World Nuclear University Seeks Class of 2009
Deadline 20 December 2008 for Summer Institute at Oxford University in UK
At the 2008 Summer Institute, 99 Fellows participated in the six-week programme held in Ottawa, Canada. (Photo: Madiba Saidy)
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The World Nuclear University (WNU) announced they will be accepting applications for their 5th Annual WNU Summer Institute for next year. The 2009 session at the University of Oxford runs for six weeks from 5 July to 15 August.
The Institute invites about 100 WNU Fellows from around 35 countries who are selected on several criteria, including leadership potential. These young, nuclear professionals will be educated in a broad range of activities, which include nuclear energy issues, team-building and leadership exercises, where some of the world´s notable experts in the field will tutor and lead the Fellows through the programme.
Since the first Summer Institute in 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) along with OECD´s Nuclear Energy Agency, the World Association of Nuclear Operators and the World Nuclear Association, have supported the summer programme.
"To help point the way toward globalizing nuclear profession, the World Nuclear Association has worked with the IAEA, WANO, and the NEA to create the new World Nuclear University. The WNU is a partnership in which these four global organizations cooperate together, and with leading institutions of nuclear learning, in activities to enhance nuclear education and leadership for 21st century," said John Ritch, Director General of World Nuclear Association, in 2006.
The IAEA helped shaped the WNU Summer in its participation in the selection of Fellows and financial support. To date, it has awarded eighty-seven Fellows, from developing countries, financial assistance to participate in the previous four Summer Institutes.
"To ensure global diversity in the participants, the Agency, once again in 2008, provided financial support for the participation of fourteen Fellows from eleven developing countries through its Technical Cooperation program," ,” notes Madiba Saidy, Head Coordinator for the WNU Summer Institute in an email. Many experts from the IAEA were course lecturers, he adds, on topics ranging from nuclear power development to nuclear safety to nuclear safeguards.
The 2008 WNU Summer Institute was held at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada. Ninety-nine Fellows participated from thirty-six countries. Hosted by the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), Bruce Power, Cameco Corporation and Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Fellows not only met and learned from some of the top authorities in the industry, they took technical tours of nuclear and industrial facilities.
It is not all work for the chosen participants. Not only are they educated in the nuclear profession, the participants have a chance to explore the host city through various entertainment programmes and outings; and have the weekends to go explore outside the city on their own. They will have a chance to learn about culture through a nuclear and recreational perspective.
"There are now 367 Fellows from 58 countries who have completed this World Nuclear University initiative, and become part of an expanding global network of future leaders in the nuclear profession... and that number will grow each year," said Mr. Ritch.
A Fellowship Application Form can be obtained online from the WNU website and should be emailed to WNU Coordinating Centre no later than 20 December 2008. For more information, please visit the website.
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