Education
Education increases opportunities for communities and provides skills critical to BP
We have therefore given support to a range of projects at all levels of education, from early childhood learning to advanced research at world-leading universities. We continue to expand some of our most successful programmes and work with institutions to launch new ones – from learning about energy and the environment in schools to advanced research work.
Helping parents and child-care providers
In the US, we support an award-winning television series called A Place of Our Own (or Los Niños en Su Casa), produced by public television. The series, designed to help students be prepared when they enter kindergarten, gives parents and child-care providers information to help young children develop social, emotional and cognitive skills ahead of starting school. We have provided $20 million towards the development of the series. In 2007, it was made available to public television stations throughout the country and is now carried by more than 70% of these stations.
School programmes
We have expanded our US schools programme, A+ for Energy, beyond California and Texas to Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico and Ohio, as well as to Alberta, Canada. In 2007, we provided around $5 million in grants and scholarships to teachers to implement innovative ideas to help students learn about energy and energy conservation. A+ for Energy has now benefited more than 8,000 teachers and more than 300,000 students.We launched Enterprising Science in September 2007, a major education outreach programme for UK secondary schools. It includes a carbon footprint and climate change workshop tour, training for teachers provided by experts from the UK’s Science Museum and a toolkit that students use to calculate their schools’ carbon footprints.
University research and partnerships
At the most advanced levels of education and research, we partner with a number of leading universities worldwide in projects to examine future energy solutions. For example, in September 2007, we announced a major research partnership on energy conversion technologies with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The programme will explore the conversion of carbon feedstocks such as coal to high-value products such as electricity, liquid fuels and chemicals, while minimizing CO2 emissions. In establishing this partnership, BP also becomes the inaugural Founding Member of the MIT Energy Initiative, which funds novel energy research concepts generated by MIT researchers. In addition, BP will support 10 individuals to study through BP-MIT Energy Fellowships at the Institute in each year of its five-year commitment.
The MIT project is part of a BP global university research programme which includes long-term partnerships with universities and research institutions in several countries. The programme also includes:
- a $500 million, 10-year, investment in the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), where expert biotechnologists are investigating many possible applications of biotechnology to energy, including advanced fuels. Our partners for the EBI are University of California, Berkeley, along with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- a $10 million investment in the University of Trinidad & Tobago to support institutional development and research into marine stock in sensitive areas and to improve local agricultural practices
- an $8 million project to research the use of energy in cities at Imperial College, London, UK
- the International School of Economics in Tbilisi, Georgia, to which BP has pledged $2 million, in addition to $1.5 million to support a masters level programme in the UK for Georgian scholars, being implemented in partnership with the British Council
- the SYSU-BP Centre for LNG (liquefied natural gas) Education, Training and Research in Sun Yat-Sen University, China
- the Mendeleyev Russian State University of Chemical Technology in Moscow, where we have supported an environmental research and education centre
As well as our research programme, we form partnerships with universities in particular countries to help address local needs. For example, in Angola, we have joined with the Agostinho Neto University College of Law to create a masters’ degree programme in oil and gas law.
We also support specialized training for key interest groups. In 2007, we supported training programmes for journalists who cover the energy industry in Georgia (working with the NGO Transparency International) and Trinidad & Tobago. These enable journalists to gain a deeper understanding of how the oil and gas industry functions and to provide more informed commentary on its activity.
Attestation
The information on this page forms part of the information reviewed and reported on by Ernst & Young as part of BP's 2007 sustainability reporting.A+ for Energy
BP’s programme to support and reward school teachers for energy education
BP Educational Service
Providing innovative teaching resources for schools and colleges
