
Master of Science in Energy Transition and Sustainable Power
The people who will decide how Uganda and the region generate, price and regulate electricity over the next thirty years are mostly already in post and mostly trained in a single discipline. This programme is built for them: systems level e...
Employment thesis
What this programme is designed to produce
Forward publishes the destination of every programme before you enrol. If the thesis stops holding, the programme is reviewed and, where necessary, retired. Next review: 2031.
Roles
- Energy planner
- regulatory analyst
- utility strategy lead
- independent power producer developer
- energy economist
- climate and energy finance specialist
- ministry adviser.
Employer types
- Utilities and regulators
- ministries and planning authorities
- development finance institutions
- independent power producers
- consultancies
- and international energy institutions.
Target outcomes we hold ourselves to
- Senior technical and policy positions with immediate application in post and strong donor and development finance demand.
Compulsory · The Forward Core
How the Core works →Every Forward programme, including this one, carries the same five cross-cutting requirements. They are graded, not optional.
- AI Fluency
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Ethics and African Context
- Human-Advantage Skills
- Enterprise
Includes 12 months paid work-integrated learning
Am I eligible?
Check yourself against the published requirements
7 questions written specifically for Master of Science in Energy Transition and Sustainable Power. Every answer is checked against a requirement Forward has published, and the result tells you which page that requirement comes from. Indicative only, the admissions office decides on your full file.
What is the highest qualification you hold?
Curriculum structure
The same degree, in both pathways
Every Forward programme is published in both pathways: Path One, the term plan of two six-month terms, and Path Two, the block sequence of twelve four-week blocks. Same competencies, same assessments, same award. Toggle to see this programme in each.
Path One term plan shown
Path One · The Term Model
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 501 | Applied Intelligence for Professionals Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| FDC 502 | Research Evidence and Method Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| ECE 510 | Energy Systems Modelling and Capacity Expansion Performance | 6 | 3-2-4 |
| ECE 511 | Power System Operation and Renewable Integration Both | 6 | 4-2-2 |
| ECE 512 | Energy Economics and Markets Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| ECE 513 | Energy Policy, Regulation and Institutions Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 503 | Governance, Ethics and Leadership of Intelligent Systems Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| ECE 520 | Energy Project Finance and Structuring Both | 6 | 4-2-2 |
| ECE 521 | Storage, Flexibility and Demand Side Performanc | 6 | 3-2-4 |
| ECE 522 | Energy Access, Equity and Productive Use Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| ECE 523 | Transition Pathways: Hydrogen, Gas and Electrified Transport Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| ECE 524 | Advanced Elective Objective | 3 | 2-2-0 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECE 530 | Major Project: National or Utility Scale Energy Study (client verified) Performance | 20 | 0-2-38 |
| ECE 531 | Data and Analytics for Energy Decision Making Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| ECE 532 | Professional Practice and Policy Communication Objective | 5 | 4-2-0 |
Total credit units: 89
Curriculum source
Forward University Curriculum Compendium
Assessment
Coursework + project + integrated exam
Work-integrated learning
12 months paid co-operative education
Your week at Forward
A typical week on Master of Science in Energy Transition and Sustainable Power
Path One, the Term Model: your own pace across a six-month term, one live session a week, short flexible lessons, and assessment on demand.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Curriculum explorer
Drill into the degree, step by step
Choose a study path, then a year, then a term or block, then a course. Credit totals add up as you go, and every course shows what comes before it and what it unlocks.
Step 1, choose a year
Step 2, choose a term
TERM 1 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY SEMESTER 1
Year 1 · this step is worth 30 CU
Cumulative
30
Programme total
90
30 CU of 90 CU completed by the end of this step (33%)
Step 3, choose a course
Pick a course to see the detail
Credits, assessment, prerequisites and what each course unlocks later.
The twelve Forward capabilities
What this programme develops in you
Every Forward degree develops the same twelve cross-cutting capabilities. The profile below is the level this programme is designed to develop and verify by graduation, on the four-level scale in Part B2 of the Curriculum Compendium. Every claim above Level 2 is verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer.
