Curtin Sarawak receives Omani visitors

Miri – 30 March, 2012 – Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) recently welcomed two senior executives of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the premier hydrocarbon exploration and production company in the Sultanate of Oman.

PDO Learning and Development Manager Hamed Saif Al-Hadhrami and Human Resources Director Mundhir bin Salim al Barwani were on a familiarisation visit to Miri and called on Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Kerr and other senior management staff to introduce their company and explore the possibility of sending company-sponsored students to study at Curtin Sarawak, Curtin University’s largest international campus.

At a briefing and discussion with the visitors, Professor Kerr thanked Hamed and Mundhir for their interest in Curtin Sarawak. He also expressed Curtin Sarawak’s interest in developing other areas of collaboration with PDO, including offering postgraduate studies and skills development for PDO staff, and research and development.

“It would be most opportune for PDO to send any number of students to study here as we seek to increase the number of self-funded and sponsored international students, offer new courses, and develop new infrastructure and learning facilities, as well as enhance existing ones,” Professor Kerr said.

“With a better understanding of PDO’s operations and manpower requirements, we might be able to gear our diploma and degree programmes towards your needs, as we have done for the oil and gas and other industries locally and overseas,” he added.

Also present were Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Alistair Inglis; Marketing Manager Liew Mei Yin; Dean of Teaching and Learning Dr. Beena Giridharan; Dean of the School of Business, Dr. Francois Therin; Dean of the School of Engineering and Science, Dr. Yudi Samyudia; Acting Dean of the School of Foundation and Continuing Studies, Bibi Aminah Abdul Ghani; and heads of various operational departments.

Hamed, meanwhile, said that as Omanisation and training are two keystones of PDO’s employment policy, the company actively sponsors Omani students for training and educational development, pursuing diplomas through to advanced degrees in engineering, both at home and abroad. Between 50 and 100 sponsored students are enrolled in overseas institutions each year and while Australia and the United Kingdom have been the preferred destinations, PDO is now considering other options such as Malaysia.

Courses at Curtin Sarawak that were of particular interest to the visitors were the Bachelor of Engineering (Petroleum Engineering), Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering), Bachelor of Science (Applied Geology), and its diploma courses in Process Plant Technology, Occupational Health and Safety, and Instrumentation and Control Engineering.

Commenting on the Petroleum Engineering major, Professor Kerr highlighted the fact that Curtin Sarawak is ideally located in a major oil and gas producing area and thus students can gain valuable industry experience with the multinational industry players operating in the area. Furthermore, the course offered at Curtin Sarawak is equivalent to the one at Curtin’s main campus and, more importantly, at roughly one third the cost.

Professor Ian Kerr (left) presenting Hamed Saif Al-Hadhrami a souvenir.