Historically, oil and gas upper management executives came almost exclusively from technical backgrounds. Many of them, after stints in the industry, returned to school to learn business and advance their careers, said Ted Jacobs, director of energy management at the University of Tulsa’s (TU’s) Collins College of Business. Now energy management graduates with a diversified business and technical education are prepared to see the “big picture” and can better communicate with their technical counterparts.

Students are embracing the concept.

Entry-level energy management graduates typically earn about US $70,000 a year, about twice that of their counterparts with other business degrees and far more than the average for college graduates across the board. Even more impressively, while many college graduates cannot find jobs, energy management graduates are in high demand. Jobs and high salaries are serving as strong recruiting tools for the energy program.

Oklahoma University (OU), the first university to have a petroleum land management (PLM) program, modified and changed the name of its program in 1999, creating the first energy management program. OU’s PLM program enrollment peaked in 1981 at 800 students. By the fall of 1997, the program had just four students.

OU’s alumni were opposed to ending the program and convinced the university to restructure it. They advised hiring an OU graduate who was successful and respected in the oil and gas industry to run the program and to solicit input about how it needed to adapt.

The consensus was that the graduates needed much stronger training in all business disciplines. OU hired Jacobs, who had graduated from the OU PLM program in 1978 and brought 20 years of experience as a landman.

Jacobs headed OU’s energy management program until 2006, when he left to launch a similar program at the University at Tulsa, started in the fall of 2007. In his 13 years directing such programs, Jacobs has placed 100% of his graduates.

The energy industry has embraced the program at TU, providing about $825,000 in scholarships through 2010, according to Jacobs. In its first two full years at TU (2007-2009), the energy management program produced nine graduates, all of whom have gotten jobs. Slots in TU’s program are highly competitive; it now has 106 students, with plans to graduate 25 to 30 students annually.

“At TU, we pride ourselves on a student to faculty ratio of 10 to 1. This allows me, and each student’s professors, to develop a mentor-type relationship while working with them in identifying their strengths and areas of interest,” Jacobs said.

“Also, as both their program director and academic advisor, I encourage every student to pursue industry internships and scholarships, to participate in local mentoring programs, and to take advantage of opportunities through the Tulsa Energy Management Student Association,” he said.

Steve Long succeeded Jacobs at OU. He has 30 years of diverse experience in the energy industry. Long said OU’s curriculum “is tailor-made for today’s multitask generation in that students take energy classes, not only in the business college, but also in engineering, geology, geophysics, law, meteorology, and GIS computer mapping.” Core courses in accounting management, marketing, economics, and management information systems are now combined with upper division-level finance and legal courses in areas such as energy risk management and oil, gas, and environmental law.

Energy industry recruiting and hiring are at levels not seen since the early 1980s, as the industry seeks to replace its aging workforce and the opportunities associated with the emergence of global shale plays beckon. Traditional E&P players are recruiting energy management students, as are financial institutions and marketing and trading firms.

Enrollment has doubled in the past few years to 300 students in OU’s program. In addition, the university has created a new energy specialization option in the MBA program due to the industry’s request for postgraduate work in energy finance and economics.

Dr. Ken Morgan, director of the Texas Christian University Energy Institute and the School of Geology, Energy, and the Environment, said the energy management program has expanded considerably over the past three years. The university now has a minor in energy technology and management for any major on campus.

“More than 260 students, from 12 different majors, now minor in energy,” he said. “We offer an industry certificate program in petroleum land management, we now offer a MBA with an energy emphasis, and we have a new undergraduate degree track in resource management.”

Enrollment is soaring. Two years ago, the Energy Institute had 75 students. Now, 260 students are studying with a minor in energy. Geology majors have doubled in three years, as have resource management majors.

“There is a general excitement about energy. It is all driven by jobs, jobs, jobs.”

The University of Texas-Austin, which founded a PLM program in 1959, ended the program in 1995. However, UT now offers a unique master’s program that provides graduates with skills in business, law, economics, and policy to complement their training in technical fields, said Dr. Sharon Mosher, dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences. The objective is to prepare them for management positions in energy and natural resources vocations.

The energy and earth resources graduate program has reached capacity at 48 students. It is a 30-credit-hour program that includes a thesis. Some students come directly from bachelor degree programs, but the majority are early career people seeking to improve their qualifications for upward mobility in major energy companies, consulting firms, government agencies, and alternative energy specialty fields, said Chip Groat, program director.

The McCombs School of Business has an energy certificate program in its executive education program that offers an in-depth look at economics, strategy, business valuation, and finance specific to the energy industry.

“At the University of Texas at Austin, we primarily have concentrated on providing energy education focusing on the scientific and technical side through the Jackson School of Geosciences and the petroleum and geosystems engineering department,” Mosher says. “Energy education has an increasing emphasis on understanding processes, not just describing what is observed. Therefore, students need more basic science – math, physics, chemistry, biology –than ever before.”

Bruce Bullock, director, Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University’s (SMU’s) Cox School of Business, said, “No other industry is as much at the center of modern life as the energy industry. No other industry involves as many geopolitical, economic, and technological issues.

“The 21st century is shaping up to be the century of energy, involving fast-paced developments from traditional oil and gas to hydrogen fuel cells. It’s a great industry to study.”

Bullock noted that SMU is in the second year of offering an energy specialization in the finance area of its MBA program. “Students are able to take electives in the area of oil and gas law in our law school, petroleum geology, and other petroleum-related courses, in addition to their strategy and finance-related courses.

“While this is similar to some of the energy management programs, this is an MBA-level curriculum and is much more rigorous in terms of the energy finance courses, specifically. It prepares students for careers in energy investment banking, corporate finance within energy companies, energy private equity funds, and general manager roles within global oil and gas companies.” Enrollment in the program has gone from zero to more than 50 students, he added.

“I believe energy management education is ripe for cooperation rather than competition among the various universities,” he said. “We all face similar challenges, and we each have slightly different core competencies. It’s far more economical to share those competencies for the benefit of our students through cross-credit, etc., than it is to duplicate them.”