~"--"'- _._--~ ;,·d : i :.1 -.JCPjb'l- 0/- 03· ::1 .j The Engineering Technologist· :, : ,i ;, By F. H. BABET" ,. (18th Annual Technical ]lIeeting, The Pet"ole",,, Society of CIM, Banff, Albel·ta, ;IIay, 1967) Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/jcpt/article-pdf/7/01/17/2166819/petsoc-68-01-03.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 " ABSTRACT Some of the engineering tech­ HIGH SCI'JXIL HIGH SCHOOL The engineering technologist can be nologies are designed with three ,,","Troll ""m,,, ''''''''''I'''''''''' utilized to relieve the engineer of different programs (Figu,re 1) _ many of the tasks which the latter Students graduating from an artic­ may regard as being mundane. This ulated' vooational higb-sohool pro­ 'j paper describes the training of en­ gineering technologists. points out gram enter directl}" to year UB" at their capabilities and suggests areas NAlT. This is the standal'd two­ in which they can be effective in re­ year post-high-school technology ducing'-the engineering work load. program. Students who have fol­ f .. lowed the academic high-school UI D = program have had no vocational courses. These students may enter INTRODUCTION NAIT after completing either grade XI 01' grade XII. If they en­ l~ THE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIST ter the three-year program, they SOCIETY OF ALBERTA defines a receive instruction in some grade technologist as an individual who XII subjects and in tbe equivalent has completed two years of·post­ of the high-scbool vocational sub­ high-school education and has had jects in year "A". They then enter [J two or more years of related ex­ year "B" at the same level as those Figure 1.-E1lgineeri7lg Technology perience. This is quite similar to students 'who graduated from the Prog1'ams the requirements for registration vocational high schools. Students under otber departments within the as a Professional Engineer_ The who enter NAIT witb a 55 per cent Technology Division of the school. ·formation of the Engineering academic high-school average may NAIT is organized into four Technologist Society was initiated enroll in the year HAB". This is a divisions: Technology, Business and guided hy members of the As­ longer, accelerated year in which and Vocational Education, Exten­ '.'., ..,::'" sociation of Professional Engi­ students receive instruction equiva­ sion, and Industrial. The scope of ,.~ . neers. lent to the vocational subject mat­ this presentation does not allow de­ ter offered in year "A" and year tailed discussion of the latter three ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS "B". Year "e" is common to all divisions, but it should be pointed students in the course. out that there are many courses of­ Entrance to most of the two-~~ear fered in these divisions which pro­ post-high-school engineering tech­ ORGANIZATION OF NAIT duce graduates which could prove nolog:y programs can be obtained to be assets to many oil and gas in­ by stndents who have a high-scbool At the time of writing, NAIT dustry activities. A few examples offered a total of 27 technology ) diploma with a uB" standing in of the courses and corresponding \. Matbematics 30 or 32, and credit courses. \Vhen the school opened in employee classifications which 1962, there were 16 technologies_ .' in Physics 30 or 32 or Chemistry could be of interest to petroleum f-~-~:~' 30. Tbese requirements vary slight­ New programs are designed and of­ ! industry recruiters are: Data Pro­ ~;, ., I b~ from program to program, de­ fered as industrial demand dic­ cessing (machine operators and , pendent upon the kind of engineer­ tates_ The technologies from which programmers), Chemistry (labora­ 1, the oil and gas industry draws the I ing technology which the entrant tOr)' analysts), and Heavy Duty ~f~ wisbes to study. The physics and bulk of its technological employees (gas plant operators). .~. ~ ! chemistry courses offered at NAIT, are those known as the Engineer­ wbich follow the grade XII courses ing Sciences Technologies. ·These on similar subjects, are designed to include Civil, Instrumentation, *At time of writing - Head. hold the interest of those students Drafting, Architectural, Snrveying, Gas Teohnology, No,"then, Albe·,.ta wbo bave grade XII credit and si­ Materials, Plastics and Gas_ The re­ ["",t. of Technology, Edmonton, multaneously impart new knowl­ mainder of the 27 technologies are Alta. edge to the students who are en~ Now employed as - Gas En­ lA vocational high-school program de­ countering the subject matter for signed specifically for entrance to a ginee,', Shell Canark Ltd., Calga;ry, the first time. pal'ticula-r technology course. Alta. Technology, January-March, 1968, Montreal 17 }[any of the general public be­ gineers and some carryon an active example, could enter the employ of lieve that a technical institute is a consulting practice. the gas processing industry, the trade school. This is not the case