1/ 2014
European Society for Engineering Educa on
Europäische Gesellscha für Ingenieur-Ausbildung
Société Européenne pour la Forma on des Ingénieurs
News@SEFI
The SEFI Bulle n Issue 11
SEFI ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2015 MARK THE DATE !!!
DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS SUBMISSION 19 JANUARY 2015 www.seﬁ.be
news@SEFI
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IN THIS ISSUE
SEFI ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2015 CALL FOR PAPERS
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FROM SEFI AND ITS MEMBERS
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On our agenda CALL FOR ORGANISERS SEFI CONFERENCES 2017 AND 2018
Engineering Leaders for Grand Challenges Conference University Engineering Educa on and Skills for Innova on, Entrepreneurship and Crea vity
TU Berlin launches an interdisciplinary “orienta on year” 3TU.CEE: Outcomes of Kick-oﬀ Workshops
Kick-oﬀ mee ng of EPICES Strategic Partnership Project
Kick-oﬀ mee ng of ReadySTEMgo Strategic Partnership Project
FROM PARTNERS
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FEANI European Engineers’ Day
PUBLICATIONS
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CALENDAR
8
INTERNATIONAL PRESS REVIEW
9
European Union
Moocs
New trends
European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes
SEFI oﬀers its gra tude for the con nuous support of its Corporate Partners news@SEFI
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Polytech Orléans (F) the School of Engineering of the University of Orléans
29 June-2 July 2015
“Diversity in engineering educa on: facing new trends in engineering” Sub themes
Innova ve pedagogical approaches to improve engineering educa on
Diversity in engineering educa on and of engineering ins tu ons
Gender and diversity in innova on teams in engineering educa on
Diversity and inclusion as business cases in technical research
Engineering educa on as a vector for social advancement
MARK THE DATES !!!
Abstract submission: 19 January 2015
No ﬁca on of acceptance: 23 March 2015
Final paper submission: 27 April 2015
Deadlines and instruc on for authors on www.seﬁ2015.com
Contact: seﬁ[email protected]
Topics
Eco design in engineering educa on
Educa on concepts speciﬁc for engineering educa on
Engineering educa on research
Inclusive design in engineering educa on
Language issues in engineering educa on
Learning speciﬁc formats for engineering educa on
Mathema cs and engineering educa on
New learning concepts for engineering educa on
New educa on tools for engineering educa on
Physics and engineering educa on
Student as key actors in EE change process Clustering diﬀerent types of engineering schools
Entrepreneurship and engineering educa on
Ethics in engineering educa on
Industry and engineering educa on Integra on of research in engineering educa on
The importance of the Internships
Specialized versus generic engineering educa on
A rac veness of engineering educa on (K-12, Primary and secondary) Con nuing and lifelong learning engineering educa on
Diversity in engineering educa on
Gender in engineering educa on
Retaining women to engineering
Curriculum development
Employability of engineering graduates
Informa on and communica on technologies
Open and distance learning - MOOCS
Globaliza on of EE
Student interna onal coopera on
Accredita on of engineering educa on
Biology and engineering educa on
Quality assurance engineering educa on
Sustainability of engineering educa on
University - business: coopera on and inspira on
…
Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings (ISBN)
We look forward to your par cipa on!
news@SEFI
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FROM SEFI AND ITS MEMBERS
On our agenda
If there are only a few weeks le before the holiday season, SEFI has s ll numerous ac vi es and events ahead. Regarding internal ma ers, SEFI had a Bureau Mee ng on December 1st, and a mee ng of the Board of Directors will take place on December 10th as well as an Extraordinary General Assembly of SEFI and an Extraordinary General Assembly of EEDC, as was already announced in our previous newsle er. The coming weeks have been and will also be ac ve on an interna onal level, as SEFI President Kamel Hawwash has par ci-‐
pated to the 2014 Engineering Educa on Festa, organised by the Korea Ins tute for the Advancement of Technology and Korea Associa on for Engineering Educa on Innova on, under the theme of "Engineering, A Bright Future, a Happy World". It will feature various exhibi ons and conference experience programs with a focus on 7 keywords: crea vity, convergence, entrepreneurship, community service, harmony, sharing and passion.
SEFI Secretary General, Françoise Côme, represented the Society at the WEEF 2014 in Dubai, held under the theme “Engineering Educa on for a Global Community”. The World Engineering Educa on Forum – WEEF 2014 – included over 70 mul disciplinary sessions, bringing together the world most renowned experts to address the latest innova on, advances, technology, issues and challenges in engineering educa on. A full report will be circulated in the next issue of the SEFI new-‐
sle er.
Immediate past Vice-President Xavier Fouger will also represent SEFI at the ICTIEE 2015 (January 5-8) in Bangalore, India. The vision of the second Interna onal Conference on Transforma ons in Engineering Educa on is to bring engineering edu-‐
cators from across the world to share best prac ces for preparing engineering graduates who will be leaders in addressing global challenges. As we are entering the last month of the year, we would also like to invite you to check about your membership, and make sure it is paid, as non-payment will result in the end of membership beneﬁts. SEFI is a non-proﬁt organisa on that relies only on its Members to ensure its func oning. All Members that did not pay their yearly fees take the risk of loosing membership beneﬁts and fac-‐
ing exclusion in 2015. CALL FOR ORGANISERS
SEFI CONFERENCES 2017 AND 2018
SEFI Members interested in organising the society’s annual conferences in 2017 and 2018 are invited to express their interest as soon as possible to the SEFI HQ.
An oﬃcial call will be launched a er the Board of Directors Mee ng on 10/12/2014, which will include the oﬃcial documenta on to be provided for an eligible candidature.
For more informa on please contact info@seﬁ.be Engineering Leaders for Grand Challenges Conference President Kamel Hawwash a ended and addressed the Engineering Leaders for Grand Challenges conference in Doha, Qa-‐
tar 11-13 November .
The conference a racted more than 300 speakers and par cipants from 26 countries on six con nents. The conference program catered to engineering educators while oﬀering career development training for STEM teachers and industry pro-‐
news@SEFI
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fessionals.
President Hawwash’s speech was en tled ‘the challenges of preparing engineers for grand challenges’. He was the main speaker at the Gala Banquet and he succeeded in provoking the audience to think strategically about the challenges engi-‐
neering educators face, looking at these as they pertain to the diﬀerent stakeholders. Many of the themes discussed at the conference are of interest to SEFI members and it is hoped that some of the par cipants will join the SEFI Conference in Orleans in June/July 2015 to further develop their ideas and share eﬀec ve prac ce.
University Engineering Educa on and Skills for Innova on, Entrepreneurship and Crea vity
SEFI and its President Kamel Hawwash , on the ini a ve of its Vice-President A.Moropoulou, is pleased to invite you to the event “University Engineering Educa on and Skills for Innova on, Entrepreneurship and Crea vity” to be held in Athens on Tuesday December 16th 2014. The event is co-organized by NTUA (Carrier and Employability Structure),
Municipality of Athens, TCG, NTPs, SEFI and OECD.
During the workshop, leading experts from Engineering Educa on, Interna onal Associa ons, Technical Chambers, In-‐
dustry, Construc on Sector and local authori es will discuss on global problems, trends and policies on “University Engi-‐
neering Educa on and Skills for Innova on, Entrepreneurship and Crea vity”, aiming at strengthening and fostering Acade-‐
mia connec on with the local labor market and the knowledge alliance with industry, by integra ng Educa on and Em-‐
ployability of Engineers with Sustainable Development requirements.
More informa on on the event available on www.seﬁ.be/?p=5236
TU Berlin launches an interdisciplinary “orienta on year” From 2015, ﬁrst-year undergraduates at TU Berlin will have an op on to start studying without choosing a degree subject. A new “orienta on year” will include a class in entrepreneurship, and coursework ﬂexibility will give students more responsi-‐
bility for their choices.
