Total offers scholarships to students from oil districts

By Ronald Musoke

Total E&P Uganda, one of the three major oil companies heavily involved in oil prospecting and production in the country has offered up to 20 scholarships to students from the oil districts of Nwoya, Buliisa, Nebbi and Masindi where the French company currently has operations (Exploration Areas 1 and 1A).

The scholarships which were presented to the lucky students in Kampala on March 14 are to enable them pursue the Uganda Advanced Certificate in Education (UACE), at top secondary schools in Kampala.

TOTAL E &P Uganda General Manager Loïc Laurandel, noted that wherever Total operates around the world, it aims at promoting access to knowledge through initiatives like scholarships and educational programmes  targeted at consolidating the education systems and infrastructure.

At the event which doubled as an awarding ceremony of the scholarships to the students and a signing of the memorandum of understanding with the host schools, Laurandel noted that Total has made education and capacity building their duty and commitment because the company believes that there is no success without promoting and integrating local talent.

The scholarships have been awarded to the best performing students, with a focus on scientific fields. This is to assist them finalize their secondary education starting February 2013, at top schools with a record of very good performance in the UACE. The schools are: King’s College Budo, St Mary Kisubi, Namilyango College, Seeta High School Mukono and Seeta High School green campus.

Laurandel was hopeful that by enrolling the students in these schools, this would help them compete favourably with their counterparts in the city at the national examinations and improve their chances of gaining entry into some of the recognized universities worldwide.

He said Total will continue supporting local content and capacity building in its various forms to include recruitment, integration, training, development and career assessment.

“We believe that the key to developing a sustainable expert workforce is by contributing to the development of the knowledge base of our host countries and more broadly, the growth of its human capital,” he said.

Besides this scholarship scheme, Total E&P Uganda is running two other types of scholarships, the Total Merit Scholarships for Bachelor graduates and the Total / Quai d’Orsay (French Ministry of Foreign affairs) scholarships for civil servants to pursue Master degrees in France.