Pilot­ing Sustain­able Commu­ni­ties in Energy Tran­si­tion -special­i­sa­tion studies in inter­na­tional collaboration

Karelia Univer­sity of Applied Sciences piloted the INVEST BSc special­i­sa­tion Sustain­able Commu­ni­ties in Energy Tran­si­tion during semes­ter 2022-2023 for a small group of inter­na­tional and Finnish students. The special­i­sa­tion included five advanced courses, total­ing 30 ECTS points, and is a part of Karelia’s Energy and Envi­ron­men­tal Tech­nol­ogy degree program. The curricu­lum devel­op­ment and the first imple­men­ta­tion were done in collab­o­ra­tion with the INVEST Euro­pean Univer­sity Alliance univer­si­ties. The working-life collab­o­ra­tion is highly impor­tant and the expe­ri­enced collab­o­ra­tion was success­ful. The students of the pilot had a chance to solve real-life prob­lems in coop­er­a­tion with local oper­a­tors. The results and feed­back from students and working-life part­ners were encour­ag­ing and the pilot was consid­ered successful.

Educat­ing profes­sion­als for the future

The need for sustain­able devel­op­ment has become increas­ingly impor­tant, and the energy sector plays a crit­i­cal role in achiev­ing this goal. There­fore, univer­si­ties and higher educa­tion insti­tu­tions have a signif­i­cant role in provid­ing educa­tion support­ing sustain­able energy tran­si­tions. The INVEST BSc special­i­sa­tion Sustain­able Commu­ni­ties in Energy Tran­si­tion at Karelia Univer­sity of Applied Sciences aims to develop profes­sion­als who can facil­i­tate and promote energy tran­si­tion in sustain­able energy prac­tices. The special­i­sa­tion package is part of a new degree program curricu­lum for Energy and Envi­ron­men­tal Engi­neer­ing, designed to be studied during the last year of the curriculum.

Courses require a profes­sional under­stand­ing of energy and envi­ron­men­tal tech­nol­ogy and a mature ability to apply a theory to a problem as the courses cover real working-life prob­lems and real-life case studies. Based on our feed­back, the students found real working-life cases moti­vat­ing and inspir­ing. The program included method­olog­i­cal prac­tice work, includ­ing busi­ness model devel­op­ment with busi­ness model canvas, LCA model­ing, and energy reviewing.

The program aims to provide students with knowl­edge and skills in sustain­able energy prac­tices, includ­ing working with stake­hold­ers from Living Lab. Living Lab is a research concept that enables stake­hold­ers to collab­o­rate on research and inno­va­tion in a real-world envi­ron­ment. The program included contin­u­ous working-life collab­o­ra­tion in North Karelia Living Lab, such as the devel­op­ment of the energy service busi­ness model for Pyhäselkä Coop­er­a­tive, energy effi­ciency review for a health care center, creation of Life Cycle Analy­ses of energy commu­ni­ties, and inves­ti­gat­ing of the carbon foot­print of circu­lar economy of textile fibers. There were also visits to local power compa­nies and energy busi­nesses, which students appre­ci­ated. Working with stake­hold­ers from Living Lab was consid­ered posi­tive, despite some language challenges.

Each year, present-day topics and oper­a­tors rising from the living lab are included in course assign­ments offer­ing new insights to all stake­hold­ers. In the 2023-2024 semes­ter, the empha­sis will be on substi­tute uses for termi­nated peat produc­tion sites. 

Pilot feed­back

The special­i­sa­tion pilot took place in the fall period of the semes­ter. Due to the rela­tively short fall period, there were some imbal­ances in the amount of work and sched­ul­ing, as most courses became more chal­leng­ing and demand­ing towards the end. Espe­cially in Novem­ber, students’ work­load seemed too high when several case studies were ongoing, which all required a lot of work. Accord­ing to student feed­back, the work­load should be divided more equally during the period for balanced studies.

The several-course special­i­sa­tion package gives students and teach­ers enough time and space to cover broad subjects from differ­ent view­points and assign­ments which helps students to learn systemic think­ing and under­stand the bigger picture. Students found syner­gies planned in the curricu­lum devel­op­ment phase and consid­ered that course contents supported each other without overlapping.

The spesial­i­sa­tion is inter­dis­ci­pli­nary and inter­na­tional, there­fore students with diverse back­grounds support the success of Karelia’s special­i­sa­tion package. The students of the 2022-2023 semes­ter mainly had similar educa­tional back­grounds, but some inter­dis­ci­pli­nary bene­fits were found, espe­cially with busi­ness knowl­edge. Students were from three differ­ent Euro­pean coun­tries which helped widen students’ view­point to the Euro­pean scale from a purely Finnish view.

The small number of students (1-8 students in the pilot) will be a chal­lenge, if Karelia and other INVEST univer­si­ties fail to promote their special­i­sa­tion studies. The low number of students was partly due to over­lap­ping with other courses for some Finnish students. In addi­tion to the short­age of Finnish students, there were no students from INVEST partner univer­si­ties in the pilot. The situ­a­tion remains the same as no students from INVEST univer­si­ties enrolled in Sustain­able Commu­ni­ties in Energy Tran­si­tion special­i­sa­tion studies this year. On the other hand, there are more inter­na­tional students with broader educa­tional back­grounds this fall which is encouraging.

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Authors:

Tommi Kukko­nen, Lecturer, Karelia Univesity of Applied Sciences

Anniina Kontioko­rpi, Lecturer, Karelia Univesity of Applied Sciences

Lasse Okkonen Prin­ci­pal Lecturer, Karelia Univesity of Applied Sciences