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From September 8-13, 2019, the practical week for students of the Online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems took place for the second time. In addition to the offer of an internship in Germany of five or nine weeks, this is an opportunity for online students from all over the world to get to know various German research and industrial locations in the wind energy sector.

The online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems (wes.online) is a Master's degree program offered entirely in virtual classrooms in English. "With the practical week, we want to give our students the opportunity to get to know each other personally and to exchange ideas on a professional and content-related level," says course coordinator and project manager Dr. André Bisevic. "This week offers students the rare opportunity to network with researchers at various Fraunhofer Institutes and companies in the wind energy sector," adds Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Detlef Kuhl, head of the degree program and the Department of Structural Mechanics and Structural Dynamics at the University of Kassel.

During their stay in Germany, the students visited the laboratory facilities of various wes.online lecturers at the University of Kassel as well as the research laboratories for the grid integration of wind energy at the Kassel-based Fraunhofer IEE. The students first visited a wind tower at the Söhrewald wind farm in the Kassel region. During their subsequent visit to the 200-metre-high measuring mast in Wolfhagen-Nothfelden, they learned details about the special features of wind farms on uneven terrain from the researchers at Fraunhofer IEE.

At Enercon in Aurich, Germany's largest manufacturer of wind turbines, the students were informed about their career opportunities at the company and were given an exclusive tour of the rotor blade production hall. At the Fraunhofer IWES research site in Bremerhaven, the students visited the modern offshore wind turbine from the Spanish manufacturer ADWEN and the rotor blade test center, where whole-blade fatigue tests are carried out. The participants of the practical week also gained an insight into the dynamic nacelle test laboratory DyNaLab at IWES. A visit to the interactive Klimahaus museum in Bremerhaven was also part of the program and informed the students about the weather, climate zones and the causes and consequences of climate change.

The practical week concluded at the Recruiting Day of the national wind trade fair in Husum. Every two years, companies along the entire value chain and life cycle of wind turbines present themselves at Husum Wind. The trade fair thus offers its visitors the opportunity to network further and find out about professional prospects and career opportunities.

The participating students rated the practical week as an enriching and worthwhile addition to their online studies. "I traveled from Buenos Aires to Kassel for the WES study trip and would do it again. I believe that the possibility to meet your fellow students and professors is very enriching for the online study program. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to meet the professionals and visit the laboratories that are at the vanguard of the wind energy industry. This combination of technical and social aspects makes the study trip really motivating for the people who are passionate about wind energy and technology. I would definitely recommend everyone to participate", is the résumé of the Argentinean Pedro Grasso and the Iranian Anahita Rahmanian says: "The study trip was a good opportunity not only to meet some professors and students of the program, but also to learn some facts about the manufacturing, testing and validation process of wind turbines and related subjects in the wind industry. Many thanks for the organization!"

The Online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems is the result of a cooperation between the University of Kassel, the Fraunhofer IEE and IWES as well as various representatives of the wind industry. The pool of lecturers is drawn from all three areas. The practical week was sponsored by the Stifterverband and the Fraunhofer Academy.

From September 8-13, 2019 the second practical week for students of the Online M.Sc. Wind Energy System took place. Besides the offer of an internship in Germany of five or nine weeks, this is an opportunity for online students from all over the world to get to know different German research and industrial locations of the wind energy industry.

The Online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems (wes.online) is a Master's program offered completely in virtual classrooms in English. "We want to give our students the opportunity to get to know each other personally during the practical week and to exchange professional and content information analogously," says course coordinator and project manager Dr. rer. pol. André Bisevic. "During this week, students have the rare opportunity to network with researchers from various Fraunhofer Institutes and companies in the wind energy sector," adds Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Detlef Kuhl, head of the course of studies and of the institute for mechanics and dynamics at the University of Kassel.

During their stay in Germany, the students jointly visited the laboratory facilities of various wes.online lecturers at the University of Kassel as well as the research laboratories for the grid integration of wind energy of the Fraunhofer IEE in Kassel. At the Söhrewald wind farm in the Kassel region, the students first visited a wind tower. During their subsequent visit to the 200-meter-high measuring mast in Wolfhagen-Nothfelden, researchers from Fraunhofer IEEinformed them about the special features of wind farms in uneven terrain.

At Enercon, Germany's largest manufacturer of wind turbines, in Aurich, the students were informed about their career opportunities in the company and were given an exclusive tour of the rotor blade production hall. At the research site of Fraunhofer IWES in Bremerhaven, the students visited the modern offshore wind turbine of the Spanish manufacturer ADWEN and the rotor blade test center, in which full blade fatigue tests are carried out. The participants of the trip also gained insight into the dynamic nacelle testing laboratory DyNaLab of the IWES. The visit to the interactive museum Klimahaus in Bremerhaven was also part of the program and informed the students about the weather, climate zones as well as the causes and consequences of climate change.

The practical week ended with the Recruiting Day at the national wind fair in Husum. Every two years, companies along the entire value chain and the life cycle of wind turbines present themselves at Husum Wind. Thus, the fair offers its visitors the opportunity to network further and to inform themselves about professional perspectives and career opportunities.

The participating students rated the practical week as an enriching and rewarding addition to their online studies. "I traveled from Buenos Aires to Kassel for the WES study trip and would do it again. I believe that the possibility to meet your fellow students and professors is very enriching for the online study program. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to meet the professionals and visit the laboratories that are at the vanguard of the wind energy industry. This combination of technical and social aspects makes the study trip really motivating for the people who are passionate about wind energy and technology. I would definitely recommend everyone to participate" the Argentinian Pedro Grasso sums up the experiences of the week. The Iranian Anahita Rahmanian reflects: "The study trip was a good opportunity not only to meet some professors and students of the program, but also to learn some facts about the manufacturing, testing and validation process of wind turbines and related subjects in the wind industry. Many thanks for the organization!"

The Online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems is the result of a cooperation between the University of Kassel, the Fraunhofer IEE and IWES and various representatives of the wind industry. The pool of lecturers consists of all three areas. The practical week was sponsored by the Stifterverband and the Fraunhofer Academy.

From September 24th to 28th 2018 students of the Online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems (WES) at University of Kassel were invited to Germany to visit its wind energy industry and research locations. Alongside the option of doing a 5- or 9-week internship, this trip provides WES-students with another opportunity to get in contact with several companies and work locations in Germany.

During this practical phase, WES-students visited research labs in wind energy and grid integration at University of Kassel as well as the research institute Fraunhofer IEE. Furthermore, a planning engineer of Städtische Werke AG presented measurements of planning, construction, operation and management at the example of the wind farm Söhrewald - including 3 MW wind turbines from Vestas - before taking the students there for a visit.

At Enercon, the largest producer of wind turbines in Germany, students learned and talked about their career opportunities at the company before they received a guided tour through the production hall of rotor blades. The next day began with a tour through the rotor blade testing facilities at the research location of Fraunhofer IWES in Bremerhaven. Furthermore, they got the chance to visit their nacelle testing lab DyNaLAB and a modern 8 MW wind turbine from ADWEN, a Spanish wind turbine producer. After lunch, the students visited an exceptional museum - Bremerhavens Klimahaus (house of climate) - where they learned more about the climate overall, the weather as well as climate change.

On their last day, the students could obtain information about career prospects and opportunities at the so-called Recruiting Day of the WindEnergy Hamburg. This fair is a gathering point for people working in the wind energy sector across the globe.

The project-week was perceived positively and informative by the participating student. Moreover, including a project phase into an online-study program established a unique selling proposition on the education market in the wind energy sector. For these reasons, we want to integrate this project phase in Germany permanently into the Online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems.

The research institute Fraunhofer IEE is a scientific cooperation partner of the Online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems and some courses are being taught by their scientists.

