Abstract

GIS For Petroleum in the Curriculum of Geography: UAE University
Track: Teaching with GIS in Higher Education
Author(s): Mohamed Yagoub

The objective of this paper is to address issues related to the introduction of GIS for Petroleum course in the Geography curriculum.Generally in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the UAE the field of Petroleum industry is dominated by geology and engineering graduates. The Geography Program at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, UAE University had renovated its curriculum in 2003 to meet the market demand. Among the vibrant and promising markets that had been identified is the field of Petroleum industry. Although the course opens new job opportunities for geography graduates there are some problems related to a suitable textbook that fit the course, heterogeneity of students register for the course (students from other colleges with different GIS and remote sensing background take it as elective), the need for specialized 3D subsurface software, difficulty in obtaining local petroleum data to train students on it, and language constraint.

Mohamed Yagoub
UAE University
Geography Program
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Al Ain , AD 17771
United Arab Emirates
Phone: 00971505438788
Fax: 0097137670495
E-mail: myagoub@uaeu.ac.ae