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Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) recently concluded the second module of its Executive Master in Energy and Resources programme with a visit from Nicolas Hulot, special envoy of French President Francois Hollande. |
The 10-day module was hosted at HBKU’s partner university, Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ), where Hulot met with participants; delivering a speech about environmental and climate change issues as well as discussing potential solutions to these issues facing the global environment. Hulot, officer of the French Légion d’honneur, is also the founder and president of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation for Nature and Mankind, an environmental group established in 1990, as well as a 2012 candidate for the Europe Écologie-Les Verts primary for the French presidential election.
Executive master candidate Yousef al-Jaber, head of Corporate Social Responsibility for Total E&P Qatar, said: “Hulot’s speech presented new horizons for the way we think about climate change and its impact on the world. I appreciated the opportunity to voice my ideas and opinions during the session with my colleagues, and believe it created a deeper and more holistic understanding of these global issues, and what can be done to change the course of the future.”
During the second module, participants also attended lectures on geopolitics of both water, and oil and gas, by Associate Professors Dr Mark Giordano and Dr David Painter from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, who came to Doha specifically for this module. Candidates also attended lectures with a series of experts in Fossil Fuel Technologies from both the home and Qatar campuses of Texas A&M University.
In addition to classroom lectures, HBKU seeks to provide enriching educational experiences from a variety of stakeholders, such as the visit from Hulot, as well a session with Abdullah al-Sulaiti, managing director of Nakilat. Al-Sulaiti facilitated a lively and active exchange on strategy.
Antoine Hyafil, academic co-ordinator for the Executive Master programme, said: “It is a huge privilege for the 28 students to interact with speakers like Abdullah al- Sulaiti, who runs the biggest LNG shipping company worldwide, or with the special envoy of the French president. It adds immeasurable value and allows for students to apply what they are learning to real world projects.”
HBKU’s Executive Master in Energy and Resources is a part-time programme comprised of concentrated modules over a 16-month period, presented with partner universities Texas A&M University, Georgetown University, and HEC Paris.
