alumnus experience
Bakhtiyor Ubaydullaev
Sustainable Energy Technology Master Program Alumnus (2009-2011)
I am an alumnus of the University of Twente, graduated from Sustainable Energy Technology (SET) Master Program in 2011. A full Scholarship was awarded to me for completion of this Master Program.
The Program is provided in English, and it is one of the University’s International programs. This fact is already a significant advantage of this Program, blending perspective students from different countries, with different engineering backgrounds and cultures. This creates a unique atmosphere at every single activity, discussion or course provided within the Program.
Experience
While I found the Program to be challenging in terms of overall learning process, it gave me a freedom to expand and tailor it the way I wanted. I focused on engineering and management aspects of gaseous fluids blends and biogas production, treatment and efficient transportation in the Netherlands.
The Program forces students to plan carefully their educational process and strategy from the first day at the University. Every chosen course needs to be analyzed seriously in terms of contents applicability for future course projects, internship and graduation work. On the other side, this is the responsibility master student has to understand and take for his successful graduation strategy. Moreover, this is something I personally found to be very interesting and challenging process.
Keeping in mind, that this Program is supported by the three technical universities in the Netherlands (Twente, Delft, Eindhoven), it is possible and recommended to involve all three Unis in educational process, depending on the major selected. All three Unis are strong in what they offer. It is important to mention the professional teaching staff dedicated for SET Program. Distinguished doctors and professors from Thermal Engineering, Fluid Mechanics, Electrical and Chemical Engineering, Management and Governance Departments are involved in teaching process of the Program.
benefits
Sustainable Energy Technology Program provides a perfect opportunity to harvest modern knowledge in alternative energy industry. It is worth to mention not only solar, wind and biomass energies, but also hydrogen application, combined heat and power and overall energy efficiency technologies covered by the Program. This knowledge is important, and creates a basis for further professional development of students via contacts with industry in the Netherlands.
For showing this importance and benefits for me as a student, I will take my internship and graduation projects as examples.
As there is a possibility to set direction for the internship, I used it and chose to take over a project at ARCADIS B.V., instead of taking a project inside the University. The project gave me an opportunity to work on real life energy challenge, solve real tasks, contributing to the Company’s business strategy. I had my confidence in what I was working on, having the right knowledge harvested in the courses of SET Program. The results and findings were much appreciated by the Company and were used for future project development.
The same approach I took at my Master graduation work. I took over a challenging gas project at Alliander N.V. (largest regional gas and electricity operator in the Netherlands) for technological and managerial development. After my graduation, a full time work position in the Company was offered to me for further project development.
I considered both these projects as further steps of my education process within Sustainable Energy Technology Master Program. What these projects showed to me was the integrity of knowledge grasped at SET courses and applied in real industry projects. This knowledge, as well as contacts and connections created, I consider as the main benefits I got from SET Program.
Whether I was working in the Netherlands, or in my home country – Uzbekistan, and currently in the United States of America, I stay in sustainable energy industry. The benefits of the SET Program are felt every day, as my experience grows.
Finally, I would like to share shortly my impressions during my stay in the Netherlands. I lived, studied and worked in the country with friendliest people ever, amazing culture and traditions, beautiful towns and sights. I think, this also worth considering while choosing where to spend 2 or more years of your life.
