The Master’s program in Energy Engineering was created in 1999 and already has over 300 graduates. The PPGEEN (Postgraduate Program in Energy Engineering) has always focused on the most important issues in the energy sector in Brazil and the world. Research on the new paradigms of the energy sector has been the basis for the curriculum development in the Master’s program in Energy Engineering at UNIFEI. Furthermore, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals approved in 2016 by the United Nations, which include clean and affordable energy, clean water and sanitation, climate action, and sustainable cities, are directly related to the Energy Engineering course’s proposal.
Therefore, the main themes to be focused on in the PPGEEN’s disciplines and dissertations are:

• Energy transition.
• Territorial planning and optimization of energy resource use.
• Energy efficiency: ISO 50001 – an element of competitiveness and marketing.
• Renewable sources.
• Energy conversion of waste and low-potential energy flows.
• Microgeneration and CHP (ORC, EFGT, screw expanders, radial gasifying turbines / ICE, etc.).
• Clean technologies for coal – IGCC.
• Sustainability Assessment – LCA, AAI…
• Smart grids and energy storage.
• Carbon sequestration – IGCC and oxycombustion.
• Integrated power/energy systems.
• Biorefineries and polygeneration.
• Process integration and optimization.
• Extensive use of computational design tools – CFX, Aspen, HYSYS, Gate-Cycle.
• Alternative transportation.
• Renewable hydrogen.
• Power to X.

During the 5 evaluation cycles, the course has evolved positively, especially in the last two cycles, when changes were made to the teacher accreditation process, student admission, curriculum, and other aspects that should lead to an improvement in the evaluation in the current four-year period. Since the last evaluation in 2016, the PPGEEN has undergone a restructuring, including regulatory changes, in order to improve the points in the evaluators’ report indicated as critical.
It is worth highlighting some items:

– The number of courses has decreased from over 70 to 27, and new courses were implemented in 2014:

– “Sustainability and life cycle analysis”,

– “Treatment and energy conversion of liquid effluents”,

– “Water resources for energy”,

– “Renewable energy technologies I (solar thermal and photovoltaic)”

– “Renewable energy technologies II (wind, geothermal and others)”.

– In 2019 we implemented a new course “Thermochemical conversion of biomass and waste”

– The course’s teaching staff was renewed with the incorporation of highly productive professors, which now totals 19 professors. Among the researchers in the course, we have one CNPq 1B researcher (the current course coordinator), six CNPq level 2 researchers, and two researchers from the FAPEMIG productivity program: Researcher from Minas Gerais.

– The regulations for the accreditation and reaccreditation of course faculty were developed, approved in assembly, and implemented, taking into account CAPES evaluation criteria.

– In 2014, the reorganization process of the Energy Systems Planning and Management line – PGSE – was carried out.

– By decision taken in assembly, a qualification exam was implemented after the first year of the master’s program. This was intended to require students to submit an interim report on the progress of their work.

Interest in the UNIFEI Master’s program in Energy Engineering is high in Brazil and abroad. Thus, in the admission processes in recent years, between 30 and 60 candidates applied in each call for applications.

The number of full article publications in journals has increased considerably, and in the four-year period 2017-2020 we have an average of 43 articles per year. The total number of citations of the course professors’ publications according to Google Scholar is 14,918, and according to SCOPUS, 9,959. The article “Biofuels: environment, technology and food security,” written by a collective of authors that included two professors from our course, and published in 2009, has already accumulated more than 800 citations in other publications.

In recent years, our faculty have published several books, including:

– “Dendroenergy”

– “Pollution Prevention and Control in the Energy, Industrial, and Transportation Sectors”

– “Thermal Power Generation”

– “Biofuels”

– “Thermal Flow Machines”

– “Treatise on Solid Waste”

– “Environmental Sciences for Engineering”

– “Bioenergy: Sources, Conversion, and Sustainability”

– “Hydroelectric Power Plants – Implementation and Commissioning”

– “Sugarcane Bioenergy for Sustainable Development”

– “Instrumentation for Energy and Industrial Systems”

…in addition to several chapters in books edited by professors from other universities.

The publication of the magazines PCH Notícias & SHP News and the American Journal of Hydropower, Water and Environment Systems, both from the Institute of Natural Resources and linked to the program, continues.

In March 2020, the study on the destination of graduates was updated:

Of the total of 296 graduates, information was not obtained for 30 of them.

The results are as follows:

University professors: 27.8%

High school teachers: 3.7%

Entrepreneurs: 5.8%

Company employees: 21.3%

Employees of agencies and institutions: 8.6%

Self-employed: 8.4%

Doctoral students: 15%

Of the graduates, 17.5% continued and completed their doctoral studies. Considering also those who are currently doctoral students, we have 32.5% of the total continuing their academic careers.

It is worth highlighting the integration of three research groups into the course: CERPCH, NEST, and EXCEN, which allows for excellent laboratory infrastructure. Another important aspect is the internationalization of the course, reflected in collaboration agreements with universities in various countries, participation in networks, projects, and courses in Master’s programs in different countries, and a considerable number of international students who obtained their Master’s degree in the PPGEEN.

The Master’s course in Energy Engineering at UNIFEI is currently experiencing a clear improvement in its performance, with ambitious plans to achieve a grade of 5 in the next four-year period.