A Partnership Between the Electrical Power Industry and Academia to Address the Technical Talent Gap

National Grid partnered with the University at Buffalo to develop a Master of Engineering Degree program to provide a professional degree education tailored to the needs of employees working full time. The target audience for the program was new engineers just hired into the company that needed a background in electric power, as well as existing engineers that wanted to earn an advanced degree, obtain PDH credits and/or increase their knowledge of electric power. The program was offered via distance learning to reach a larger audience and the program had participation from utility engineers from National Grid, Energy East, New York Power Authority, and Ontario Hydro. The distance learning using Webcasting tools had the additional benefit of allowing guest speakers and instructors from anywhere with Internet access to do a presentation for one of the classes