Evaluation of the Environmental Engineering Study Programme at University

The European Union has placed competence-based teaching and competence-based education as one of its highly relevant goals. Due to mass higher education, the assessment of effectiveness and relevance evaluation of environmental engineering study programmes should become an important issue. Presently the focus of the evaluation on multi-disciplinary study programmes varies from the evaluation of attitudes, impacts or effectiveness of utilisation-focused evaluation, summative evaluation and participatory evaluation approaches. The objective of this study was to propose an effective framework to evaluate the Environmental Engineering Master study programmes. During the research, the evaluation of existing study programmes on environmental engineering in Europe was conducted, information about the study courses, teaching methods, assessment methods and competences was used for the analysis. The results obtained showed that lectures, site visits, group coursework, practical laboratories and role-plays allows to reach the necessary knowledge, skills and competences and to provide an effective and relevant education to the Environmental Engineering Master programme students. The proposed evaluation framework was tested and approbated on new Riga Technical University Master study programmes on Environmental Engineering and Bioeconomy

The tango between the academic and business sectors: Use of co-management approach for the development of green innovation

This study explores a co-management approach to prepare future environmental engineers for green innovation and commercialisation by improving cooperation between academia and industry. Collaboration between academia, government, agencies, and industry is a top priority due to the significant impact of the availability of qualified environmental professionals on the economy. The potential for collaboration among parties with different interests and principles remains largely unexplored. Compared to tango dance, the paper discusses the co-management approach, combining two disciplines with other goals and expectations. The methodology adapts brainstorming for studying environmental engineering to improve students' competencies and diversify study methods. Studying classical idea co-creation approaches in higher education, evaluating their results, and analysing stakeholders’ opinions - involving 65 students, six industry and government representatives, and 14 lecturers. This study identified crucial factors that form a model for successful collaboration between academia and industry to train environmental science specialists and develop green innovations. These factors include party participation activity, the definition of primary evaluation criterion, and student motivation. The study concludes that the co-management approach could enhance competence education quality by promoting skill diversification and teamwork and providing greater motivation to work

Education for Advancing the Implementation of the Bioeconomy Goals: An Analysis of Master Study Programmes in Bioeconomy

Bioeconomy in Europe has become one of the leading courses for sustainable and resource-efficient development. Main aspects of bioeconomy: development of new technologies and processes, development of markets and competitiveness for bioeconomy can be implemented through higher education and transformative knowledge for building a sustainable bioeconomy. Over the past year, new bioeconomy-related Master study programmes have been created and have integrated bioeconomy goals into their research, programme aims and learning outcomes. During the research the set of competences based on sustainable development competences and bioeconomy competences have been created. The integration of competences for bioeconomy development in higher education can be seen as an important step in transformation towards knowledge-based bioeconomy. On this basis, 10 Master study programmes across Europe were analysed in order to find out the actual integration of competences in different study programmes for bioeconomy. Results of the analysis show that transdisciplinary competence, learning competence, interdisciplinary competence and system-thinking competence are strongly integrated into the study programmes. The analysis also shows that the integration of other competences, like anticipatory competence, normative competence, strategic competence and interpersonal competence can be improved in the future

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Methods Comparison

Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is widely used to solve various decision problems through alternative evaluation. MCDA methods can be used in every field that can define a problem, alternatives and criteria. However, finding the appropriate method can influence the results, in this research five MCDA methods have been tested on the renewable energy sector in Latvia to find the best alternative. The main results showed that TOPSIS, VIKOR and PROMETHEE-GAIA have similar priority selection and the highest ranking was selected for hydropower plant, but MULTIMOORA and COPRAS results were beneficial to Solar PV

Biodiplomacy attractiveness in bioeconomy education. Case study

Summarization: Biodiplomacy involves searching for a delicate balance and establishing a dialogue on the necessity to achieve international goals to develop the bioeconomy. The substantive basis of biodiplomacy is understanding bioresources, technological solutions for their extraction and use, indicators, and evaluation possibilities. The article is devoted to the establishment of a biodiplomatic institution. Such institutions will help young specialists in various economic sectors to develop competence approaches, acquire knowledge and build awareness that will make them competent to solve problems related to bioeconomy development and future, looking for efficient use of bio-resources and high value-added production. The aims and objectives of biodiplomatics are ambitious, which means that forms of study training must be attractive and multi-layered. Thus, the authors have analysed formative work assessment in the form of group work. With the help of a role game, the participation of different sections of society in developing the bioeconomy in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture was simulated. The article is devoted to the situation analysis, creating a model for building competencies, awareness, and knowledge of biodiplomats, and approbating it in the formative assessment work of the Riga Technical University bachelor’s study program in environmental engineering, organised as a role game.Presented on: Environmental and Climate Technologie

Education for advancing the implementation of the bioeconomy goals: an analysis of master study programmes in bioeconomy

Summarization: Bioeconomy in Europe has become one of the leading courses for sustainable and resource-efficient development. Main aspects of bioeconomy: development of new technologies and processes, development of markets and competitiveness for bioeconomy can be implemented through higher education and transformative knowledge for building a sustainable bioeconomy. Over the past year, new bioeconomy-related Master study programmes have been created and have integrated bioeconomy goals into their research, programme aims and learning outcomes. During the research the set of competences based on sustainable development competences and bioeconomy competences have been created. The integration of competences for bioeconomy development in higher education can be seen as an important step in transformation towards knowledge-based bioeconomy. On this basis, 10 Master study programmes across Europe were analysed in order to find out the actual integration of competences in different study programmes for bioeconomy. Results of the analysis show that transdisciplinary competence, learning competence, interdisciplinary competence and system-thinking competence are strongly integrated into the study programmes. The analysis also shows that the integration of other competences, like anticipatory competence, normative competence, strategic competence and interpersonal competence can be improved in the future.Παρουσιάστηκε στο: Scientific Journal of Riga Technical University. Environmental and Climate Technologie