Analysis of the Behavior of Petroleum Engineering Student Enrollment in Mexico in the Last 10 Years: Evolution and Challenges

Abstract

This work shows an analysis of the total enrollment, new admissions, graduates and degrees awarded in Petroleum Engineering at Bachelor's level in the last 10 years in Mexico, according to the statistical yearbooks published by the Asociación Nacional de Universidades e Instituciones de Educación Superior (ANUIES), which will allow to know the expected behavior of the student enrollment for the next 5 years. The digital transformation is discussed to propose the strategy of education in the medium and long term. An analysis is carried out on the study plans of 11 universities that teach Petroleum Engineering and have an active student chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in Mexico, to know the subjects taught and detect possible modifications supported by the compression of automation elements such as data analysis and artificial intelligence. Actions taken by other universities in the world for transition from traditional education to an education aligned to new global needs are discussed as well. Results show that student enrollment exhibits a strong dependence on barrel prices, the higher the price per barrel, the greater the number of new students enrolled. Student ranges from 4,800 to 13,663 at their peak. Derived from the fall in oil prices in 2014, there is an average annual decrease of 12%. If the trend continues to be the same, there will be less than 3,000 Petroleum Engineering students in Mexico by 2025. There are 55 Petroleum Engineering schools in the country, Veracruz and Tabasco together account for 56.5% of graduates nationwide in 2019. Technological innovations and technical challenges should shape the curricula in the Petroleum Engineering degree. It was also detected that the current education contemplates the study of traditional technologies, so it is advisable to align efforts to improve and strengthen the curricula of the universities that already offer the degree, instead of opening new schools. Mexico's national fields face increasingly complex technical challenges, such as the production of mature fields, unconventional reservoirs, deep-water exploration, and heavy and extra-heavy oils. Current Petroleum Engineering students are the ones who in few years will make important decisions about the direction of the industry, so it is of great interest to know the quality and quantity of them, and focus efforts on addressing deficiencies in fields related to technical challenges.