The project phase has achieved financial support by the Stifterverband and the Fraunhofer Academy Strategyfunds. More information about the project week can be found at our website on the <link>project phase.

This year's theme of the International Summer University (ISU) was "Engineering Science of Wind Energy Systems - Fundamentals, Technology and Practical Investigations". Eight students from five countries around the world - Australia (Queensland), Turkey, South Africa, USA (Massachusetts) and Germany - came together at the University of Kassel.

The head of the institute of mechanics and dynamics and academic director of the ISU Prof. Dr.-Ing habil. Detlef Kuhl is pleased about the success of the course and thanks all students and lecturers for their participation.

wes.online successfully participated in a competition promoted by the "Stifterverband", "Daimler-Fonds" and "Daimler und Benz Stiftung" with the project WindMINT. In this project a practical phase in Germany will be integrated in the online master's program. The practical phase will be divided into two parts:

- a study trip week with stops in Kassel (University, Fraunhofer IEE), Bremerhaven (Fraunhofer IWES), Aurich (ENERCON) and Hamburg (Hamburg Wind Trade Fair)
- the offer of internships (5 or 9 weeks) at Fraunhofer Institutes, the University of Kassel and other business partners

The Team wes.online is already working on the realization of this project and looks forward to offer a trip to Germany and interesting business contacts to the online students.

From September 24-28, 2018, students on the online Master's degree course in Wind Energy Systems at the University of Kassel went on their first excursion to industrial and research locations in the wind energy sector in Germany. This one-week practical phase - in addition to the five- or nine-week project phases on offer - is an opportunity for online students to get to know locations and various companies in the wind industry in Germany.

During this practical phase, wes.online students visited the laboratory facilities for research into wind energy and its integration into the grid at the University of Kassel and the Fraunhofer IEE in Kassel. In addition, the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of a wind farm were presented by the planning engineer from Städtische Werke AG using the example of the Söhrewald wind farm with seven 3 MW class wind turbines from Vestas, which was also visited afterwards. The visit to the 200 m measuring mast of the Fraunhofer IEE in Wolfhagen-Nothfelden explained the site evaluation for the planning of a wind farm.

At Enercon in Aurich, the participants were introduced to career opportunities at the company and the technology of Enercon rotors during the subsequent tour of the rotor blade production hall. At the Fraunhofer IWES research site in Bremerhaven, the students visited the rotor blade test center, the dynamic nacelle test stand DyNaLAB and a modern 8 MW wind turbine from ADWEN, a Spanish wind turbine manufacturer. In the afternoon, a visit to an extraordinary museum - the Klimahaus in Bremerhaven - provided an appealing accompanying program on the topics of climate, climate change and weather.

On the so-called Recruiting Day at WindEnergy Hamburg, the international meeting place for the wind energy industry, the participants were able to find out more about professional prospects and career opportunities in the wind industry on the last day of the excursion.

The one-week excursion to wind energy locations was rated as positive and very informative overall by the online students. The introduction of practical phases into an online degree course is a unique feature on the university continuing education market in the field of wind energy. The aim is to include practical phases in Germany in the online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems course concept in order to give international students practical and professional experience at wind energy sites in Germany.

The Fraunhofer IEE is a scientific cooperation partner in the Online M.Sc. Wind Energy Systems program. Fraunhofer IEE scientists are involved in teaching the course.

The practical phase was funded by the Stifterverband and the Fraunhofer Academy Strategy Fund.  You can find more information about the practical week on our <link>project phase page.

After four years of collaboration between the University of Kassel and the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES), the international M.Sc. in Wind Energy Systems program was officially launched in November 2015. Students from Germany, Turkey and Switzerland enrolled in the program in the first semester.

