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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Politics and Economics of International Energy by Sciences Po

4.7
stars
1,732 ratings

About the Course

Energy issues have always been important in international relations, but in recent years may have become even more important than in the past due to the widespread awareness of existing limits to energy sources and negative climate impacts. The course discusses global trends in energy consumption and production, various available scenarios for potential developments in the coming decades, the availability of oil reserves and the evolution of the oil industry. It then discusses natural gas and highlights the differences between oil and gas. It will also discuss renewable energy sources, nuclear energy and EU energy policy. The course aims at providing students whose main interest is in international relations a background on energy resources, technology and economic realities to allow them to correctly interpret the political impact of current developments. It also aims at providing students, who already have a technical background in energy science or engineering, with the broad global view of energy issues that will allow them to better understand the social, economic and political impact of their technical knowledge. ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR : Giacomo Luciani Scientific Advisor for the Master in International Energy at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) Sciences Po, Giacomo Luciani is also Adjunct Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and Director of the Executive Master in International Oil and Gas Leadership. For the period 2010-13 he was appointed Princeton University Global Scholar, attached to the Woodrow Wilson School and the Department of Near Eastern Studies. His research focuses on the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and on global energy issues. RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND : The course requires no special scientific, mathematical or economic background; all key concepts are clearly and elementarily explained. It is expected that it will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in schools where an equivalent course is not offered (this being the case for the vast majority of schools). USPC Sorbonne Paris Cité Supported by Université Sorbonne Paris Cité IDEX Investissements d'Avenir Funded by Investissements d'Avenir - 'ANR. Info : Course content : Licence Creative Commons BY NC SA...

Top reviews

DP

Sep 10, 2016

Excellent delivery.

Fantastic external sources with clear and precise explanations from a graphical viewpoint.

Great range of industry expertise and professionals within the appropriate fields.

TB

Jun 14, 2017

Very interesting course ! Very well explained but maybe needs updates on current news (even if it may be hard I acknowledge) !

Really well balanced between definitions, geopolitics and science.

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1 - 25 of 433 Reviews for Politics and Economics of International Energy

By Aarne G

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Jul 4, 2016

The course is out of touch with reality and systematically underplays the Paris Agreement, progress of renewable energy and EU emissions mitigation, says absolutely nothing about climate science. At times the attitude is down right hostile and disgusting. Will share these observations widely. We are in a climate emergency and need to do everything we can. When I was taking this course, my city is going through severe flooding and the country is in yellow alert stage due to abnormal thunder storms. You should be ashamed of yourself for pushing this garbage.

By Maria S

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Jul 26, 2021

REALLY LIKE THE COURSE AND THE PROFESSOR. THE ONLY SERIOUS DRAWBACK IS THE OUTDATED INFORMATION. UPDATING AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR IS HIGHLY NEEDED

By Anand V

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Aug 10, 2020

The course teaches some very useful lessons in economic conservation. You'll learn a lot, and you will think critically.

Fundamentally, though, it has flaws. Some videos (esp. in Weeks 2 and 3) are extremely long and hard to follow. In addition, you cannot review wrong answers on quizzes. While I understand that it prevents cheating before one passes, it also means you cannot find out what answers you missed after passing. Finally, some of the quizzes have very few attempts per time period (128 hours is too long to wait, in my opinion).

By Vincent E K

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Apr 28, 2018

The course was very interesting. And as i completed the Certificate of Energy & Finance from HEC in 2015, It was what i needed as a refresh of information. However, all the data in the course is dated from 2014. Since then, the energy landscape changed and i was expected a better overview on this. I was expecting an update to date or at least late 2016 early 2017.

The scope is very good, but the information needs to be more up to date

Thank you

By Amnuaysak T

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Oct 15, 2017

Professor Giacomo LUCIANI is very knowledgeable in this field and he has ability to present the topics in an easy and understandable way. We learnt this course with full understanding of the course content.

The course content is very good. It covers the basic topics that one should know about the issue so that they can use it being the stepping stone to search for deeper and specific relevant information/knowledge.

Thank you very much for your contribution.

By Aditya S

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Jul 29, 2019

It could have been less focused on the energy policies of the countries of the Europe and European union.

By Dhana R M

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Jan 25, 2019

This course provides an acceptable beginners introduction to a broad range of energy issues. The lectures given by Professor Giacomo Luciani are interesting, as are most of the interviews with other experts.

The content on oil, gas and EU energy policies are okay for a beginner-level course. However the topics on renewable energy and nuclear seem to be under-developed and could have been better. Overall, much of the material is based pre-2014 data and needs to be updated in order for the course to continue being relevant.

