The collaborative series between TWA and SPE Student Chapters, “TWA Student Chapter Spotlight,” aims to feature award-winning SPE student chapters from around the world. Each article in the series will spotlight a student chapter and share some of the chapter’s main events and activities recently held.
Ibadan, Nigeria
Presidential Award for Outstanding Student Chapter 2020
Date Established: 01 Jan 1979
The University of Ibadan SPE Student Chapter (SPEUI) held a series of events in the past year to benefit students. The SPEUI Industry Week was one of the best events we had last year as it involved not just one but five major events and lasted an entire week.
The theme for the Industry Week “The Economics of It All: Leveraging Digitalization in Maximizing Profit” was coined directly from SPE's main theme for last year, which was centred on artificial intelligence and big data. Each day of the week was titled after a visiting company and featured various programs.
The first day, Sowsco Servicing Company, was a simulation of SPE’s Petrobowl competition. Members were put in different teams and faced each other for the title of Petroquiz champion.
The second day, Schlumberger Career Day, was an annual event that has over the years drawn the attention of the university academic community. The event provides an avenue for students to extensively network with various industry professionals. Sponsored by Schlumberger, this year's edition featured high-ranking professionals in the industry and engaged the students in an interactive session.
Career Life Nigeria on the fourth day featured an employability fitness program where members were taught the basics of what they needed to stand out in the competitive market.
The fourth day, CypherCrescent, educated members on how one can level up their skills in the industry with programming, focusing on “Software Engineering in Petroleum Engineering.”
Ajivin on the fifth day brought experts who educated members on how to network and connect with industry professionals when they graduate, and also what to expect.
Another major highlight of last year was the SPEUI Baker Hughes Petrotalk. It encourages the sharing of knowledge and ideas by presentations and seminars, designed like a technical lecture, and was incorporated with the Annual Baker Hughes day.
This year, one of key goals of the chapter was the development of communication skills of our members and we did that by engaging members in a series of training where we built their ability to speak to an audience and present in a formal way. The training was held in the first few weeks of the session and led to the selection of a few members who spoke at the Baker Hughes day of the Industry Week.
The Baker Hughes Petrotalk was on the topic “The Energy Transition, Climate Change, and Its Impact in the Oil and Gas Industry.” Members shared their ideas in the form of a debate. The speakers were judged by the Baker Hughes professionals and a winner was chosen based on the technicality of the speech, communication skills, presentation skills, and delivery. A career-fair session followed, with professionals from Baker Hughes holding one-on-one simulation interview sessions with final year students.
It has been a great experience organizing programs that have a lasting impact on our members. We are honoured to be the recipients of the SPE Presidential Award for Outstanding Student Chapter in 2020.
[The Spotlight Series articles are sourced by TWA Student Focus section editors Yogashri Pradhan, Nihal Mounir, Luis Enrique Valencia, and James Allotey-Okai.]