Like many other SE Asian countries Vietnam is rich in mineral and energy resources. The lack of home-based professionals in prospecting for mineral resources, petroleum exploration and production, nearshore reclamation, and risk management leaves much of this wealth to remain untapped. To meet the rising demands in HR due to the fast expanding Oil and Gas industry in the region the master program in Geo-Exploration and Petroleum Geo-Engineering (GEPG) of AIT has been offered beyond the Bangkok campus with the one-year professional master program being delivered in Ho Chi Minh city in cooperation with the AIT-Vietnam (AITVN) and other academic partners such as Kyoto, Heriot-Watts, Chulalongkorn, Oklahoma, Clausthal, KIGAM etc. and the industrial partners from the oil and gas industry.
The GEPG program has been set up at AIT as an interdisciplinary and application-oriented programsince 2000 with the supports from the governments and national organizations, oil and gas companies. So far, GEPG has graduated more than 60 students, many of them have completed or are pursuing PhD programs in well-known universities over the world or have become key staffs for a number of major oil and gas companies operating in the region.
The first two batches of Professional master program in GEPG at AITCV, HCM City had successfully started in August 2008 and 2009, respectively, with the students from various oil and gas companies in Vietnam such as Cuu Long JOC, Lam Son JOC, Con Son JOC, Truong Son JOC, Hoan Vu JOC, Pearl Oil, Thang Long JOC, Phu Quy POC, PVD Well Services, Chevron,Nippon Oil, Salamander Energy etc.
The study program flexibility allows the students, who are working in the office or offshore, to attend part or all the classes. In addition to the course work, overseasinternship trips and study research are an integral part of thecurriculum.