Complete Report - University of New South Wales

ARCPHOTOVOLTAICSCENTRE OFEXCELLENCE2010/11ANNUAL REPORT700600Total No. of students50040030020010002002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Year5.1 UndergraduateEducational ProgramsOverall enrolment numbers insecond semester, by year.The School offers two undergraduate coursework engineeringprograms, each of which can be taken in combination with a Bachelorof Arts (5 years), Bachelor of Science (5 years), Bachelor of Commerce(5.5 years) or a Bachelor of Laws (6 years). These degrees aim to developwell-educated graduates with the basic skills, attributes and knowledgerequired to practise as professional engineers in the boomingrenewable energy industries.The Photovoltaics and Solar Energy Engineering program draws onthe long history of expertise of Centre staff in this field and was thefirst of its kind internationally. Two new programs were established in2009 in China, at Nanchang University in Jianxi Province and at NorthChina Electric Power University in Beijing. The UNSW program includeseducation in technology development, manufacturing, quality control,reliability, life cycle assessment, system design, maintenance and faultdiagnosis, marketing, policy development, energy efficiency and otherrenewable energy technologies. It has two unique features: a groupproject in the second year of the program, and a ‘strand’, which is aminor area of specialisation. Since 2003, a total of 128 students havegraduated from the program, 24 graduated in 2010 and another 34 areexpected to graduate in March 2011 after completing their studies in2010. At the end of 2010, a total of 310 students were enrolled.The second, broader degree program, in Renewable Energy Engineering,was introduced in 2003. In addition to photovoltaic devices, studentsin this program study solar architectural technologies, wind energy,biomass, solar thermal and renewable energy policy as part of their corecurriculum. At the end of 2009, a total of 127 students were enrolled.2010 saw 15 new graduates of this program, bringing the total to 32,and 5 more are expected to graduate in March 2011. At the end of 2010,24% of enrolled undergraduate students were women.Graduates of these programs are gaining employment within a varietyof organisations, including in the areas of energy efficiency andsustainable design. Each year a number of graduates start on a researchprogram at the Centre, elsewhere at UNSW or at other institutionswhile others are employed in industry by solar cell and equipmentmanufacturers, system design and integration companies, electricityutilities, energy efficiency and environmental design companies andmajor end users of products.107