My course curriculum has a comprehensive structure that is well-designed to cover a wide range of topics in the sustainable energy system, as well as cross-disciplines within STEM. Every year, EIT InnoEnergy Master School conducts a study review of the curriculum to ensure it remains up-to-date and relevant in the industry. As a Master’s in Sustainable Energy Systems student, you have two universities to choose from in your first year and the curriculum remains the same, ensuring you receive all of the knowledge your peer receives across the other university. As a result, you will have the opportunity to study at the same pace from two universities in Sweden and Spain. For me, my host university was KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, I took some of my courses virtually at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Spain. Since the Sweden academic calendar begins earlier than Spain, only KTH courses begin by the final week of August, while mid-September serves as the academic resumption period for UPC.

The first university calendar at KTH begins with a seminar led by the programme coordinator; this is the time when you are introduced to your course curriculum, class schedule, and other amenities that will make your academic life run smoothly. Our first semester in 2022 was enriched with courses such as Renewable Energy Technology (RET), Energy Resources, Energy Efficiency and Rational Use of Energy, Project of the Year, and Energy System Analysis in an Environomics Context. Here, I love to think the name of this course was derived from the word ‘Environomics’ – but that’s just my assumption.

 

The first semester serves as the foundational groundwork for what you will use as you progress, and it represents the essential building block for capacity. For example, in the Renewable Energy Technology course, you learn about how different technologies such as solar panels and thermal collectors, wind, hydro, energy storage, and biomass are used to generate electricity, but this knowledge can be applied to another course that delves into energy transmission and distribution. That is, you will not be able to study a single aspect of the sustainable energy system as a tool for the energy transition era but different energy approaches.

 

It demonstrates how comprehensive the Master’s in Sustainable Energy Systems is in terms of improving each student’s ability to be valuable in the sustainable energy industry.

 

by Eziagbor Osele, EIT InnoEnergy student