Over the past ten years, Germany’s “excellence ini a ve” has pumped €1.9 billion to leading universi es, helping bolster outstanding scien ﬁc research – a move that has helped develop elite creden als in key ﬁelds and increase the interna onal visibility of German universi es. But many have been slow to embrace interdisciplinary studies and innova ve curricula adapted to 21st-century careers, says Chris an Thomsen, president of the Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin).
Thomsen, a professor of physics and former dean of the Faculty of Mathema cs and Natural Sciences, began rethinking the university’s approach to science educa on during in his me as dean. In 2009, he introduced a new interdisciplinary degree on a limited basis called “natural sciences in the informa on society,” including coursework in maths, chemistry, physics and computer science. Interes ngly, Thomsen says, 50 per cent of the interdisciplinary degree students are women – an unusually high percentage given that only 30 per cent of students at TU Berlin are women – and a great plus for boos ng the number of women studying maths and science. (…)
In 2012, Thomsen introduced an orienta on year in the STEM ﬁelds – science, technology engineering and maths. The op-‐
on gives ﬁrst year undergraduates the chance broaden their horizons by studying at TU Berlin without choosing a par cu-‐
lar degree subject. In 2012, 70 students enrolled in the STEM orienta on year. One year later, the enrollment shot up to 170, and this year it hit 320.
TU Berlin will broaden the concept of interdisciplinary study beyond the STEM ﬁelds to include economics and humani es. From autumn 2015, ﬁrst years will be given the op on of taking a year of “orienta on study” allowing them to defer the choice of subject and dabble in courses across the university, much as American universi es do. “So you can take courses in civil engineering, physics or philosophy,” says Thomsen, who believes that many new students have li le idea what they want to do in life, and that experimenta on will help students discover where they can best excel. (…)
Full ar cle and more informa on on: www.sciencebusiness.net
3TU.CEE: Outcomes of Kick-oﬀ Workshops
The 3TU.CEE is a centre in which the three universi es of technology of Eindhoven, Twente and Del are joining forces and above all combining their knowledge of innova on in engineering educa on, the launch of the center was the occasion to news@SEFI
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hold wokshops on Design Thinking in educa on and new feedback methods for future engineers. The 3TU.CEE is now sharing the outcomes of this day on: h p://www.3tu.nl/cee/en/events/cee-kick-oﬀ-event/summarykickoﬀ/
For more informa on on this ini a ve: www.3tu.nl/cee/en/
Kick-oﬀ mee ng of EPICES Strategic Partnership Project
On November 25th, SEFI HQ hosted the kick-oﬀ mee ng of the project EPICES - European Pla orm for Innova on and Col-‐
labora on between Engineer Students, bringing together the Project Partners, SUPMECA - Ins tut Supérieur de Méca-‐
nique de Paris (Project coordinator), Aalto University, KU Leuven, Riga Technical University (RTU), Politecnico di Torino (PoliTO), Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV), Universita di Napoli Federico II (UNINA) and SEFI. EPICES is a new Euro-‐
pean Project under the ERASMUS + Programme, started on September 1st 2014.
The purpose of EPICES is to develop a European collabora on on a distance project-based learning framework and method, based on already exis ng and s ll developing technical pla orms, i.e. collabora ve and engineering tools. A special focus will be made on teachers’ role and students’ coaching, from the analysis of what a coach should be in project based learning to training packages for teachers and development of assessment methods. This focus is a key issue to be discussed in order to develop project based learning for engineer students, especially in interna onal and/or industrial context, which requires strong and eﬀec ve collabora on of all actors to success and innovate within the project based learning framework.
In the framework of EPICES, sub-projects will be developed, which will place students in the middle of real industrial Euro-‐
pean at a distance projects, i.e. in the heart of the future job of every current engineer student. These sub-projects will be study cases, study materials, and will allow many feedbacks and intellectual outputs on coaching, teachers’ role and as-‐
sessment issues, which will be the most relevant outputs areas of EPICES.
