(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco University in San Salvador, El Salvador provides opportunities for advanced education and employment for disadvantaged youth. Approximately 6,000 students are enrolled at the university, which maintains a strong link to the local employment sector through research, technology transfer programs, continuing education courses and consultancy services. Degree programs include engineering, social sciences, humanities, economics, technology and aeronautics.

The university has also made energy and renewable energy a focus of its curriculum. There is an electrical engineering program, which includes subjects in management and design of solar plants, as well as two-year renewable energy master’s degree program. This program is aimed at professionals who wish to study more on energy exploitation and renewable sources such solar, wind, biomass, tidal, hydraulic and geothermal.

Courses are focused on teaching the fundamentals of renewable energy systems and providing criteria to analyze the technical, economic and environmental viability of their possible applications. There is also a non-degree 60-hour program for professional development on the installation and maintenance of solar panels. The course is an open program for people preparing to enter the labor market.

Don Bosco University also has an Energy Research Institute, which not only supports research and training in these areas, but also offers services to companies in the country, especially in the field of energy efficiency. Through strengthening training programs and the development of new projects, the institute supports the country in the process of converting its energy economy to an equitable and ecologically sustainable clean model.

In November 2016, with the help USAID, through its Regional Clean Energy Initiative, Don Bosco University installed a photovoltaic system with the objective of improving the learning practices and professional competencies of engineering students.

This system allows students to make assessments of efficiency, performance and profitability, through the information obtained from the production of electricity under different technologies of photovoltaic panels, meteorological conditions and orientations in their installation. This allows students to put into practice knowledge for their future professional careers and better prepare for better job opportunities.

“The energy sector takes more importance in the country every day, since it contributes to solve the problems of growth in other industries by decisively promoting the generation of energy through alternative sources,” said Tim Hurley, USAID economist in an article on the Don Bosco University website about this partnership.

“I congratulate Don Bosco University for its constant commitment to the education of future professionals. I share this vision of training competent and comprehensive professionals, and we accompany them in their work to build a better El Salvador with a solid education, where young people can opt for better job opportunities and contribute positively to their country,” added Hurley.

Close to 35 percent of El Salvador’s population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank. Youth in El Salvador are confronted not only with poverty, but with instability, high levels of violence and inadequate access to educational opportunities. Despite ranking high for economic indicators, the need for practical education in the country is more important than ever with 12 percent of youth ages 15 to 24 unemployed and 41 percent underemployed.

Salesian missionaries in El Salvador provide social development services and primary, secondary and vocational education as well as university degree programs to aid youth in breaking the cycle of poverty and contributing back to their families and communities.

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Sources:

Don Bosco University

World Bank – El Salvador