More information
Description
Part of the main objectives of the strategy of internationalization of UB refers to the increase in the number of active partnerships at the international level in general, with an emphasis especially on partnerships from the non-EU space, increasing the number of international mobility.
The training of university staff, students and professors in inclusive responses and strategies is necessary for the development of a student-centred university, as well as for the establishment of a positive relationship between professors and students. This is the assumption from which this project arose. This project is based on teaching activities for PhD students in the field of education that can bring new input into contemporary challenges and ongoing actions undertaken to tackle the issues of inclusivity and multiculturalism in the educational community, but also at a societal level.
While in economic history there are discussions about the short and long-term implications of the endowment with natural resources, some scholars arguing about a „curse of natural resources” and a possible development trap for societies relying too much on the exploitation of just a few minerals, recent events (especially the war launched by the Russian Federation in Ukraine) have highlighted the importance of natural resources, the need to reduce vulnerability to supply shortages and to ensure a sustainable management of critical natural resources. As the endowment in natural resources varies significantly and most societies rely for their supply on global value chains, we are convinced that the study of natural resource exploitation and management should take place in a transnational framework, which can function only with the help of academic exchanges and cooperation.
In the current European and global energy crisis and environmental problems, creating specialists in the field of renewable energy production and implementation becomes an obligation of higher education.
Summary of project results
The main difficulty for the UB outgoing students came from the high living costs that were higher than the allocated grant. Although the students were well informed about the grants, some of them cancelled their mobility last minute due to the financial and personal difficulties.
One of the roles of RU (through Iceland Energy School – ISE), was to organize traineeships and study periods for students and staff from UB in the field of geothermal energy. During the study mobility to RU/ISE, students from UB improved their skills and competencies in energy technology, energy economics, environmental impact assessment, international and European energy law, energy geology, geothermal conceptual modelling, and energy transitions in transportation. Another topic in the project treated by UB and RU is the topic of material science, with a particular focus on quantum effects at nanoscale. This topic led to the publication of one paper and others are in preparation. The knowledge was also shared among the incoming and outgoing participants, as well as by presentations in local seminars.
NTNU''s role in the project was to offer the opportunity to participate in traineeships for students and training mobility for staff from UB in the field of energy supply and use in buildings. During the study mobility at NTNU, students from UB improved their skills and competencies in energy efficiency in buildings, building energy supply, implementation of digital technologies for energy efficiency, newest heat pump technologies, and energy planning of building stock. Students involved in the mobility have benefited from studying and working in international teams. Teachers have benefited from practical training within NTNU and with their partners in the energy industry. On the other side, students coming from UB had the possibility to be trained in the field of the management of the natural resources at the Faculty of Humanities, Department of Modern History. The professors exchanged their expertise through teaching activities.
The Centre for the Study of Professions at the OMU is a leading centre for research and graduate study within the study of professions in the Nordic countries which gave our staff the possibility to get in touch with the community of practitioners that allowed them to enrich their professional experience and opened the possibility of collaboration in future projects.
The project has opened new directions for students to continue their PhD at RU and NTNU and for staff to develop joint EU-funded research projects.
Number of students from beneficiary states in exchanges (disaggregated by gender and Donor State) No-4/Is-5
Number of staff from beneficiary states in exchanges (disaggregated by gender and Donor State) No-6/Is-4
Number of staff from donor states in exchanges (disaggregated by gender and Donor State) No-3/Is-4
The master''s students at UB/SERA and RU/ISE enrolled in the first and second year of master´s study, participated in traineeships and study programs provided by specialists from the partner universities and their collaborators, leading industry experts. Also, the students developed their entrepreneurial capacity and will be able to apply their skills and knowledge to offer solutions to energy-related problems from a business and a scientific perspective.
UB/SERA improved the curricula of the SERA master program based on the expertise offered by RU and NTNU specialists in geothermal energy and e-fuels. The future master students will benefit from an enriched curriculum in the field of renewable.
Teachers from the partner universities involved in the traineeship mobility improved their educational methods, enrich the curriculum area. Also they develop new collaborative research and educational projects between universities.
Employers will be able to respond to the challenges of the energy market by hiring specialists with an interdisciplinary background capable of addressing renewable energy innovation.
The master students who performed training activities on the subject of nanomaterials, had contributions on image-to-image translation techniques for neuromorphic devices and machine learning techniques for the design of vaccum electronics component, investigated the diffusion of atomic species in semiconductor materials using molecular dynamics and nudge elastic band and studied coherent electron transport in quantum dot systems using electron waiting time methods. One of them is going to continue studies as PhD student at RU.
The staff explored functionalization of silicon (Si) nanoparticles for breathing sensors.
The geology student studied the role of geoscientists in the sustainable natural resources management process whereas the political science student explored the political influence on implementing the sustainability driven Initiatives.
The teachers participating to the programme offered Round tables on the subject of sustainable natural resources management designed to rise public awareness of the pivotal role of natural resources and extractive industries have for the common good of society.
Number of ECTS credits received ed by the students in the mobility projects - 182
Share of staff who declare improved skills/ competencies in their field - 10
Summary of bilateral results
In the current European and global energy crisis and environmental problems, creating specialists in the field of renewable energy production and implementation becomes an obligation of higher education. UB has developed a master’s program in renewable sources for training specialists (Sources of Renewable and Alternative Energy -SERA) and also a research centre (3NanoSAE) in the area of hydrogen generation and storage. There have been student and teacher mobility: 2 UB students attended courses at RU and 2 UB students attended traineeship in NTNU, 4 UB teachers attended training mobility at NTNU, one UB teacher went to RU for training and one RU teacher came to UB for training. A final workshop for renewable energy specialists was organised by UB to share the experience of students and teachers involved in project. The shared expertise of the three partner universities, UB, RU, and NTNU, based on geothermal energy, e-fuels covering batteries, hydrogen, and bioenergy, increased the competence of graduates and future renewable energy specialists to develop Hydrogen Valley ecosystems. The nanomaterials have been in the focus for the development of novel electronic devices exploiting quantum effects at the nanoscale. New materials and processing techniques resulted in nanoelectronic devices with enhanced properties with regards to the switching time, power consumption, detection sensitivity etc. Numerical simulations can improve the nanostructure design, at the same time reducing the fabrication costs in the lab. The project allowed complementary knowledge to be put together. This led to the publication of one paper and others are in preparation. Furthermore, the knowledge was shared amongst the incoming and outgoing participants, as well as by presentations in local seminars.