In search of a workforce

"We are tailoring our programmes to meet the needs of the country and the needs of our students. We really want to train people who have a lot of skills and meet international standards, but that also have an understanding for the culture and the critical needs of their own country," explains Ohadi.

Since its inauguration in 2001, the PI has grown to currently include 1000 undergraduate students (818 male and 219 female) and close to 50 graduate students. The Institute reached a major milestone in June 2006 with the first 44 graduates emerging from the engineering programmes and going on to start their careers within the ADNOC umbrella group of companies.

Regardless of advances that the PI has made in developing new talent, demand still far out-strips supply. "One of ADNOC's companies has said it needs 3000 engineers this year and if you look at the PI, every year about 100 students graduate, so how many years before we can supply just one company with sufficient workers?" says Ohadi.

The aim of the PI is to increase the number of workers in Abu Dhabi and attempt to counteract ‘brain-drain' out of the Middle East. In the past, students would automatically have been sent abroad to study engineering, on scholarships to the EU or US, and may well have stayed.

In contrast, students are now being encouraged to remain in the Middle East and study. "We want to train a workforce that has been born and raised in the UAE," says Ohadi.

"In the long-term the expectation is that some of the students trained in the PI will go and work for international companies, but really the whole idea is to create a workforce for companies here. For every year of scholarship that students get at the PI, they must spend one year working for an ADNOC company."

Nurturing our youth

If the number of skilled workers is to be bolstered long-term in the Middle East, individuals must be targeted at an increasingly early age. "Targeting youngsters while they are still in education and thinking about what they will do in the future is paramount," declares Allison. Such a statement is echoed by Tone Rognstad, vice president - people marketing and attraction at StatoilHydro - "we must make sure young people are attracted to science and mathematics."

"We need to bring people into science and engineering from a very early age," says Ohadi. "People often have bad experiences with science while in high school to the extent that they hate science and engineering. We can convert some, but the numbers would still not be as big as we want.

In accordance with such issues, the PI has now opened middle and high schools that aim to prepare students for careers in science and engineering. Both schools open this September and will initially have around 200 students in each, potentially rising to 400 in coming years.

"A great amount of our energy is now spent bringing students from high school around the UAE who are not really at college level. We spend as much as two years with them and help them to improve their English language and science skills before they enter the Institute," says Ohadi.

Internship programmes are an additional education tool being employed to lure students into the industry. "We offer internships and summer training to support our drive to develop young vigorous individuals," says Jordan Stringer, regional recruiter - MENA, Weatherford. "Our eight week programmes give students a different perspective - instead of getting information in the classroom, they get practical and hands-on training in the industry."

The art of attraction

Many of the measures being taken in the oil and gas industry will help create a home-grown workforce in the long-term, but in the short to mid-term, alternative supplies of workers must be found. The Middle East must continue to outsource jobs and entice expatriates into the fold.

The PI is well aware of such a need - they have recently increased the number of expatriate students it teaches from around 10% to 25%. "We encourage all nationalities to apply for our scholarships; now we are advertising in India and Europe and we have a relationship with some universities in the US," Ohadi explains.

Now more than ever, companies are in competition to attract skilled workers and retain them. "The question is what we are doing in order to position ourselves as an employer of choice. We continuously have to consider different strategic initiatives and remain flexible in this dynamic market," explains Dib.

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