University of Calgary looks to relaunch oil engineering program after hiatus
CBC
The University of Calgary is planning a relaunch of its oil and gas engineering program, which it suspended three years ago due to dwindling student demand.
The university stopped admitting students to its petroleum engineering bachelor's degree program in 2021 after a multi-year period of low oil prices, corporate consolidation and widespread energy sector layoffs.
While the university still has a number of hoops to jump through before it can officially relaunch the program, spokesman Joe McFarland confirmed in an email the process has begun to restart it in the fall of 2025.
He said the university is once again seeing demand from young people interested in pursuing careers in the oil and gas sector.
"We have engaged with our industry partners, and we look forward to having this important program resume," McFarland said.
"The [U of C] is always looking for ways to meet the needs of our students, industry and our community."
The U of C is located in Alberta's largest city, which is home to the head offices of Canada's largest energy companies.
Many of the university's graduates go on to get jobs for those companies.
But at the time of the petroleum engineering program's suspension, Alberta's unemployment rate was among the highest in the country (averaging 8.7 per cent for the year) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing oil and gas sector downturn.
In addition, university administrators said public discourse about climate change and the energy transition was driving student interest in renewable and alternative energy sources.
Since then, however, oil prices have rebounded, and Canadian oil companies have been generating strong profits over the past two years.
Oil and gas remains Alberta's number one industry, and the province has also benefited in the last two years from an influx of international and interprovincial migrants seeking affordable homes and economic opportunity.
The war in Ukraine has also put the issue of energy security in the spotlight, and global demand for fossil fuels continues to rise.
Tristan Goodman, president of the oil and gas industry group the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, said energy companies were "very disappointed" by the university's 2021 decision to halt the oil-and-gas degree program.
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