-Bediako stated at the opening session of the fair held at Fiapre, near Sunyani.
He explained that being the only university in the country and in West Africa whose mandates were predisposed in training resource personnel for energy and natural resources, it was imperative for the institution to collaborate tactfully with industry partners.
Prof. Asare-Bediako said the main driver in all communications and policies around the world had been on energy, and its adverse effects on climate change, and that necessitated a drive to be active in the development of the nation.
“This fair is a step in the direction of exposing students to the career opportunities available to them following such conversations, opportunities for innovation, challenges and directions of the industry, while studying on completion of their programmes of study, which will make them able and active citizens of our dear nation,” he stated.
The VC hoped the fair would therefore certainly expose the students to the potential areas they could direct their acquired knowledge and skills from their training in the university.
“Students in our Petroleum Engineering programme have been recent champions of the Society of Petroleum Engineering (SPE) Ghana Section PetroBowl competition. The Computer and Electrical Engineering students are also recent Robotics Champions, and we finally made a placement in the final three at the recent Gas Challenge,” he said.
Prof. Asare-Bediako noted that the energy sector was one of the key drivers of any economy, worrying that the recent astronomical increase in the price of fuel and electricity has had a ripple effect on the prices of basic household commodities.
“To secure the future of this all-important sector, a critical decision has to be made by grooming the next generation of managers, engineers and technicians,” the VC stated, and therefore underlined the need for the students to understand the onerous task ahead of them.
Prof Asare-Bediako said the global call for the control of carbon emission has placed natural gas as the reliable source of clean fuel as the nation sought to bring renewable energy sources into the energy mix.
The fair would therefore create a platform for both industry and academia to engage on the Sustainable Development Goals and their relationship to effective collaboration between industry and academia, and their impact on national development, he said.
Dr Yaw Boakye-Ansah, the Head of Department of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering earlier said he was optimistic the fair would not only advance the knowledge of the students, but also position them well on their career path.
