About 16,000 applicants are competing for only 295 spaces at the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies (CPES), established by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).
Executive Secretary of PTDF, Ahmed Aminu, disclosed this during a tour of the Kaduna-based institution with members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
According to him, more than 2,000 candidates applied for the PhD programme, but only 45 will be admitted in the pilot phase.
For the master’s degree programme, about 14,000 applications were received, out of which just 250 candidates will secure admission when the college opens to pioneer students in September.
Aminu noted that the establishment of the college aligns with PTDF’s mandate of building human and institutional capacity for Nigeria’s oil, gas and energy sector.
He added that since its creation in 1973 through Act No. 25, later amended in 1999, the Fund has trained about 15,000 Nigerians.
The CPES, licensed by the National Universities Commission (NUC) as a private postgraduate institution, will run 19 academic programmes across six departments and three faculties, with emphasis on training senior technical, managerial and executive professionals for the country’s energy industry.