Find out how higher education institutions of Ukraine are gradually introducing new bioenergy educational courses. Thanks to the valuable and important EBRD/GEF project “Ukraine Sustainable Bioenergy Value Chain Innovation – Knowledge Management Programme”, it was possible to unite the best specialists in Ukraine to develop relevant, progressive and useful university programs.
Why bioenergy?
Bioenergy plays an increasingly important role in the energy sector of Ukraine. This important sector of renewable energy provides an opportunity to replace fossil fuels, produce green heat and power, obtain solid, liquid, and gaseous biofuels. As far back as in 2020, the replacement of natural gas with biomass amounted to 5.2 billion m3/y, and the average annual growth rate of bioenergy in Ukraine during 2010-2020 was 11% per year. Unfortunately, statistics for recent years are not available due to martial law. Ukraine has a significant potential of biomass available for energy production – about 26 Mtoe/y according to 2021 data, which was 30% of the total primary energy supply.
Education is an important component of industry development
Successful development of the bioenergy sector requires not only a sufficient resource and feedstock base, but also highly qualified core specialists. Bioenergy technologies are constantly developing and improving, new types of equipment appear, and results of the latest research are published. Specialists of the sector need to regularly improve their qualifications and update their professional knowledge. There is an urgent need for high-quality education of students of higher education institutions, whose future professional activities will be related to bioenergy.
In order to effectively solve these problems, EBRD/GEF Project “Sustainable Bioenergy Value Chain Innovation – Knowledge Management Programme” has been implemented in Ukraine from April 2023 to September 2024.
The overall objectiveof the project is to improve the access of Ukrainian bioenergy sector companies and Universities to modern knowledge, practical expertise and innovations through the introduction of a high-quality Knowledge Management Programme that will enhance the efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability of the bioenergy sector.
From Ukraine, the project is carried out by specialists of Scientific Engineering Centre “Biomass”, Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Polissia National University. ІВВК educational centre (Germany) also participates in the project.
One of the main tasks of the project is to update curricula of Ukraine’s higher educational institutions, taking into account the achievements of modern bioenergy technologies and the best international practices. To fulfill this task, within the framework of the project, 14 educational, educational-professional and educational-scientific programs in six universities of Ukraine were updated and approved in 2024:
- Polissia National University (Zhytomyr city) – 4
- National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine – 3
- Lutsk National Technical University – 4
- National Forestry University of Ukraine (Lviv city) – 1
- National Aviation University – 1
- State Biotechnical University (Kharkiv city) – 1
The educational components of the updated programs related to bioenergy cover the entire range of technical and technological issues of the sector, which provides an opportunity for high-quality training of specialists in all necessary directions. For illustration, the following examples of relevant educational components can be given:
- sustainable bioenergy;
- bioenergy systems and agricultural production complexes;
- biogas and biomethane technologies;
- equipment and technologies for the production of solid biofuels;
- woody energy crops;
- installation, adjustment and technical operation of bioenergy equipment.
Expert support and materials within the project
In order to provide university lecturers with the necessary educational materials, two specialized training courses have been prepared and held as part of the project. The materials of these training courses (a total of 44 presentations with video recordings) are freely available on the website of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine. In addition, 10 thematic lectures have been prepared for students, which provide up-to-date knowledge about the design, calculation and operation of bioenergy systems of technical direction.
Educational materials prepared as part of EBRD/GEF Project “Sustainable Bioenergy Value Chain Innovation – Knowledge Management Programme” located on dedicated platforms.
Type of educational material |
Location on website of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine |
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Presentations and c (by the training course themes): |
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Presentations and video recordings (by the training course days): |
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10 lectures for updated curricula
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Presentations, video recordings:
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Project results
A total of 375 listeners participated in the training course for the professional development of workers in bioenergy sector (November-December 2023), of which 120 received certificates for completing individual themes.
160 listeners took part in the training course on bioenergy issues for academic staff of universities (May 2024). A certificate of advanced training was issued to 100 participants of the training course based on the final test results.
We are sure that materials developed in the project will help Ukrainian higher education institutions to master modern bioenergy technologies and will increase the level of training of specialists for this sector in Ukraine. Universities that are involved in the project are invited to actively implement the developed materials into their curricula.
This material was prepared by two experts:
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Georgii Geletukha, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Head of Board of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine;
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Tetiana Zheliezna, PhD, expert of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine.