Academic education
Studies regarding the labour demand for offshore windenergy development have identified that there is a large demand on engineers and technical managers on the BSc level.
In a fair number of Bachelor education curricula presently offered by the current POWER partners and by other educational institutes active in the Interreg region attention is already paid to aspects of (offshore) wind energy technology and management. The type and amount of courses, as well as the content, differs from educational institute to institute. This results into graduated BSc engineers and managers that have obtained valuable knowledge on aspects of (offshore) wind power. Taking into account that these highly educated people will most probably obtain strategic positions within this strongly developing industry, they need a helicopter view on offshore wind power technology. The present education however does hardly facilitate the development of such an important competence.
During the workshop on harmonisation of training organised in Bremen on Thursday April 26th a discussion on academic training was held. Several representatives from educational institutes see good possibilities to fit a package of typically 30 ECTS credits into their curricula. Most institutes offer either an elective “minor package” of 30 ECTS credits, or give students the possibility to study abroad for one or two semesters as part of the curriculum.
It is thus concluded that the development of a set of coherent courses leading to an educational package of about 30 ETCS credits (“one semester”) will add this important competence to the standard attainment targets of the present curricula.
A report on academic education in relation to the development of offshore wind energy is being prepared and will be available on the POWER website.
