BI’s Executive Master in Energy Management programme is under way again, and many of the students have travelled halfway round the world to attend the course.

On 17 September 2007, BI Executive School started the Energy programme for the second time. The applicant figures testify to the strong interest in the market and it is worth noting that the programme has once again attracted a large number of international applicants this year. As many as 16 different nationalities are represented in the classroom.

Collaboration with ESCP-EAP and IFP

The Master programme is the result of a collaboration that BI has with the two French institutions ESCP-EAP and IFP. The programme’s target group consisted in principle of people with managerial ambitions in the energy sector. Who has applied to the programme?

Different sectors

“The students come from many different sectors, not just the energy sector,” says Programme Co-ordinator Ola Ommedal, who is responsible for the programme. Ola groups the applicants into two main groups: on the one hand is a large number of engineers who are already working in the energy sector but have a need to improve their managerial skills, and on the other are people with no experience of the energy sector but who wish to work within an energy-related sector.

Commuting to Norway to study energy

Ola Ommedal emphasises that the students who have been admitted have many years of professional experience and managerial positions within their companies. The programme has a number of international students, including Latin Americans and Asiatics, in addition to students from other European countries. “The international composition is very exciting, and will contribute to useful exchanges of experience,” says Ommedal. The international students will travel to the meetings in Oslo and Paris, while three of them have moved to Norway to study energy at BI on a full-time basis. Ola Ommedal explains this interest by stating that Norway is often associated with energy, particularly oil and gas, and that BI therefore attracts strong applicants from both Norway and abroad.

International marketing

How have the international students heard about BI's Energy Management programme? “We have attended international trade fairs and advertised in the international press, such as the industry magazine Upstream. BI's academic resources have also advertised the programme on their travels abroad,” concludes Ola Ommedal.