Arizona State University, located in Tempe, Arizona, offers a Solar Energy Engineering & Commercialization Graduate Program. The program is designed to be completed within 12 months and requires knowledge in science, engineering and mathematics. This graduate program differs from other graduate programs in that the degree awarded is a P.S.M., or Professional Science Masters. The student looks to practical applications and projects instead of a traditional master's thesis.
From its home at Dalarna University in Borlange, Sweden, the European Solar Engineering School offers a Master of Science program. This program, started in 1999, attracts students from the United States, Germany, Australia, Greece, Spain, France and Lebanon, among other countries. In addition to classroom instruction, research opportunities exist at the Solar Energy Research Center located near the school. An example of a master's thesis involved a student working at the largest solar research center in Europe at Almeria, Spain.
Located at The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering is known for its research in the field of photovoltaics, or solar energy. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs. The graduate programs can either involve course work or research projects, depending upon the student. According to its website, the school offered the world's first undergraduate degree in photovoltaics and solar energy engineering following its founding in 1999.
Not a school in the traditional sense, this "college" teaches solar engineering to poor and uneducated people, primarily older women identified as "grandmothers," the art of installing and maintaining solar panels. Located in India, this school brings solar-powered electricity to rural, poor villages in the country. For these remote locations this is the only way they will ever have electricity. The school proves that advanced degrees are not necessary to install solar power.