Fraunhofer and the University of Freiburg are reinforcing their cooperation in continuing education

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the Freiburg Academy of Continuing Education (FRAUW) at the University of Freiburg is offering a joint master’s degree program for continuing education and three certificate programs in the areas of public safety, energy and sustainability. This cooperation between the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the University of Freiburg has now been solidified and permanently strengthened through a master agreement. The partners are able to pursue their joint goal of supporting continuing education and developing new skill sets through this initiative. The agreement has been signed on July 31, 2018. Along with FRAUW and the Fraunofer Academy, other partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI.

The partnership is the result of a joint project initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the initiative “Open Universities – Advancement through Education.” As a result, the participating institutions have developed joint continuing education programs that, due to their modular structure, combine building blocks with each other and the blended learning format, i.e., a combination of brief on-site and more extensive e-learning phases, which can be taken either as part-time training for employed professionals or during family leave.

The partners will continue to pursue their joint goal through a new master agreement. “We want to be able to make the research conducted at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft available for commercial enterprises as well. We value continuing education as a practice-oriented and future-oriented sphere of activity,” says Dr. Roman Götter, Director of the Fraunhofer Academy, emphasizing the agreement’s significance. “We are pleased that we can now permanently integrate the expertise of the Fraunhofer Academy and the exciting topics from the two institutes on site into our modular continuing education tool kit. We will continue and expand the trusting cooperation with our partners from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with this master agreement,” adds Jan Ihwe, Managing Director of the Freiburg Academy for Continuing Education (FRAUW).

Together with the University of Freiburg, the five institutes of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft are also affiliated with Sustainability Center Sustainability Freiburg, which acts as a transfer infrastructure between Fraunhofer, the University and the business sector.

In the agreement, the signatories agree on the core rules that apply to existing and future continuing education courses. In doing so, they have placed particular emphasis on quality management, marketing and sales of continuing education programs, the awarding of university certificates and rights of use and the financial framework. The contracting parties have also committed themselves to equal cooperation of all partners.

Program in the field of public safety

As part of this partnership, the variety of topics will be expanded. An example is the Fraunhofer certificate program Resilience Engineering: Technological development is changing many areas of the economy and society. Autonomous machines and production mechanisms are just as important as networked communication or traffic structures. These systems create highly complex interactions that also raise new security issues. These challenges are addressed by the Resilience Engineering program. This is not just about safety prevention: under the heading of resilience, the program also addresses the question of how technical systems, such as subways, power grids or production lines, can be made operational again as soon as possible after failures.

The Safety and Security Engineering program is also dedicated to safety – albeit with a different focus: production, mobility, but also leisure and entertainment are all influenced by high-tech systems. The more complex they are, the higher their susceptibility to error and the threat of external influences. The safety of systems relates both to their own risks and to external influences such as accidents, catastrophes or willful manipulation. The Safety and Security Engineering program meets these requirements. The focus is therefore on risk analysis and the handling of various legal standards in the area of production and mobility. Both programs in the field of public safety form the focus of research at the Fraunhofer EMI.

Program on renewable energies

The energy revolution has entered a phase in which the energy system has taken center stage in addition to the further expansion of the technologies of solar and wind power as essential pillars of a sustainable power supply. Coupling the sectors of electricity, heat and mobility is essential in successfully implementing a resource-efficient energy supply. Developing concepts for this purpose requires highly qualified specialists. In the Energy Systems Technology program, the participants deal with the challenges that have arisen due to the needs of the energy systems structure arising from the energy transition. In order for a holistic and sustainable transformation of the energy system to be a success, it is necessary for the stakeholders to have a deep technological and economic understanding of the energy supply and the energy system itself.

The module Energy System Analysis provides current knowledge about the infrastructures of the energy system and the technical, political and economic conditions. Based on this, the understanding for the selection of tools for evaluating an energy system, for example, by means of simulation or optimization models, will be developed. The aim is to create well-founded and reliable energy system analyses as well as conclusive evaluation and interpretation of the results.

The adaptation of the existing network structures by means of new, innovative technologies is the focus of the module Intelligent Energy Networks. Furthermore, the electricity network with its components for transmission and distribution up to the intelligent design of energy grids will be considered and analyzed. The Energy Systems Technology program is based on the latest research results of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and is taught in a practical way. Starting in 2019, the program topics will be expanded to include two additional modules Smart Energy Storage and Solar Thermal Storage.

Program on solar energy

In order to provide specialists and executives with comprehensive information on the subject of solar energy, the University of Freiburg offers two continuing education opportunities in the field of solar energy engineering in scientific cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE:

• the part-time master’s degree program for employed professionals M.Sc. Solar Energy Engineering and
• a certificate program through which various Solar Energy Engineering certificates can be completed.

Continuing education Intelligent Embedded Microsystems (IEMS)

In the field of embedded systems, the Intelligent Embedded Microsystems (IEMS) program promotes the transfer of knowledge and technology between the technical experts at the University of Freiburg and industry experts. The Faculty of Engineering with its Institutes for Microsystems Technology and Computer Science is developing interdisciplinary continuing education courses in cooperation with the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) Lörrach.

Profile lines

Individual modules from the programs described above can be combined with each other to form so-called profile lines. For example, participants can earn a postgraduate degree called “Secure Embedded Systems for Smart Grids.”

For more information: www.wb.uni-freiburg.de and https://www.academy.fraunhofer.de/en.html

Caption:
From left: Jan Ihwe, Managing Director of the Freiburg Academy of Continuing Education, Prof. Dr. Juliane Besters-Dilger, Vice-President for Academic Affairs at the University of Freiburg, Alexander Roth, Director Technology Marketing at the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft and Dr. Roman Götter, Director at the Fraunhofer Academy at the agreement signing.

Kontakt:
Ingrid Breitenberger  
Fraunhofer Academy
Tel,.: +49 89 1205-1516
E-Mail: ingrid.breitenberger@zv.fraunhofer.de

Jan Ihwe
Freiburg Academy for Continuing Education (FRAUW)
University Freiburg
Tel.: +49 761 203-9651
E-Mail: ihwe@wb.uni-freiburg.de