Oscarline Onwuemenyi
10 April 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) on Monday said that it has changed its selection method for Overseas Scholarship Scheme for both Masters and Doctorate Degree candidates in France, Germany and China.
According to the Manager, Education and Training Department, PTDF, Mrs. Rabia Waziri Ademu, the Fund has decided to interview all the candidates this year.
She noted that in the past, PTDF used to ask the M.Sc students to write an aptitude test while it tested only the PhD students with an oral interview.
But the PTDF has, according to her, “decided to this year make a few changes. In the past, we used to administer aptitude test on our M.Sc candidates and then oral interview for our PhD candidates.
“However, this year we have decided to interview all the candidates. Why have we done that? For the M.Sc candidates we have asked them to write a statement of purpose as to why they wish to study the subject area that they have chosen, in addition, of course to their credentials.”
Justifying the choice of freeing the Masters students from the rigour of aptitude test, she noted that, “We have done that to ensure we select the most outstanding students amongst our applicants. We are looking for that expertise in the candidates.
“What is it that they are contributing to the country, how is it going to affect the oil and gas industry in Nigeria and globally. So that is why we have changed the system to interview both our M.Sc students and our PhD students.”
The Manager said that the Fund was interviewing candidates simultaneously in the centers in universities that it is partnering with in six geo-political zones, except for the North Central, which was holding in the PTDF building in Abuja.
Speaking at the meeting, the Head of Department, Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Technology Minna, Dr. Abdulkadir Mukhtar, said he was to interview the candidates for both M.Sc and PhD Engineering categories.
He said, “We are looking out for quality because we are looking for outstanding students that will represent the country in France, Germany or China. There is a template that is like a marking scheme that looks at the overall purpose.”
Being a beneficiary of the scheme, he said the scholarship has become of immense benefit to the country, stressing that he represented Nigeria in Paris in 2014, and in the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Italy February this year.
He added that most of the beneficiaries are also lecturers in different universities across the country and abroad.
