| Hakim Hayat |
TOTAL E&P BORNEO BV yesterday celebrated the return of five Bruneian students from the first batch of scholars who completed their Master’s degrees in France under the Total Education Scholarship Scheme (TESS).
The event was organised in recognition of their achievements and also in appreciation to the support given by all stakeholders such as authorities and regulators including Ministry of Energy, Manpower and Industry (MEMI), Ministry of Education (MoE), the Embassy of the Republic of France in Brunei Darussalam, PetroleumBrunei and Alliance Francaise as well as the partners who contributed to the scholarship programme – Petronas Carigali Brunei Limited and Murphy Oil.
Permanent Secretary (Manpower) at the MEMI Haji Zolkiflee bin Haji Abdul Karim was the guest of honour at the event held at The Rizqun International Hotel in Gadong.
He praised the capabilities of Bruneians in learning using a different education system and language.
Stressing the importance of the recruitment and development of Bruneians especially since the issuance of the Bruneianisation Directive in June last year, he also praised Total and its partners for their commitment and effort in supporting the government’s vision to continuously develop highly competent Bruneians to lead the oil and gas industry.
“A strong public-private partnership and collaboration is very important especially in achieving a common goal towards realising Brunei Vision 2035,” he added.
Meanwhile, General Manager of Total E&P Borneo BV and Total E&P Deep Offshore Borneo BV Vincent Dutel shared that the TESS was part of their commitment in Brunei to contribute towards the development of competencies, knowledge and skills of young Bruneians in the oil and gas industry.
He said each accepted scholar receives a full scholarship to study in France up to Master’s degree level, approximately seven years including a 14-month pre-university programme designed to help the students with the French Language as well in understanding the French educational system. Prior to this, the students are also provided with an intensive French Language programme supported by Alliance Francaise in Brunei.
All the returning scholars are now integrated in Total and are contributing towards the development of the oil and gas industry in the country.
Abdul Malik bin Mahyuddin graduated with a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Grenoble and is currently working as a field engineer while Master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering specialising in geoscience graduate from University of Pau and Pays d’Adour Chantelle Phung is now working as a junior geophysicist.
Chua Yi Sern who graduated with an Engineering Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Applied Science in Rennes is working at the Total Onshore Processing Plant in inspection while Muhammad Aizat bin Hamidun who graduated with a Masters of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Polytech in Lille is working as a field engineer.
Heather Lim who now works as a process engineer graduated with a Masters of Engineering in Chemical and Process Engineering from ENSIACET Toulouse.
At present, Total said there are five more students under the TESS in France. Two will complete their studies and graduate in 2020 while the remaining three will graduate in 2021.
The TESS was introduced in 2012 and offered by Total E&P Deep Offshore Borneo (Operation of Block CA1) together with its CA1 Partners Petronas Carigali Brunei Ltd and Murphy Oil to Bruneian students who have completed their GCE ‘A’ Level to give them the opportunity to pursue their studies at internationally recognised French universities and higher education institutions up to Master’s degree level in oil and gas related fields.