MBA in Oil, Gas and Energy Management

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with a focus on Oil, Gas and Energy Management is introduced targeting individuals in both the private and public sectors and aims at equipping senior managers with leadership skills and competencies that will enable them to help manage their private sector businesses, or public institutions successfully.

The Government of Malawi has adopted a strategy for development and growth spanning 2017-2022. This is the Malawi Growth & Development Strategy III (MGDS III). This blueprint recognizes that the failure of the country to move to a developmental state has slowed down national socio-economic development, making Malawi a consuming and importing state with very little being invested into industry, technology and private sector activities to promote manufacturing and export growth. Access to energy, including through oil and gas, is a critical component of increasing industrial and manufacturing activity.

According to MGDS III, the plan for spurring growth recognizes provision of education and skills as key to providing the human capital required for socio-economic development and industrial growth. Unicaf University Malawi aims to play a part in the national effort to increase accessibility to tertiary education in general. Its online model, combined with its scholarship scheme makes high-quality tertiary education accessible to a much larger number of students than could be absorbed in a traditional face-to-face setting. Unicaf, therefore meets the goal of availing tertiary education to as many Malawians as possible. More particularly, the MBA in Oil, Gas and Energy Management programme will contribute towards the realization of the national vision for socio-economic development as outlined by the rationale below.

Rationale for the Programme

Malawi requires increased access to oil and gas to meet its energy demands for growth and development. Furthermore, there is an ongoing assessment of potential oil exploration in Malawi.

“Surveys have strongly indicated that there are thick sediments ranging from 2500 to 3500 m… Exploration work currently being pursued by multinational firms in Malawi’s stretch of the oil rich Great African Rift Valley has unveiled high prospects for oil discovery” (Jere, 2018). This MBA: Oil, Gas and Energy Management programme is designed to encourage national efforts towards improvement of the energy sector, and hence towards greater industrialization within Malawi.

The following press release from The Nation newspaper from October 2018 summarizes a major problem faced by the government of Malawi in its quest for development of the oil and gas sector. It is clear that a lack of trained manpower in the sector is crippling efforts to kick-start the industry.

Despite the government promising to support the growth of the mining sector to become one of the main foreign exchange earners, the department tasked to look after the oil and gas sector seems to have no capacity and resources to perform, according to a recent report.

The report says technical officers at the Department of Mines do not have continuous training to ensure independent and competent analysis when conducting field verification visits where oil and gas companies are operating.

The report has recommended a review of the oil and gas division to allow all technical officers to access relevant training and capacity building programmes (Chirambo, 2018).

The last paragraph quoted was the recommendation made in the authoritative Malawi Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (MWEITI) report. The report reinforces the observations of Unicaf University that prompted and justified the development of this MBA: Oil, Gas and Energy Management programme.

One of the four pillars for the implementation of the national blueprint for economic growth and poverty alleviation, the Malawi Growth & Development Strategy (MGDS) III, is “human capital development” (Government of Malawi, 2017). It is in response to the call by government for increased private sector involvement in the field of education and training that Unicaf University, in general, develops its programmes. Through this programme, Unicaf University aims to produce graduates who will contribute towards an industrial revolution and spearhead national growth and poverty alleviation through growth in the crucial energy sector.

Aim of the Programme

The program aims to provide an intellectually challenging academic programme of study, which will demand the student the ability to analyze, synthesize and evaluate key theoretical concepts and practical applications in international oil, gas and energy management. The programme provides industry insight, including an overview of contemporary issues in the market, so that graduates are well equipped to enter into the sector, whether in marketing, procurement and negotiation, policy-making or exploration.

Unicaf is a global educational organisation based in Europe, offering scholarships to eligible candidates to pursue academic studies with its partner universities, currently the University of Suffolk ( UK) , the Liverpool John Moores University (UK) , the University of South Wales (UK), the University of California, Riverside Extension (USA) and multi-campus Unicaf University ( Africa) . Other than the fully online programmes offered through the partner universities, Unicaf offers a number of taught programmes at the Unicaf University campuses.

Unicaf facilitates the global online delivery of study materials for Bachelor, Master’s or Doctoral degrees through its state-of-the-art digital platform, the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) . Online learning is gaining ground as an efficient way to impart new knowledge, skills and qualifications, which is suitable for people living away from urban centres, for family carers and home makers, for people with disabilities and for working professionals who cannot give up their careers and salaries to earn new qualifications, in order to seek a promotion or find a better job. The Unicaf VLE, which is available through any mobile or desktop device, enables access to study materials 24/7, regular contact with tutors, access to an extensive e-library collection, and networking with students and professionals in many different countries and cultures. Online delivery of course material through the Unicaf VLE employs modern technologies and methods , (like videos, quizzes, group projects and more), which assist learning by making it more enjoyable and interesting.