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A collaborative educational effort between the USC Department of Geological Sciences and the National University of Equatorial Guinea (UNGE) to train Ecuatoguinean students in geosciences for the country's oil industry has produced its first graduates.
The inaugural class of seven students at UNGE in Malabo graduated in June. All of the graduates have found jobs in the country's energy industry, four with the Ministry of Mines, Industry, and Energy, and three with oil companies.
The program also sponsors scholarships for students to complete bachelor's degrees in geology and engineering from Carolina.
"This is a major milestone after a lot of hard work," said Adriana Chacon, project manager of the Guinea Equatorial Geosciences (GEGEO) program in the Department of Geological Sciences. By the end of the current school year, another class of five students will graduate from the program in Malabo, and the first of two Guinean students to study at the University in Columbia will receive their bachelor's degrees in geophysics.
There currently are eight undergraduate Equatoguinean students in the program in Columbia. Three are pursuing degrees in geophysics, one in geology, two in engineering, and two are in the English Programs for Internationals preparing to begin their baccalaureate course work in January 2008.
Two of the students studying in Columbia completed internships with the Marathon and Noble Energy oil companies this summer.
In June UNGE also presented the Geological Sciences Department and USC with its Gold Medal Award as a gesture of its appreciation for the program's success and the level of support it has provided UNGE's overall academic programming in Malabo.
The exchange program was launched in 2003 to train Ecuatoguinean students to work in the country's developing oil industry. The first 22 students enrolled in the geotechnical degree program in September 2003 to earn geological engineering degrees.
Two students from UNGE came to Carolina in 2004 to pursue bachelor's degree in geology. Other students who followed are also majoring in engineering to help meet a demand in Equatorial Guinea for petroleum, civil, mechanical, and chemical engineers who will help build the country's infrastructure.
Notably, the first female student to arrive in Columbia under the program, Fortunata Mikue, is studying in the English Programs for Internationals in preparation for her work on a degree in geology. Mikue is expected to start her studies in January 2008.
The exchange program was initiated with sponsorship from the earth resources firm South Atlantic Natural Resources and has been supported by the Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines and Energy. Other oil companies contributing to support of the program include: Marathon; Ocean Equatorial Guinea/Devon Energy; Mobil, Equatorial Guinea, Inc.; Noble Energy; and Amerada-Hess, which has backed the program with logistical support such as use of its corporate aircraft.
In Columbia the program is co-directed by James Kellogg and James Knapp, professors in the Department of Geological Sciences. The program is managed by Adriana Chacon. UNGE's rector is Carlos Nsue Nsuga.
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Equatoguinean students in Columbia enrolled in the Guinea Equatorial Geosciences Program managed by Adriana Chacon in the Department of Geological Sciences include, from left: Santiago Esono, Mauricio Mbomio, Daniel Nguema, Chacon, Rosendo King, Ignacio Motobe, Fortunata Mikue, and Jose Manuel Bacale. Not shown is Jorge Botala.
