Smart grid safety and security issues are of increasing interest to both researchers and practitioners. Universities invest considerable efforts in changing their curricula, developing new master and bachelor programs to respond to these new challenges. Currently, such courses and programs are not available in Ukraine. This paper presents our practical experience in developing such courses under Tempus projects. These programs might be based on the concept of research cases. The research case is an approach to research that focuses on gaining an in-depth understanding of a particular entity or event at a specific time. It includes the practical task settled by tutor, selection of methods by students, and presentation of results as a training paper. This approach might help to improve the student selfdevelopment, their knowledges and mental capabilities. It might facilitate their possible involvement into research activities focused on solving the problems of smart grid security and safety.