Senior students from across Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire will ‘pitch’ to secure work with experts in the oil and gas industry this week at the final of TechFest’s STEM in the Installation project.
Sponsored by Nexen, the pilot programme sees groups of students working together to produce a tender for maintenance and inspection works on an offshore installation.
Two groups of pupils have been working with mentors on the task over the last two months, following a briefing from Nexen and TechFest, to prepare their proposal.
Students will present their tenders this week in an effort to demonstrate the processes required to carry out a visual inspection safely, efficiently and with no harm to the environment, as well as providing an outline of costs.
The programme is a new initiative from Aberdeen-based charity TechFest, which aims to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities to young people and the wider community.
Alies Bartelds, acting managing director of TechFest, said: “STEM in the Installation offers pupils a realistic experience of how the skills they learn in the classroom can be applied in the oil and gas industry.
“This is our most challenging project in that we give the pupils very little information, other than the brief, similar to what professionals would be given in a real tender process.
“It’s up to the students to research industry best practice to ensure their solution is practical, meets regulations and is competitively priced. The pupils have worked incredibly hard on this and we are really looking forward to their presentations.”
Ray Riddoch, managing director U.K. and SVP Europe, Nexen Petroleum U.K. Limited said: “STEM subjects are incredibly important in preparing students for a number of vital roles at Nexen and the wider energy industry. Inspiring the next generation by supporting initiatives like this is therefore an investment for Nexen in our own future as well as those of the students who take part.”
The schools taking part this year are Inverurie Academy and Robert Gordon’s College.