PRESTIGE 2015 was successfully held at the Swiss-Garden Resort, Kuantan, Pahang on 9th – 11th Oct 2015.
MGA has been organizing PRESTIGE as an annual program since 2008. PRESTIGE stands for Practical Environmental, Safety and Industrial Guidance for Student Engineers.
The objectives of PRESTIGE are:
1. To create awareness and expose students to the whole value chain of the natural gas industry
2. To create Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) awareness of the proper usage, delivery and application of gas products
3. To raise understanding of the HSE and sustainable development issues faced by the industry today
4. To enhance the students understanding of HSE by sharing tools and practices and their application.
5. To provide an overview of the career opportunities available in the gas industry
5 universities participated in PRESTIGE 2015 with the involvement of 58 students and 4 lecturers. The universities are:-
1. Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), Kelantan
2. Monash University, Kuala Lumpur
3. TATI University College, Terengganu
4. Institut Teknologi Petroleum Petronas (INSTEP), Terengganu
5. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor
MGA was assisted by an organizing committee comprises of representative from PETRONAS group, SHELL, ExxonMobil, Deleum, Gas Malaysia and ANGVA in organizing PRESTIGE 2015.
During the program, the participants were grouped into 10 teams comprising of students from different universities to encourage interaction.
PRESTIGE 2015 started in the evening of 9th Oct 2015 (Friday) after the participants checked into the hotel. Ice breaking session was held at the beach organized by the hotel recreational staff. The activities during the ice breaking required team work, creativity and communication.
After dinner, the programme continued with a briefing on HSE Rules by En. Zulkarnain from SHELL.
Day 1 started with a safety briefing from the hotel safety officer, followed by a welcoming speech from Mr. Ho Sook Wah, Secretary General of MGA and group photography.
The participants then boarded 2 buses equipped with safety belts for a visit to Lynas Advance Material Plant at Gebeng, Pahang. During the visit, the participants were given a briefing on the background, technical, safety and environmental aspects of the rare earth plant followed by a tour of the plant by bus. The plant visit ended with lunch at the plant’s cafeteria provided by Lynas.
Evening session continue with a debriefing of the plant visit facilitated by En. Zulkarnain and followed by a presentation on Natural Gas Industry Value Chain by En. Raja Dzulkarnain Raja Zainal Abidin from PETRONAS and En. Zairi Dzuljastri from SHELL. This session covered all aspects of the natural gas industry from upstream to downstream. The programme then continued with a HSE video presentation and discussion facilitated by En. Zulkarnain (SHELL) and En. Alizan Ismail (PETRONAS Gas).
After dinner, each university took turn to give entertaining performances.
Day 2 began with recap of the first day. The participants were then given the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the HSE rules and tools and apply what they had learned throughout the program during an HSE Challenge.
The last session of the PRESTIGE program was an interesting career talk by Puan Nur Alifah from ExxonMobil, followed by an inspiring leadership talk by En. Zainal Abidin Jalil, the Group Managing Director of Dagang NeXchange Berhad (DNeX). En. Zainal was an accomplished industry leader with vast experience in oil and gas industry after spending 28 years at ExxonMobil before serving as Chief Executive Officer of Malakoff Corporation Berhad, prior to his current appointment at DNeX.
Closing speech was delivered by Mr. Ho Sook Wah, Secretary General of MGA.
Dr. Syed Tauqir, lecturer from Monash University gave a short thank you speech on behalf of the participating universities.
The program ended with a presentation of certificates to all participants and prizes to winners of the HSE challenge as well as four best participants.
The program received very positive feedback from both the students and lecturers who appreciated the opportunity to learn about the safety and natural gas directly from the professionals from the industry.
