Distance learning courses in engineering in the EU-27

The European Union is facing a scarcity of skilled professionals in the field of nuclear energy, especially at the higher educational levels. This is mainly due to the worldwide reduction in public acceptance of everything nuclear in the aftermath of the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents, occurred in 1979 and 1986 respectively. These accidents have led to a decreased interest in nuclear education and thus to a "generational gap", where the skilled nuclear workforce is on the verge of retirement or has already retired, and the new generation of nuclear workers does not have the numbers to cover the needs of the industry. The present report, commissioned by the CAPTURE Action of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, has the aim of complementing other European initiatives in the field of nuclear Education & Training by analyzing the availability of eLearning courses in nuclear and nuclear-related fields across the EU-27. This report gives an overview of the eLearning tools and frameworks available on the market and analyzes the main types of eLearning. A list of the eLearning courses offered by Universities in Europe is presented, along with contact details and websites (situation as of the 15th of April 2013). An electronic version of the list of courses will be published on the CAPTURE website (http://capture.jrc.ec.europa.eu/), and it will be updated every six months.