‘When learning about sustainable energy, the Netherlands is the place to be’

After completing a master in Italy, Pushkar Sabharwal from India wanted to learn more about the energy transition. Knowing the Netherlands is one of the front runners in this field, he decided to enrol in the European Master in Sustainable Energy System Management at Hanze UAS.

‘When it comes to education about the energy transition, a lot of the available programmes are very technical. But that wasn’t what I was looking for. I was looking for a master that offered a mix of technics and business. So when I saw the master Hanze UAS offered, I pretty much immediately signed up.’

‘At that time, I lived in Italy, but I didn’t mind having to move to the Netherlands for this master. Because when it comes to sustainable energy, Holland, with its investment and research in wind turbines and solar panel fields, is definitely one of the front runners in the world. So when learning about this subject, to me, the Netherlands is the place to be.’

‘Although some of the classes are still a little more technical than I presumed, I’m really enjoying the master so far. Last semester, we worked on an assignment about sustainability in Tanzania. There, a lot of cities are heavily reliant on energy from coals. We investigated the possibility of switching one of those cities to solar power completely, thereby becoming not only more sustainable, but also less dependent on coals. Me and my classmate focused on creating a solar powered school and mobility in general.’

‘Because we didn’t want to create a solution that would only look good on paper, we also looked at it from a business point of view: if I was an investor, would I invest in this? Would it be financially viable? To me, that was really educational. I have to say, working on a realistic assignment like this makes me look forward to my internship next semester. And because this is a European master, I’m mostly applying to internships outside of The Netherlands. So who knows in what country I’ll be living in next?’