petro-chemical manufacturing in­ in Alberta. Training in the 26 ap­ CURRICULUM dustry or the pulp and paper indus­ prenticeable trades is performed on hS. A technologist, on the other the Institute campus within the In­ Rach year of a two- or thl'ee­ hand. would find it ver:r difficult dustrial Division, but they are en­ year technology program consists to utilize his knOWledge of gas be­ tirely different kinds of courses of three 10- to 12-week quarters. haviour in the production problems than those which are being dis­ The pass mark for each course is of paper manufacturing. As an il­ cussed in this presentation_ 50 per cent, and supplemental e:t­ lustration of the degree of special­ amin<.ltions may be '\\Titten_ A stu­ To be certain that the teehnol­ ization pl"esent in the techllolog~' dent must pass efl.ch of the quar­ ogy graduates are satisfying the curriculae, Gas Technolog}r stu­ ter subject courses taken at N AIT needs of industry. ear.h program dents l"eceive 440 hours of instruc­ to obtain a diploma, has an advisory committee. This tion in gas processing alit of a total A typical technology course is group meets once a year to review of 1800 hours of instruction in fl the Gas Technology course, in the curriculum, graduate success two-.vear cOUrse. which the students take mathemat­ and other criteria pertinent to the As a further illustration of the ics, chemistry, physics, drafting, maintenanc.e of a technology pl-O­ relationship between the education english, surveying, statics, strength gram which is cognizant of the lat­ of engineers and technDlogi~ts, and of materials, computer program­ Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/jcpt/article-pdf/7/01/17/2166819/petsoc-68-01-03.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 est industrial developments and re­ the ~pecific abilities of technolo­ rning, thermodynamics, instrumen­ quirements. A typical technology gists, Gas Technology students are tation and, of course, gas technol­ advisory committee consists of required to estimate the required ogy. The weight in the gas tech­ chief engineel"s, department man­ capital investment of 3 complete nology program i~ on chemistry agers or production superintend­ gas pL'ocessing plant during their and the gas processing subjeds. ent,:.; of six or seven of the more last quarter of the program. This The course content is under con­ pl"(lminent companies in the indus­ project inc.ludes the determination stant revision to keep abreast of tI-y which employ the majority of of the processes required to pro­ the technology's graduates. industrial development.s. For ex­ duce specific products, size esti­ ample, a course in computer pro­ mates of all equipment sLlch as ves­ gramming was added to the Gas sels. pumps, exchangers and utili­ THE PLANT AND STAF'F Technology curriculum when it was ties. and finally the calculation of found that many of the graduates The Institute is situat~d on a the total estimated cost of cOllstruc­ were involved in computer utiliZll­ :~G-acre space. 20 acres of which ing the plant. tion in their industrial positions as was under roof at the time of writ­ The Instit.ute is operated as much engineering technologisbL ing. Additions to the facilities are as po~sible in an industrial setting. being made constantly in an at­ F£gnre 2 illustrates the differ­ This is necessitated by the fact thnt tempt to meet the educatlonal re­ ence between the educational train­ students mus.t, in the short period quirements of students and indus­ ing of a teehnologist and that of of two years. progress from hig-h­ try. Capital investment for the an engineer. An engineer, in at­ school graduates to immediately plant ayerages one million dollars tending university for four years, employable engineering technolo­ per aCl-e of floor spaee for build­ studies in depth the same subjects gists. In most instances, company ings and equipment. This capital that a technologist studies at a training progl·ams for technolo­ was shared, initially, 75 per cent more shallow level. The engineer's gists are relatively short compared by the federal government and 25 area of education covers the whole to those required fOf engineers. p~r cent by the provincial govern­ of Figure 2; that of the technolo­ This is becHllse of theil' spc­ ment, under the pH.visions of the gist covets only the left half of the c.ialized training in a particular F't'de1·al Focationul a:nd Technical figure. This arrangement is neces­ technologJ'. The training pl'ogrnm l~'du..cation Act. Each technology has sitated bl' the fact that the tech­ is also reduced by virtue of the fuct laboratory facilities whieh vary in nologist must work in the same that most students spend three to value from $50.000 to $250.000. subject area as the engineer, but four months working in industrj! The majority of the staff at the not usually at the same relatively between their first and second year Institute hold Bachelors or Masters high level.