The EHA in collaboration with the Spanish Hydrogen Association and HyER’s vice president Javier Brey and with the support of the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells organised an Educational Encounter at the Seville School of Engineering  on November  13, 2012. The EHA seeks with these encounters to define the educational needs to ensure a sustainable roll out of commercial hydrogen and fuel cell applications in the coming decades. The Assistant director of the School of Engineering Francisco Gordilla welcomed the audience referring to hydrogen and fuel cell activities in the School and its relationships with industry in this field in Sevilla (Abengoa, etc.). Prof. Filippo Rosa explained the need to work close with industry to give students a perspective of the job possibilities; many of his students have found jobs in the hydrogen and fuel cell sector and he has the impression that the hydrogen and fuel cell courses that the School is offering actually improve the chances of students to find jobs.
Luis Correas, of the Hydorgen Aragon Foundation and coordinator of the HyProfessionals project presented the outcomes of the project referring to the gaps in H2 and Fc eduction with regards to the different applications and the need for more trained technicians. ThE EHA presented the course material that the EU HyFacts project developed to train authorisation officials in Europe on hydrogen safety and handling issues. Prof. Jürgen Garch, chair of the IPHE Education Work Group chaired the panel focussing on two questions: When to start with H2 and FC education and what Academia should contribute? He presented a list of courses in European universities and the Education Curriculum Roadmap for hydrogen and fuel cells that was developed in 2005 by the Education working group that prepared the content for the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. Angelo Moreno IPHE representative for Italy referred to the need to inform students from a young age on the exciting research and deployment opportunities. Prof Pinto of Brazil asked about the content of the different training material explaining that in Brazil several universities offer hydrogen and fuel cell master courses. The EHA will continue to cooperate with the IPHE to organise this type of meetings on the occasion of upcoming IPHE meetings.