The director of studies, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Detlef Kuhl, said that "The English-language program is particularly targeted at international students who wish to further their education in the field of wind energy systems, while working at the same time". Dr.-Ing. Kurt Rohrig, who is the wes.online project director at the Fraunhofer IWES, and also a lecturer for the course 'Economic Aspects of Grid Integration' in the degree program, sees the launch of the online M. Sc. Wind Energy Systems as a great chance to take action against the urgent need for skilled workers in the growing global market for the onshore and offshore wind industry.

The goals of the program are achieved thanks to collaboration between the University of Kassel, which provides the basic knowledge necessary to the program, and Fraunhofer IWES which offers support in the areas of applied research, as well as the experience of industry experts. As a result of this collaboration, students may choose to participate in three different modules in the first semester. These modules include <link>Electrical Engineering, <link>Design of Mechanical and Electrical Components, and <link>Mathematics. These modules are taught by professors from the University of Kassel, employees from Fraunhofer IWES, and employees from the company SMA.

For more information about the program, please visit <link>www.uni-kassel.de/wes, where you will find information on the structure and content of the study program. The University of Kassel contact Daniela Gleim may be reached at <link mail>daniela.gleim@uni-kassel.de and the Fraunhofer IWES contact André Bisevic may be reached at <link mail>andre.bisevic@iwes.fraunhofer.de.

Engineering Science of Wind Energy Systems - Fundamentals, Technology and Practical Investigations was the theme of this year's International Summer University (ISU). Eight students from five countries - Australia (Queensland), Turkey, South Africa, USA (Massachusetts) and Germany - came together for two weeks at the University of Kassel.

Prof. Dr.-Ing habil Detlef Kuhl, Dean of Studies at the Institute of Structural Mechanics and Structural Dynamics and head of the ISU, is delighted with the success and would like to thank all students and lecturers for their participation.

wes.online has successfully taken part in a competition with the WindMINT project funded by the "Stifterverband", the "Daimler-Fonds" and the "Daimler und Benz Stiftung". In this project, a project phase in Germany is integrated into the online master's program. The project phase is offered in two parts:

- an excursion week with stops in Kassel (University of Kassel, Fraunhofer IEE), Bremerhaven (Fraunhofer IWES), Aurich (ENERCON) and Hamburg (Hamburg Wind Messe)

- the offer of an internship (5 or 9 weeks) at a Fraunhofer Institute, the University of Kassel or a company

The wes.online team is already working on the realization of this project and is pleased to be able to offer the online students a trip to Germany and interesting business contacts.

After four years of collaboration between the University of Kassel and the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES), the international M.Sc. in Wind Energy Systems program was officially launched in November 2015. Students from Germany, Turkey and Switzerland enrolled in the program in the first semester.

The director of studies, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Detlef Kuhl, said that "The English-language program is particularly targeted at international students who wish to further their education in the field of wind energy systems, while working at the same time". Dr.-Ing. Kurt Rohrig, who is the wes.online project director at the Fraunhofer IWES, and also a lecturer for the course 'Economic Aspects of Grid Integration' in the degree program, sees the launch of the online M. Sc. Wind Energy Systems as a great chance to take action against the urgent need for skilled workers in the growing global market for the onshore and offshore wind industry.

The goals of the program are achieved thanks to collaboration between the University of Kassel, which provides the basic knowledge necessary to the program, and Fraunhofer IWES which offers support in the areas of applied research, as well as the experience of industry experts. As a result of this collaboration, students may choose to participate in three different modules in the first semester. These modules include <link>Electrical Engineering, <link>Design of Mechanical and Electrical Components, and <link>Mathematics. These modules are taught by professors from the University of Kassel, employees from Fraunhofer IWES, and employees from the company SMA.

For more information about the program, please visit <link>www.uni-kassel.de/wes, where you will find information on the structure and content of the study program. The University of Kassel contact Daniela Gleim may be reached at <link mail>daniela.gleim@uni-kassel.de and the Fraunhofer IWES contact André Bisevic may be reached at <link mail>andre.bisevic@iwes.fraunhofer.de.