Abstract
Abstract Many Kazakhstani oil and gas companies, especially the Western majors, such as Chevron, Eni, and Shell have indicated a serious gap in poor social skills and a lack of career preparedness among the local university graduates. Satbayev University has addressed this eminent problem by introducing and designing a new Petroleum Engineering (PE) Seminar class in the undergraduate curriculum. This paper presents not only the overall framework and results, but also lessons learned to apply these educational technologies across the region. The PE Seminar class is distinct from other traditional class settings since it has included practical sessions on developing students' communication and public speaking, teamwork, resume, and cover letter writing skills, building professional network early in their careers. In order to prepare students for job interviews, class instructors directed students through mock job interviews, in a few cases these interviews were conducted by the invited HR professionals. Overall, the class evenly balanced core technical writing and oral skills. Since the class is being conducted in two spans in 2018 and 2019 years, the results are comprehensive and demonstrate the significant improvement on the students' perspective. Petroleum engineering faculty and, more importantly, industry professionals have assessed class outcomes during informal meetings. For example, in TED Talk-format presentation sessions, faculty members could evaluate students' problem-solving and public speaking skills. Prior to the sessions, students were grouped and given specific topics in the oil and gas industry. It was their main task to come up with original solutions, investigate and present study results. Moreover, the industry representatives and HR trainers have organized mock interviews and technical writing courses, and the latter has tremendously helped students in writing their undergraduate diploma projects. A class survey and students' direct feedback have confirmed promising accomplishments but also indicated a room for further improvement. It is implied the more industry is involved, the more students become motivated, educated and skilled for the future workforce demand. This article supplements the current petroleum engineering literature by providing the first successful case of implementing the seminar class in the Russia and Caspian region. It further emphasizes the necessity of career preparedness and soft skills development in the university settings with clear goals, components, and resources aligned with the industry requirements.