On 17 July 2019, IFP School signed an academic partnership agreement with the Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (INP-HB). Created in 1996, INP-HB is a public higher education and research institute located in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
The agreement falls within the framework of an initiative launched by Ivory Coast’s Ministry of Oil, Energy and Renewable Energies aimed at creating the country’s first oil and energy engineering school, ESPE. This school, which will train oil sector engineers, will open its doors in September 2020.
The Ivory Coast government’s ambition is to make this new engineering school a regional reference when it comes to specialized training and life-long learning in the oil and gas sectors.
“We’re delighted to be able to contribute our expertise to the creation of a new center of excellence," declares Maria Aguilera, IFP School’s International Development Manager.
The new academic partnership relates to a 14-month course leading to a joint IFP School and INP-HB master’s degree. The program is aimed at young engineers with 5 years of higher education or equivalent, who will be selected on the basis of application and interview.
Two master’s programs, one dedicated to the upstream oil sector and the other to the downstream sector, will be delivered within the framework of this agreement. The first will focus on reservoir engineering, drilling, well engineering, production and processes. The second will cover a variety of refining aspects: the design and dimensioning of processing units, operations and economic optimization.
The modules will be delivered in English by IFP School teaching staff, IFP Training staff, industry experts and teachers from INP-HB.
The partnership agreement was signed at a ceremony held in Abidjan in the presence of Christine Travers, Dean of IFP School, Loïc du Rusquec, member of the IFP Training Board, and Koffi N’Guessan, Managing Director of INP-HB.
The contractual agreement was ratified by Mr Abdourahmane Cissé, a former IFP School student, on 18 November in Abidjan.
This new academic partnership is part of IFP School’s off-site degree program policy. Launched in 2002 with a first agreement signed in Angola, the off-site degree concept consists in valuing local expertise by offering engineering degree programs adapted to the country’s needs with a local academic partner, an industrial sponsor and/or a government body.
This initiative makes it possible to train operational professionals for the countries concerned and ensure skills transfer in the medium term. Off-site degree program agreements are organized in partnership with IFP Training.
"Since our off-site degree policy was launched, we have awarded more than 1,000 degrees,” points out Maria Aguilera.
In addition to the one in Ivory Coast, two other off-site programs are ongoing or about to be launched:
• M.Sc. Petroleum Engineering and Project Development in partnership with the University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) in Nigeria. The 17th student intake began their studies on 11 November 2019.
• Master’s in Oil and Gas Engineering in partnership with the Institut National du Pétrole et du Gaz (INPG, National Oil and Gas Institute) in Senegal. This program will be launched at the start of 2020.
Article author: Meyling Siu