IULI’s Business and Social Sciences faculty believes in a kilometer deep rather than a kilometer wide approach to learning. Also, it believes in looking at real situations to see what lessons can be drawn from them. The recent in-depth study of the BP and DeepWater Horizon Oil Spill met both of the objectives noted above.
The in-depth study was undertaken by the semester one students from HTM, IBA, MGT, and INR (including INE semester 3 students) and were guided by Rama and Gyda from semester 5 MGT and IBA. It was broadly about ethics in business, CSR, the responsibility of companies to their shareholders and the effects of the demand for energy on the environment.
As a foreward, the students were shown a video of the original oil platform location, the events of the disaster and the aftermath for the environment. After long group work, Nadhif (from MGT 2017), reported back on the video, and Benito (INR 2017), Clara (HTM 2017) and Maga (IBA 2017) reported back on the event as a case study, making comparisons to the Lapindo disaster in Indonesia. Then the students had the tasks of formulating an opinion on who was responsible, how to control an oil spill and how to avoid oil spills in the future.
Given the still central importance of oil for industry and households, and given the dangers involved particularly in off-shore oil platforms, this was not a simple task but helped students to better understand the relationship between energy, governments, big oil companies and the people of different countries. The thought processes involved for students help the students to understand there are no simple answers (MiE).
