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Eurasian Society of Educational Research
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Research Article

Development of a Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Energy Technology Training Module for STEM Undergraduates for Solar Energy Sector Deployment

Emeka H. Amalu , David S. Adebayo , Perk Lin Chong , Michael Short , David J. Hughes , Fideline Tchuenbou-Magaia , Petri Lähde , Alemayehu Gebremedhin , Marisa Di Sabatino , Nduka N. Ekere

As skills-gap between available skills and in-demand skills in the Solar Energy Technology Sector (SETS) continues to expand due to rapid growth of th.


  • Pub. date: June 15, 2025
  • Pages: 33-54
  • 47 Downloads
  • 196 Views
  • 0 Citations

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Abstract:

A

As skills-gap between available skills and in-demand skills in the Solar Energy Technology Sector (SETS) continues to expand due to rapid growth of the sector, the need for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to design and run critical Solar Energy Technology Training (SETechTra) modules has become imperative. Informed by the findings from SETechTra project – which includes extensive literature reviews, stakeholder interviews, observations, feedback from pilot model involving circa 1500 students from schools/colleges across four European countries, this article reports on a developed strategic undergraduate (UG) 30-credit module. The module is designed to embed in-demand skills in SETS within students enrolled upon wider Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses. The contents of the module comprise learning and teaching activities engineered to embed key identified academic, industrial, and entrepreneurial in-demand skills in SETS in STEM UG students. Formative and summative assessments are the implemented assessment strategy used to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the module in the pilot model. Analysis of feedback from the pilot model demonstrations indicates significant positive impact, giving a promising indication of wider applicability to HEIs across Europe interested in fast-tracking production of more SETS industry-ready graduates.

Keywords: National student survey, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), Solar energy technology sector, solar energy technology training (SETechTra), Teaching excellent framework.

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