Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and Shell have signed a deal to enable the university’s College of Engineering students to take part in the Shell Eco-marathon Asia next year, as part of the continuous collaboration between Shell and SQU in the field of research and the development of Omani talents.

The letter of agreement was signed by Dr Ali bin Saud Al Bemani, vice-chancellor of SQU; Chris Breeze, Shell’s country chairman in Oman; and Adil bin Ismail Al Raisi, Shell Oman Marketing Company’s managing director at Sultan Qaboos University.

The students from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering of the College of Engineering at SQU participated in this year’s competition that was held in Manila, Philippine for the first time with a prototype fuel efficient vehicle.

Based on the new agreements, SQU’s team will participate again in the Shell Eco-marathon competition scheduled to take place in the Philippines, early next year.

Under Shell Eco-marathon competition, students can either design a prototype vehicle, which focuses on maximum efficiency, or an urban concept vehicle, which encourages more practical designs for every-day life.

Throughout the history of the competition, the most fuel efficient car ever designed by a Shell Eco-marathon student team capable of driving 3,771 km on a litre of fuel - the equivalent of driving from Muscat to Ankara - was achieved in 2009 in Europe.

“We are very pleased with the agreement signed with Shell. We at Sultan Qaboos University are very keen in offering our students who are interested in technology and energy a unique and hands-on experience opportunity to stretch the boundaries of fuel efficiency in the real world, all in the spirit of teamwork, competition and innovation,” said Dr Al Bemani.

“We were incredibly impressed by the amount of enthusiasm we saw from the students that participated in Shell Eco-marathon from SQU last year and we are very pleased to see that Sultan Qaboos University look set to compete in Shell Eco-marathon for the second time,” Breeze stated.

“I believe the Shell Eco-marathon will help develop students’ talents and make a contribution to sustainability in Oman. The Shell Eco-marathon challenge provides a great opportunity for students to develop their business, team work and engineering skills while also raising their awareness towards important energy and environment challenges,” he added. - TradeArabia News Service