Industry/university research collaborative: a means for strengthening power engineering education programs

For the past two decades enrollment in power engineering programs has been low in most universities. This area of engineering has been less attractive to the bright students, as it had the reputation of being an old, mature and unexciting area with limited opportunities for innovation. Employment opportunities in the electric power industry have also been limited. This situation appears to be rapidly changing. The restructuring of the electric power industry - a shift from the monopolistic to a competitive structure has introduced new financial and social pressures. The challenge for the industry is discussed. Both the industry and university participants stand to gain from a healthy and meaningful collaborative research partnership. In addition to leading to very good power engineering education programs, such partnerships could produce new technologies of immense value to the industrial partner. Many of the problems the power industry needs to solve today will require the application of several supporting technologies. Universities are in a better position to form a pool of experts in different disciplines and apply them for the solution of power system problems.