More informa on can be found on: www.seﬁ.be/?page_id=5113
2014-1-FR01-KA203-008560 Kick-oﬀ mee ng of ReadySTEMgo Strategic Partnership Project
On November 17th, KU Leuven hosted the Kick-oﬀ mee ng of the ReadySTEMgo Strategic Partnership Pro-‐
ject. Led by the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), the project will be carried out by three key partners (Hamburg University of Technology [TUHH], University of Zilina and KU Leuven), three suppor ng partners (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Aalto University, and University of Birmingham) and the European Society for Engineering Educa on (SEFI) as a network partner. This European funded project aims to improve the reten on rates of higher educa on STEM programs by focusing on the academic readiness of incoming STEM-students. We will iden fy among incoming STEM students those that are at high risk of dropout and may thus need addi onal support and we will support those students with the help of interven on pro-‐
grams in the early phase of their studies. To achieve the above goal three diﬀerent objec ves will be realized: Iden ﬁca on of the key STEM skills (objec ve 1). And once these are characterized, exis ng diagnos c tests are selected and their pre-‐
dic ve power will be gauged in order to iden fy with high validity the at-risk students in need of extra support (objec ve 2). Finally, the partners will inves gate which interven on tools can support these at-risk students and will measure the eﬀec veness of current remedia on programs (objec ve 3).
Special a en on will be paid during this project to ﬁrst genera on students (i.e., students who have parents without a de-‐
gree in higher educa on) and the speciﬁc problems they may experience.
The three key partners have prior experience in STEM educa on research and will therefore organize and structure the required research ac vi es. The suppor ng partners will provide addi onal relevant data and organize case studies at their universi es. Our network partner will help to disseminate the results of the project.
More informa on can be found on: h ps://iiw.kuleuven.be/english/readystemgo/
2014-1-BE02-KA200-000462
news@SEFI
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FROM PARTNERS
FEANI European Engineers’ Day
The major subject of the event – which was a ended by 150 par cipants from industry, academia and professional organi-‐
sa ons – focused on “Mobile Engineers build an Innova ve Europe” : the challenges of the engineering profession to meet the expecta ons of society and how EU policies can help the engineering profession to meet these expecta ons. Among the outcomes of the days, the organizing socie es published 5 major points to be acknowledged by the European Ins tu ons, (shortened version follows) :
Engineering solu ons are always designed with economic, safety and func onality considera ons in mind. Many of today’s societal challenges such as sustainability of the environment, aging infrastructures, deployment of innova ve re-‐
newable sources of energy and economic growth are of an interna onal nature. Therefore, interna onaliza on and crossborder recogni on of engineering qualiﬁca ons are important and vital to forge a be er future for society. (…)
By the very nature of their professional and ethical commitment, professional engineers ensure that the public is pro-‐
tected from harm. To do so, professional engineers must possess the relevant underpinning knowledge and maintain their technical and managerial competence so that they can deliver value to their clients in their chosen ﬁeld of endeavor. (…) The importance of quality assessment of their ini al and con nuing educa on needs to be recognized.
(…) Professional regula on, in its varying forms [whether voluntary or statutory], is the mechanism by which the public can be independently assured of an individual engineer’s professional competence and personal commitment to be bound by professional codes of prac ce. (…) Due to the high complexity of engineering services and their technologies, it can be diﬃcult for procuring authori-‐
es to compare the content of oﬀers, which can lead to decisions based on the lowest price only. This may run contrary to the interests and inten ons of the consumer/client and may lead to a lack of quality in the project, unfulﬁlled expecta ons in design and exaggerated unforeseen costs. Therefore, a quality based contract award for engineering services is essen-‐
al (most economically advantageous tender).
Micro-, small- and medium sized enterprises, which employ the majority of European engineers, including civil engi-‐
neers, are at the core of the European economy. The success of the European economy will depend upon our ability to un-‐
lock the poten al of the SME-sector and our endeavors to support engineering entrepreneurship in our countries. (…)
(ENAEE President Bernard Remaud during one of the panel session. More pictures on: h p://www.feani.org/site/index.php?id=314 )
For the complete version of the press release, presenta on and pictures of the event: www.feani.org
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Tackling early leaving from educa on and training in Europe: Strategies, policies and measures
This joint Eurydice/Cedefop report sheds light on early leaving from educa on and training – a serious challenge in many EU countries. The report aims to add value to Member States' individual eﬀorts as well as to the European Commission's endeavours in this area by monitoring developments in the design and implementa on of strategies, policies and measures to combat early leaving and support student lear-‐
ning.
The report is available at : h p://eacea.ec.europa.eu/educa on/eurydice/documents/thema c_reports/175EN.pdf
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2 out of 3 countries in Europe increase their educa on budget according to new Eurydice report
The new National Sheets on Education Budgets in Europe: 2014 reveal that 2 out of 3 countries/regions in Europe are increasing their education budget for 2014 by more than 1 % at current prices. Conversely, only 7 countries decreased their budgets by more than 1 %. Budgets coming from national, regional, local and EU level are considered. It should be noted, however, that not all budget levels are covered in all countries.
More information on: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/facts_and_figures_en.php#budget
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INFORM YOUR DEAN AND COLLEAGUES
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(ECED)
«E
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V
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, 26-27 M
2015
S !!
: 2015.
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CALENDAR
December 2014
1 Brussels, BE
SEFI Bureau Mee ng (Online)
2 Brussels, BE
DAAD Seminar (link)
Jacques Schibler to a end
3-6 Dubai, UAE
World Engineering Educa on Forum 2014—WEEF2014 (link) Françoise Côme to a end
10 Brussels, BE
SEFI Administra ve Council Mee ng 10:00—15:30 SEFI HQ
10 Brussels, BE
ECED Prepara on mee ng with CESAER and UPV
SEFI HQ
16 Athens, GR
University Engineering Educa on and Skills for Innova on, Entrepreneurship and Crea vity Workshop
Antonia Moropoulou and Kamel Hawwash to a end
January 2015
5-8 Bangalore, IN
ICTIEE 2015 (link) Xavier Fouger to a end
10 Brussels, BE
SEFI Extraordinary General Assembly 13:00—13:45 SEFI HQ
10 Brussels, BE
EEDC Extraordinary General Assembly 16:00—16:30 SEFI HQ
SEFI's event or SEFI related event
SEFI’s partners events
news@SEFI
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INTERNATIONAL PRESS REVIEW
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ERASMUS +: Knowledge Alliances and Sector Skills Alliances Info Day
The European Commission and the Educa on, Audiovisual and Culture Execu ve Agency (EACEA) organised an "Info Day" in Brussels to explain the funding opportuni es available under "Knowledge Alliances" and "Sector Skills Alliances". Speakers oﬀered advice and ps on preparing and submi ng proposals as well as providing support with the ﬁnancial as-‐
pects of funding.
A ernoon sessions consisted in results analysis of the previous call, with 230 applica ons for Knowdlege Alliances have been received but only 9 accepted (a 10th is in process). Accepted projects all were graded between between 81 and 96 points on 100, but more than 50 % of applica ons were under the threshold of 70 points. Tips and sgges ons for succesful applica ons were also given. Major issues were mostly due to lacking ra onale, and weak coopera on schemes between the Higher Educa on and the companies.
It has been suggested to applicants to take their me in crea ng a long las ng partnership, and ensure that the project will be sustainable beyond the period of the EU funding.
Videos and presenta ons of the event are available online on h ps://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/events/erasmusplus-knowledge-alliances-and-sector-skills-alliances-infoday_en CEDEFOP Report: Recogni on of skills gained outside school or university is s ll a challenging road to take
Member States s ll have a long way to go to ensure that knowledge, skills and competences that people have acquired out-‐
side school or university are recognized, valued and accepted despite some good progress since 2010,according to a re-‐
cently released report.
The 2014 European Inventory on Valida on of Non-formal and Informal Learning , which covered 33 European countries (EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey), showed that a be er design and implementa-‐
on of eﬀec ve tools to recognise those skills is needed so they can be er contribute to tackling current bo lenecks within the EU labour market.
The sharp increase of structural unemployment in the EU has showed the existence of a massive skills mismatch within the EU labour market. To tackle structural bo lenecks in na onal labour markets, be er skilled and knowledgeable workers are essen al.
People gain knowledge and skills throughout their lives, o en outside the formal educa on and training system. They should be able to demonstrate what they have learned. Yet informa on about how to iden fy, document, assess and cer fy such learning is, in most countries, not easily accessible.
Some of the major challenges iden ﬁed by the report include:
* The low level of awareness regarding the possibili es and poten al value of valida on, especially amongst the general public.
* The social and labour market acceptance of valida on, whilst growing, remainsin many countries lower than the accep-‐
tance of formal educa on.
* The level of bureaucracy and costs involved in valida on are s ll a signiﬁcant barrier to its implementa on in most coun-‐
tries.
* Few countries have comprehensive systems in place. Most systems are collec ons of ini a ves, projects and procedures and there is a lack of coordina on between stakeholders and across sectors. This creates challenges regarding scalability, and the possibility to adopt a long-term and general approach to valida on.
More informa on on: h p://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=2153&furtherNews=yes news@SEFI
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MOOCS
New paper on Instruc onal Quality of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
This paper presents an analysis of instruc onal design quality of 76 randomly selected Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The quality of MOOCs was determined from ﬁrst principles of instruc on, using a course survey instrument. Two types of MOOCs – xMOOCs and cMOOCs – were analysed and their instruc onal design quality was assessed and compa-‐
red. We found that the majority of MOOCs scored poorly on most instruc onal design principles. However, most MOOCs scored highly on organisa on and presenta on of course material. The results indicate that although most MOOCs are wellpackaged, their instruc onal design quality is low. The paper outlines implica ons for prac ce and ideas for future research.
Insight of Prof. Peter Sloep is available on h p://www.scoop.it/t/networked-learning-learning-networks
More informa on on h ps://char ngthelabyrinths.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/instruc onal-quality-of-massive-openonline-courses-moocs/
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Is bigger be er for universi es?
Ambi ous expansion and mergers might sound like the preserve of business leaders – but, for academics and administra-‐
tors, they are increasingly part of university life.
Having been constrained for so long by government quotas, the li ing of the cap on student numbers next year will oﬀer Bri sh universi es the opportunity to expand rapidly if they wish, and to compete more aggressively with other ins tu ons for the brightest and the best – as well as for tui on fee income.
At the same me, some people predict that the new system may leave smaller ins tu ons feeling more vulnerable, promp-‐
ng them to seek security in a merger with a larger ins tu on – as has happened with the expansion of University College London and in Wales at the behest of the Cardiﬀ government.
But expansion is not without its pi alls, and many of the UK’s smaller universi es make a big play of their compact size in the way that they present themselves to prospec ve staﬀ and students.
While there has been considerable research devoted to issues such as class size, the impact of the overall size of ins tu-‐
ons has received less a en on, even though it will increasingly be an area in which universi es have room to manoeuvre. So what are the arguments for and against expansion? And for universi es seeking to grow, what are the pi alls to avoid? (…)
More informa on and full ar cle on: h p://www. meshighereduca on.co.uk/features/feature-is-bigger-be er-foruniversi es/2017113.ar cle
ACA Seminar English-medium instruc on in Europe
A rare phenomenon at the turn of the century, English-medium instruc on (EMI) has become a systemic feature in some European countries, par cularly at the Master level. Even though the growth curve now shows signs of ﬂa ening,Englishtaught programmes have become immensely numerous and popular in the last 15 years. This ACA European Policy Semi-‐
nar will present, amongst other things, the key ﬁndings of ACA`s latest (2014) Europe-wide surveys of this form of tui on and will be held on December 4th 2014. There are some surprises in store. But the seminar will present far more than the recent ACA study. In an opening presenta on, Adrian Veale of the European Commission will tackle the diﬃcult ques on which language - or languages - Europe`s new global outreach strategy (“Europe in the world”) should use to a ract the world`s young talents to Europe`s universi es and colleges. news@SEFI
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One part of the seminar is devoted to linguis c quality issues, which we will a empt to tackle in a `hands-on` manner. Ka-‐
ren Lauridsen, of Aarhus University, is presen ng the results of the Europe-wide project Intluni, which seeks to improve communica on in the class-room - of students and teachers alike. Janina Cünnen, of the University of Freiburg in Germany, is going to present a new cer ﬁcate for those teaching in English. Marjorie Castermans, of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, will showcase this university`s eﬀorts in training professors in an EMI se ng. The seminar will also address a danger o en underrated: the lack of a minimum proﬁciency in the local language, which isolates interna onal students once outside the classroom. This issue has consistently been iden ﬁed as the biggest lan-‐
guage challenge for foreign students in all ACA studies. We will present one or two examples of good prac ce which ad-‐
dress this problem.
