International Cooperation Framework For Next Generation Engineering Students

International Cooperation Framework for Next Generation Engineering Students (NextGEng) is an Erasmus+ Cooperation partnership in higher education project which started at the beginning of October 2022 and will end at the end of September 2025. In this project, there are six full partners who are participating in all project’s activities: Technical University of Cluj Napoca (main partner) and Robert Bosch SRL from Romania; Jamk University of Applied Sciences and Valmet Technologies Oyj from Finland; University of Jaen and Sensory Integration and Robotics from Spain. This project aims to develop an international cooperation framework that promotes international team-teaching aligned with the European Education Area 2025 and labour market needs, including actions to support collaborative, international and experiential learning in engineering. To achieve that end, NextGEng activities are based on three lines of action: a tailored training process for teachers, an international team-teaching pilot program and cases for experiential learning. This paper describes the aims and main activities of NextGEng, details of three lines of action, and achieved results during the first project year

The main activities and outcomes of process project so far

Processing Complexity with Emotional, Sensorial and Spiritual (ProCESS) is an Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliances (KA) project that started in January 2021 and will end in December 2023. Full university and company partners are Jamk University of Applied Sciences and Mediahouse Keskisuomalainen from Finland, Catholic University of Lyon, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi and the staff development company PerformanSe from France, RISEBA University of Business, Arts & Technology and Latvian Post from Latvia and Technical University of Cluj Napoca and the consulting company De Klausen from Romania. The coordinator of the ProCESS is the Catholic University of Lyon. The main content of the project is 12 complex management case studies which are implemented in three rounds. The topics for these case studies are developed in cooperation with university and company partners. Multilevel and multidisciplinary student teams in all four partner countries solve the problems, and they are coached by university and company coaches. Students are encouraged to find solutions to proposed problems using in addition to rational problem-solving techniques the sensorial, emotional, and spiritual intelligence skills (SESS) which they get to practice in the six workshops organized during the case study process by SESS trainers at their own universities. Students become better acquainted with complex situations, and not just understand, and dare to “step outside the box” to resolve them. They also answer questionnaires and take part in interviews conducted by PerformanSe partners. Every case study round ends at the winter school which is organized in one of the partner countries and universities where all student teams from four countries and their coaches are present and where student teams have their final presentations and get final feedback from their coaches. The paper describes deeper and wider the main activities and outcomes of the project when four case studies of the first round have been successfully completed and the planning of the four case studies of the second round is going on

Smart HEI-Business Collaboration for Skills and Competitiveness

Smart HEI-Business Collaboration for Skills and Competitiveness (HEIBus, www.heibus.eu) is an Erasmus + Knowledge Alliances 2 (KA2) project. Its duration is 36 months (1 January 2017 – 31 December 2019) and it aims to develop smart and innovative new methods for Higher Education Institution (HEI) - company cooperation. With a budget of about one million euros, the project brings together five universities and seven companies from five European countries with strong expertise and experience in different fields. JAMK University of Applied Sciences is the main partner of the project. Seventeen associated partners from six European countries follow the progress of the project, utilise the results and take part in some project activities. In the HEIBus project, there are eight work packages, which are 1) Management, 2) Best practices of HEI-company cooperation, 3) Multidisciplinary student-level real-life problem solving, 4) Expert-level real-life problem solving, 5) Flexible student mentoring by companies, 6) Quality assurance, 7) Evaluation and 8) Dissemination & exploitation. The HEIBus project focuses on strengthening the collaboration between HEIs and companies by creating new innovative cooperation models. These models facilitate the involvement of students and staff from HEIs in international Research & Development & Innovation (R&D&I) projects proposed by companies

Bridging the gap between Higher Education Insitutions and companies. The HEIBus cooperation models

Currently, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and companies around the world are experiencing a renewed interest in strengthening their forms of cooperation. There are many benefits to be gained by boosting this partnership. Employment opportunities, exchange of knowledge and the development of new teaching and learning methodologies are direct advantages for all those involved in this cooperation. This paper presents an overview of the existing cooperation models between different actors: HEIs student-company and HEIs expert-company. In addition, models where companies are directly involved in HEI education are also searched and analysed. It is to be noted that this work is framed within the context of the Smart HEI-Business collaboration for skills and competitiveness (HEIBus) project. The HEIBus is an Erasmus + Knowledge Alliances 2 (KA2) project with a budget of about one million euros and a duration of 36 months. Five European universities and seven companies with strong expertise and experience in different fields are taking part in this project. HEIBus focuses on strengthening the collaboration between HEIs and companies by creating new innovative cooperation models. These models are also detailed in this work

The NextGEng Project: First Steps of an International Co-Teaching Experience

International co-teaching refers to a teaching arrangement in which two or more teachers, at least one from a domestic university and at least one from an international university, work together to teach a student group. One of the main lines of action of the International Cooperation Framework for Next Generation Engineering Students project (NextGEng) is aligned with this educational model. This paper describes the design and preparation of team teaching activities for successfully implementing the co-teaching pilot program