The Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology is launching a new postgraduate major, Power Electronics, in cooperation with the MEDCOM company. The enrolment process begins shortly and the first classes start as soon as October this year.

As the project initiators emphasise, these are the first postgraduate studies in Poland organised in such close cooperation with the Polish power electronics industry, implemented within the framework of a unique, jointly developed teaching model. The studies will be, above all, highly practical and are intended to prepare graduates for the requirements of the market and work on the design, research and operation of modern power electronics devices in the best possible way.

Dr Jacek Rąbkowski (PhD, Eng.), Professor at the Warsaw University of Technology, said: "It is no coincidence that Warsaw University of Technology has been considered the best technical university in Poland for years now, and MEDCOM is a leader in the Polish power electronics industry. Thanks to this combination, we were able to develop a concept of studies which meet the needs of a modern, knowledge-based economy 100%.

"We offer education in power electronics – the most rapidly developing field of electro-technology at the moment, where students will primarily gain practical knowledge and skills which will be extremely useful in their future professional lives. In accordance with the principles we have adopted, the studies are intended to successfully introduce students to the labour market and prepare them to be able to design power electronics devices on their own in the future.

"Hence students will receive as many as 360 hours of classes per year, which is twice as many as in the case of typical postgraduate studies at Polish universities. Students will learn about the latest achievements in our field, but the majority of the classes will be practical and will be run by the best scientists and academics from our university and experienced designers and engineers employed at MEDCOM."

A considerable part of the classes will involve labs, workshops, computer simulations and practical classes, as well as strictly design-oriented classes. The curriculum will put a lot of emphasis on the layouts of power electronic converters and their components (including the latest semiconducting components based on silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN)), as well as microprocessor systems and their software, microcontroller interfaces, and battery and supercapacitor systems.

Joanna Nichthauser, coordinator of the studies at MEDCOM, said: "MEDCOM was established nearly 30 years ago by engineers from the Warsaw University of Technology, with which we still remain very closely connected, most of our employees being graduates of the university. We have joined forces, and worked for many months in order to develop a format and model for the studies which would be optimal from the point of view of the student.

"I am convinced that these will be the best postgraduate studies of this type in Poland. Some of the classes will be held in our new training and lab centre, and will be run by our best designers and engineers with years of experience in developing and implementing modern power electronics solutions in Poland and across the world."

There will be no more than 24 students admitted in each year of Power Electronics, and each of them will be provided with individual tutelage and a development path. Students will have guaranteed access to the latest technologies, components and software. They will also learn about the solutions currently under development at MEDCOM, the devices being marketed and the process of their production.

Anyone who has graduated from a first or second cycle degree programme of studies, is fluent in English, and holds an SEP (Association of Polish Electrical Engineers) qualification certificate for voltages up to 1kV can apply. Admissions will be based on an interview. The deadline for applications is 15 September 2017.

The studies include two semesters (12 sessions per semester) and classes will be held on Fridays and Saturdays. Each participant will be entitled to all the rights of students of postgraduate studies at the Warsaw University of Technology.