This Seminar will end with a provoca ve piece: a speech of by Ulrich Ammon, the highly reputed researcher in sociolinguis-‐
cs and dialectology, who in later life turned his a en on to the trend to publish and to teach in English. We expect him to make a strong case for a qualiﬁed form of mul lingualism. More informa on and registra on h p://www.aca-secretariat.be/index.php?id=768
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European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes
Joint programmes are a hallmark of the European Higher Educa on Area (EHEA). They are set up to enhance the mobility of students and staﬀ, to facilitate mutual learning and coopera on opportuni es and to create programmes of excellence. They oﬀer a genuine European learning experience to students. Joint degrees express the “jointness” also in the awarding of the degree. (…)
The European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes has been developed to ease external quality assurance of these programmes: it deﬁnes standards that are based on the agreed tools of the EHEA, without applying addi onal na onal criteria. This is expected to facilitate integrated approaches to quality assurance of joint programmes, which ge-‐
nuinely reﬂect and mirror their joint character. More informa on and report on: h p://www.ehea.info/news-details.aspx?Ar cleId=365
SEFI is the largest network of higher engineering educa on ins tu ons (HEIs) and educators in Europe. It is an interna onal non-proﬁt organisa on created in 1973 to contribute to the development and improvement of HEE in Europe, to reinforce the posi on of the engineering professionals in society, to promote informa on about HEE and im-‐
prove communica on between teachers, researchers and students, to reinforce the university-business coopera on and to encourage the European dimension in higher engineering educa on. Through its membership composed of HEIs, academic staﬀ, students, related asso-‐
cia ons and companies, SEFI connects over 1 million students and 158000 academ-‐
ic staﬀ members in 48 countries. To reach its goals, SEFI implements diverse ac vi es such as Annual Conferences, Ad hoc seminars/workshops organised by its thema c working groups and com-‐
mi ees, SEFI organises the European Engineering Deans Conven ons, publishes a series of Scien ﬁc publica ons (European Journal of Engineering Educa on) and Posi on Papers, is involved in European projects, cooperates with other major Eu-‐
ropean and interna onal associa ons and interna onal bodies (European Commis-‐
sion, UNESCO, Council of Europe, OECD).
SEFI also par cipated in the crea on of ENAEE, IFEES, EuroPace, IACEE and more recently of the Ins tute for the development of Engineering Academics, IIDEA, and of the European Engineering Deans Council, EEDC.
SEFI aisbl
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Tel: +32 2 502 36 09
Fax: +32 2 502 96 11
info@seﬁ.be
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Editor: SEFI aisbl
Please send your contribu ons for the next issue to info@seﬁ.be before 15th December 2014
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The SEFI newsle er contains informa on about SEFI’s recent ac vi es as well as a sum-‐
mary of the latest stories in higher engineering educa on in Europe and worldwide. News@seﬁ is sent for free to SEFI members. All previous issues are available on www.seﬁ.be “members only”.
All staﬀ and students of an ins tu on, an associa on or a company member of SEFI are en tled to receive free copies of the newsle er. So, in case you know somebody that is interested in a free copy, feel free to contact us.