Published at 11:17, Tuesday, 31 July 2012

CUMBRIA’S university has hosted its first summer school for students from Kazakhstan.

A group of 25 masters students from the national university of Kazakhstan were given a taste of the county’s hospitality when they spent two weeks at the University of Cumbria at Ambleside.

They were attending the first summer school in renewable energy technology to be held by the university with lectures, workshops and visits designed to give them an insight into ways of developing a more sustainable future for Kazakhstan.

The creation of the summer school came as a result of links already forged with the Kazakhstan university by other University of Cumbria lecturers in fields such as ethics and sustainability.

The students, all aged between 23 and 33, benefited from being based in the heart of the Lake District and were able to visit many nearby sites related to energy generation and conservation.

Dr Elspeth Lees, course leader in sustainable engineering at the university said: “The students gained first-hand knowledge of Cumbria’s renewable energy wind farms, hydropower, biomass units and buildings that utilise this kind of energy or have adopted modern sustainable ways for reducing their energy footprint.

“Amongst other sites, the students visited the innovative Strawbale House, designed and built by Brian Waite, at Deanscale in West Cumbria. The students were fascinated by the modern design and the use of straw bales for insulation.”

“This course was a bespoke pilot summer school for Al Farabi Kazakhstan National University and its success will help the course team to repeat the effort and open it to other international universities in the future.”

The students particularly appreciated the opportunity to see the theory of renewable energy technology put into practice.

Raushan Amangeldi, 25, said: “I have been able to see different renewable energy systems like wind and hydro-energy technology from a technical, social and environmental point of view. I was especially impressed by the study visits to real wind farms and hydro power units.

“I would like to thank the instructors for the wonderful course – everything was exciting and well organised.”

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk