Robert Gordon University (RGU) has teamed with the Energy Industries Council (EIC) to recognise future industry leaders.
The EIC and RGU Rising Star MBA Award is an initiative created to develop leaders of tomorrow in the oil and gas sector and will see the winner receive full tuition fees worth £17,000 for the MBA Oil and Gas Management course at RGU.
Second prize is a £5,000 scholarship towards tuition fees, third prize is a £2,500 scholarship, and all applicants that meet the entry criteria for the course will receive a £1,000 scholarship towards tuition fees.
Winners can choose to pursue the executive part-time MBA Oil and Gas Management course which is delivered at RGU’s Garthdee campus, or the online distance learning MBA Oil and Gas Management course, which can be studied from anywhere in the world.
The initiative was launched last year and Daniel Gear, of Petrofac, who is studying for his MBA Oil and Gas Management on an executive part-time basis, was the first recipient of the award.
He said he has benefited greatly from winning the award and it has opened up new opportunities: “There are two main ways that I have benefited – the first is in terms of my profile. Shortly after I won the award I met the CEO of Petrofac and the rest of the Petrofac board who congratulated me on my success so it has had a tangible impact of my profile within Petrofac, as well as outwith the organisation," he said.
“The second is more practical – I am taking what I have learnt back to the organisation and applying it on a module by module basis and I am really seeing the benefits of that already.
“The quality of lectures and lecturers and the fact that you are gaining access to senior industry practitioners is excellent, and the weekend workshops are great. The VP series was also tremendous and provided a real honest insight from leading organisations.
“From my experience, winning the first EIC and RGU Rising Star MBA Award has been fantastic in terms of the opportunities that I have had within the organisation since I started the MBA.
“From an organisation’s perspective – having a rising star in your company and upskilling from within while providing an employee with the tools that they need to deliver more can be highly beneficial for everyone involved.”
Dr Ian Broadbent, MBA director at RGU, said: “We’re really excited to partner with the EIC for the second year of our Rising Star MBA Award. The MBA Oil and Gas Management course at Aberdeen Business School is internationally accredited and adopts an industry-focused approach.
“The programme is designed to support the career development of managers in the oil and gas industry, and provides a win-win for students and their employing organisations alike.”
Stuart Broadley, CEO of the EIC, said: “Everyone at the EIC is delighted to hear that the recipient of our first EIC-RGU Rising Star MBA Award, Daniel Gear, has benefited so much from RGU’s MBA Oil and Gas Management course, which is without a doubt one the world’s best.
“It’s a great pleasure to be able to continue our partnership with RGU and encourage the next generation of oil and gas industry leaders.
“We’ll be announcing the winner of the 2018 EIC-RGU Rising Star MBA Award, along with other awards, at the EIC National Awards Dinner in London on 11 October.”