University is Implementing a New Format of Online Internships

15:22, May 20, 2021

Internship programs are designed for Master's students of technical specialties

For the second year in a row, the Department of International Educational Programs of Ural Federal University together with the Ural Power Engineering Institute are implementing short-term online internships in English for international students.

"Last year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented online internships for the first time. It was an interesting experience for everyone: both for us, the faculty, and for our students. The experience was successful. This year we decided to expand and open two parallel online internship programs at once: "Machine Learning in Power Engineering" and "Robotic Systems in Power Engineering", said Aleksandra Halyasmaa, associate professor of the Ural Power Engineering Institute's Electrical Engineering Department and the program manager.

The internship programs are designed for Master's students of technical specialties and are designed in a way that a Master's student of any technical profile can get closer to intellectual power engineering in three months. Each internship has its own case. This is an electric power task that students have to solve in three months with the help of practices and lectures that are read to them in parallel.

This year the partners of the internship and at the same time the ideologists of the cases are RTSoft Company (Moscow), the leading Russian engineering company of specialized education in IT for electric power industry, and the Russian National Committee of CIGRE.

All lectures and internships are conducted online. Nevertheless, the internship program is not limited to the educational part, it also includes a cultural program: students are given virtual tours around Ekaterinburg and the university, master classes in cooking and even taught basic knowledge of Russian.

"Growing competition among universities, especially in the international arena, forces us to develop new educational products, and the experience of these internships shows us that we are moving in the right direction. In 2020, we had five students from France in our internship program. This year there are more students who want to study, and we have expanded our geography to include 20 students from France, Pakistan, and Russia. The interest of European partners is especially gratifying. The ENSEA University was the main client of the internships and this year we have 15 students from this university," said Yana Vysotskaya, head of the Department of International Educational Programs.

Online internships are implemented with the support of the project "Development of education program in the field of intelligent energy systems in the Russian and Vietnamese universities" (ESSENCE) and EU Erasmus+ program.