- C1Intelligent Systems FluencyLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C2Quantitative and Evidential Reasoning CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C3Ethical and Contextual JudgementLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C4Communication and PersuasionLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C5Disciplinary MasteryLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C6Technical Production and CraftLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C7Problem Framing and Systems Thinking CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C8Collaboration and Multidisciplinary TeamingLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C9Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy CriticalLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C10Professional Conduct and Workplace PerformanceLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C11Learning to Learn and Adaptive CapacityLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C12Stewardship and Public Contribution CriticalLevel 3 of 4, Independent
Critical capabilities for this programme: Quantitative and Evidential Reasoning · Problem Framing and Systems Thinking · Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy · Stewardship and Public Contribution. A graduate cannot pass out of this programme below the stated level on any capability marked critical.
Programme Learning Outcomes
What you will be able to do
Each outcome is assessed, and each is tagged with the Forward capabilities it is verified against.
- PLO 1Build and interpret capacity expansion and dispatch models for a national system.
- PLO 2Design tariff, subsidy and regulatory instruments and assess their distributional effects.
- PLO 3Structure and appraise energy projects and their financing.
- PLO 4Plan the integration of variable renewables and storage on a weak grid.
- PLO 5Assess transition pathways including hydrocarbons hydrogen and electrification of transport.
- PLO 6Advise decision makers with defensible, uncertainty aware analysis.
Why this programme exists
The people who will decide how Uganda and the region generate, price and regulate electricity over the next thirty years are mostly already in post and mostly trained in a single discipline. This programme is built for them: systems level e...
Admission requirements
A Bachelor's degree of at least Second Class Lower Division in engineering, economics, physical sciences or a cognate discipline; professional experience in the energy sector is an advantage and may substitute under recognition of prior learning. Alternative pathways: Foundation Year, diploma entry with advanced standing, mature age entry and recognition of prior learning, all governed by Part A5 and Part G. Online applicants additionally complete the compulsory Digital Readiness orientation under Part D6.
Energy, Climate & Earth Systems
Other open programmes in this School
Bachelor of Engineering in Renewable Energy and Smart Grid Systems
Renewable energy and environmental engineering roles appear on every credible list of the world's fastest growing occupations, and Uganda's electrification challenge is simultaneously a generation problem, a grid problem and a business mode...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Climate Intelligence and Carbon Management
Uganda buys almost all of its climate and carbon expertise from outside the country, and every carbon credit issued on African land is measured, verified and priced by someone else. That is a transfer of value that a single degree programme...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Geospatial Intelligence and Earth Observation
Satellite imagery has become abundant and nearly free while the ability to turn it into decisions has remained scarce and expensive. Every ministry, insurer, agricultural firm, mining company and humanitarian agency in the region needs answ...
View programme BEng (Hons)Bachelor of Engineering in Mining, Critical Minerals and Metallurgy
Uganda holds gold, copper, cobalt, rare earths, lithium bearing pegmatites, iron and phosphates, and exports almost all of it in the least valuable form possible. The constraint on value addition is metallurgical and processing expertise, n...
View programme BEng (Hons)Bachelor of Engineering in Water and Environmental Engineering
Water and sanitation infrastructure is among the largest sustained public investment categories in Uganda, and the failure rate of installed rural water systems remains extraordinary — not because the engineering was wrong, but because nobo...
View programme BSc (Hons)Bachelor of Science in Petroleum and Energy Transition Systems
Uganda is entering commercial oil production at precisely the moment the global energy system begins to turn away from it. Pretending either fact away would be a disservice to students. This programme trains people who can operate the petro...
View programme MScMaster of Science in Climate Data Science
Climate models produced for the world are too coarse to tell a Ugandan district when to plant, a bank whether to lend, or an insurer what to charge. Closing that resolution gap requires machine learning applied to climate, agricultural and ...
View programme MScMaster of Science in Geospatial Analytics
An advanced degree for professionals who need to build, not merely operate, geospatial decision systems: national land systems, agricultural monitoring platforms, urban growth models and humanitarian information services. It is deliberately...
View programme PhDDoctor of Philosophy in Energy and Climate Systems
Doctoral research on the African energy and climate transition: grid intelligence, renewable integration, carbon measurement, mineral value addition, water systems and adaptation. Every thesis carries a translation statement and a publicati...
View programme