For students, an internship has always been more than just a summer job. It is an opportunity to connect with the real world and experience the rush of working in the industry environment. Typical internships don’t only involve technical knowledge; they often involve opportunities to network, broaden business knowledge, and tackle challenging projects in the field.
Internship programs offered to students can change the trajectories of their professional lives; hence, they are a requirement for graduation in all engineering programs around the globe. Therefore, canceling such programs is not an option, not even during a pandemic.
The SPE Egyptian section and PioPetro “Marietta College” in Marietta, Ohio responded to this pandemic with purpose and determination to make the time of the students worthwhile. Together, they tailored an internship program over the course of 8 weeks. The internship invited more than 70 professionals from different countries around the world to present 70+ webinars with varying subjects related to the oil industry as well as professional and personal development topics.
Formerly, the Arab Oil and Gas Academy Internship, the Hisham Nasr-El-Din Internship offered by the Arab Oil and Gas Academy, is an accredited official training program, serves 3000 students “out of 7,600 applicants” from 70 countries in different engineering specialties. Beyond this, it has partnered with several universities such as King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, American University in Cairo, Egypt and others. As a form of evaluation, interning students solve quizzes related to lecture content and complete a final exam to assess their acquisition of field-specific and professional knowledge throughout the internship. An online graduation ceremony will be held for the current cohort in August 2020.
The task of adjusting normal life to confront a global threat is unfolding; nevertheless, turning challenges into opportunities has always been the innovative way within our thriving industry. On behalf of the students, thank you to SPE Egypt team and the PioPetro team at Marietta College for this great effort. In tandem, you have improved our industry and the opportunities for professional growth among students.
Click here to watch the program lecture videos.
