ISLAMABAD, July 20: The final meeting of the National Curriculum Revision Committee (NCRC) of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of the discipline of petroleum engineering has concluded at HEC Regional Office, Lahore.

After detailed discussions on different aspects of the syllabi of petroleum engineering being taught at graduate and postgraduate levels, the NCRC recommended that credit hours for four years BE/BSc (petroleum engineering) be 140 to 150 credits and the universities may get approval from their respective bodies in this respect.

For postgraduate studies, the minimum requirement should be at least two qualified instructors having PhD degrees in petroleum engineering and at least 30 credit hours including four credit hours of thesis. The students must be restricted to maintain a minimum GPA of 3 out of 4.

The committee also recommended that video libraries should be established at all universities to illustrate engineering processes and techniques that were difficult to understand through books.

The HEC should act as a resource centre for the universities by obtaining and making available technical video from various sources, such as SPE, NAIT, SAIT.

The committee emphasized that in order to take full advantage of the new curriculum, efforts should be made to increase the effectiveness of teaching-learning process, for the purpose, training of teachers in teaching methodology, increase teacher-industry interaction and regular participation of teachers in relevant conferences must be ensured. Universities should take necessary steps and provide financial resources.

Teaching aids such white board, overhead projects and multi- media projects must be provided in all classes.