About 50% of the course material comes from external public domain sources like YouTube and Vimeo, with most of them being rather short and superficial. There are several broken links and a few videos are available only in French with no subtitles.

Long-standing comments on the forums regarding issues with the content and assessments do not appear to have been addressed.

By lproudhon@yahoo.fr

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Jan 6, 2022

This course is well-designed, interesting and perfect for anyone seeking to learn about the current challenges of the energy sector. I recommend it without any hesitation. However, a few aspects should be improved: 1) the quality of at least two videos is mediocre, inaudible (even though I have a C2 proficiency english level); 2) some questions of the quizzes are not properly formulated and are thus confusing; 3) the quizzes' corrections do not provide any explanation, which is quite frustrating - I expected more than "you're wrong" from a Science Po Paris MOOC exam correction. Apart from that, the course is really clear and covers objectively all the relevant aspects of the topic.

By Alex M

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May 6, 2018

The pace is slow and the tone is unenthusiastic and backward looking. The content is generally sound but could do with freshening, particularly with respect to oil markets and OPEC/Russia vs American shale, solar's downward cost curve and energy storage developments. Incentives for renewables (feed-in tariffs etc) are not covered. There are better International Energy modules on Coursera than this one.

By Marjori P

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Nov 27, 2018

The content is ok but the course is messy and badly produced. Lots of links to go to Youtube videos and the accents are a bit too strong to understand sometimes. The graphics in the videos sometimes are barely eligible.

By Erik C K

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Oct 20, 2021

very disorganized course, without clear direction, and many lectures too long and unclear what their added value was. Many of the quiz questions were poorly formulated such as to be difficult to understand.

By Sondos A C

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Jan 18, 2017

Its a hard course, and u may only take the quizzes twice every week.

By Carlos A

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Nov 11, 2017

This course gave me a better understanding on Geopolitics of Energy and a clear view of the energy trends with regards to oil, carbon, gas, renewables and nuclear. I feel more prepare to understand the debate between de-carbonization via renewables, energy efficiency, less pollutant energy sources (such as gas) and the dependence on traditional energy sources such as Oil. It was also very interesting to listen directly from the experts their points of view and the issues that need to be tackled first. The role of Russia and the emerging new leaders and potential providers of GAS, Shale Oil, and the new frontiers on innovation. I do recommend this course to anyone who has something to do with a Job related to any source of energy, either on the upstream, the downstream of oil/gas/carbon, on the Government, on Energy Agencies, on the Global warming side, or even in the Environment protection and Climate change defenders side. We all are part of the same planet and it is of outmost importance for all to understand each other.

By Romel T

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Aug 2, 2017

With this course I have been able to better understand the role of energy in the development of the countries, and in a clear and simple way I have managed to understand how renewable energies work.

By Aidana Y

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Oct 10, 2017

Thank you so much for professor , it was very interting course and now, i know a lot of infromation about energy. What i really like from this course is inteview with differents professors. 10/10

By Thibault B

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Jun 15, 2017

Very interesting course ! Very well explained but maybe needs updates on current news (even if it may be hard I acknowledge) !

Really well balanced between definitions, geopolitics and science.

By David P

•

Sep 11, 2016

Excellent delivery.

Fantastic external sources with clear and precise explanations from a graphical viewpoint.

Great range of industry expertise and professionals within the appropriate fields.

By Allaya M

•

Apr 20, 2023

Excellent cours . Dans l'attente d'une troisième édition qui prend en compte les changements suite à la crise COVID et à la guerre d'Ukraine.

By Paolo B D P

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May 18, 2023

Excellent course. I think a review, considering recent events, would be useful.

By Buwaneka D

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May 22, 2021

recommended for beginners and all enthusiasts.

By Federico B

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Jul 31, 2020

I enjoyed the course and I enjoyed Prof. Luciani and his guests. I much appreciate the efforts of Science Po to create this MOOC. The quiz assessments at the end of each week are also helpful however some I suggest that each quiz notably for the week on oil and the week 8 be revised in terms of their pertinence and accuracy, it seems to me that some questions are ill formulated or do not make sense. It would be good to correct these in order to warrant for a full 5 star course!

By Yves L B

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Oct 25, 2023

Pretty good introduction, for 2019. A few updates necessary (Nord Stream 2 has been constructed, war in Ukraine happened). Still good fundamentals. Geopolitical insights on the preparation of War in Ukraine (with regards to Russian gas exports)

By Marcos O

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Aug 9, 2020

Content is very good, although in a very introductory level.

Quizzies are veryyyy bad. Questions aren’t clear enough, and could be easily fixed.

By Paulina R

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Jul 19, 2022

The course is good, but it should be updated.

By Kevin p

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Jul 1, 2018

Need some updates