[2014] EoE Cluj-Napoca

This Summer is Canicular Go Extracurricular!

Cluj-Napoca

23rd July - 1st of August

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Writers Andrei-Alexandr Danilov Cristina Benito Marija Stanojevic Yury Smirnov

Design Pedro Cardoso

Contact

Cristina Benito Cristina.Benito.Lopez@BEST.eu.org

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Thank You

We would like to express our gratitude to the professors, experts, organisations, institutions and volunteers that supported and made possible the event: • Anne-Marie Jolly and SEFI, the European Society for Engineering Education, for providing valuable input to the symposium and the dissemination of the outcomes.

• Ana Agante Lucas and IST Lisbon for the interest shown towards the Symposium and for the ideas brought up to the discussion • Dorin Stanciu, for all the support provided for the event and the willingness to share his knowledge with all the participants • Jelle Dikker, for bringing the positive energy, spirit and ideas from ESTIEM as their representative • Torjo Nicolae and his almighty core team for putting their energy, motivation, time and every part of their souls into making this event happen • Local BEST Group Cluj-Napoca and its members for the motivation to host this Symposium and the desire to make a change • Technical University of Cluj-Napoca for the academical and the logistical support and for the trust in BEST as an organisation • Participants, for the ideas, the creativity and the energy that they provided in order for this Event to bring new outcomes to light • Endika Bengoetxea and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology for the interest and information provided in order to make the event happen • LSRS, for the eagerness for sharing its personal experience as a student NGO The Facilitator Team

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Table of Contents

Introduction 5 BEST 6 The Event 8 Facilitator Team 9 Speakers and Contributors 10 Participants 12 Schedule 14 Main topics 15 The Sessions 17 Working Methods during Sessions 18 Session Topics 20 Conclusion 32

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Introduction

From 24th until 31st of July, 21 students from all over Europe gathered together for a BEST Educational Symposium in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The main aim of the event was to bring together young and passionate students from all over Europe to discuss about European engineering education in an open and creative atmosphere.

The event was organised by the Local BEST Group Cluj-Napoca, member of Board of European Students of Technology, in cooperation with the Educational Committee of BEST. Sessions were held at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, supported both by BEST facilitators and international organisation and institutions.

During the two weeks of the event we exchanged ideas and visions, catalyse the creation of self-development projects by inspired youth, as well as articulate proposals on the following key topics: • Soft skills • Self-development of students • Innovative learning methods

Together with different stakeholders and experts on the topics, participants defined the profile of the modern engineer and how the European engineering education needs to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century.

Furthermore, during the Symposium the participants had the opportunity to be part of a common platform for sharing and be encouraged to strive for their future, both as students and engineers.

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BEST

Board of European Students of Technology is a non-governmental, non-profit and apolitical student organisation. BEST strives to help European students of technology to become more internationally minded, by reaching a better understanding of European cultures and developing capacities to work in an international environment. BEST perceives students as one of the major actors in the development of education. In this way BEST has been striving to bring the development of European Education closer to students.

Today, BEST is present in 33 countries with a total of 95 active local BEST groups and a total of more than 3.300 vibrant and competent young engineering students who believe in technology and different ways of thinking.

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BEST believes that engineering is the future and wants to contribute to it. BEST is adding value to the environment we are part of - putting European universities on the map, connecting students with our partners and closing the gap between students, companies and universities.

BEST understands that the world is changing and is taking the challenge to lead students through those changes by fulfilling its purpose. What’s more, BEST is not standing idle but looking into what we can still do together.

BEST Educational Involvement is a service that BEST offers to technical students all over Europe. It creates a platform for raising awareness of students on educational matters and to provide impartial input of students to the stakeholders of European engineering education.

Events on Education were created as an attempt to raise awareness and involve students in the process of European engineering education improvement.

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The Event

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Ma r Be ija S lgr t ad ano j e, Se evic rbi a

Cr Ba istin rce a B lon en i a, Sp to ain

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Facilitator Team

Speakers and Contributors

Prof. Anne-Marie Jolly, Societé Européenne pour la Formation des Ingenieurs (SEFI)/ European Society for Engineering Education

SEFI is the largest network of institutions of higher engineering education, individuals, associations and companies in Europe, contributing to the improvement of engineering curricula in Europe. SEFI connects over 1 million students and 158000 academic staff members in 47 countries.

Ana Lucas, Gabinete de Apoio ao Tutorado and Conselho de Gestão Instituto Superior Técnico Lisboa (IST)

Since its creation in 1911, Instituto Superior Técnico is the largest and most reputed school of Engineering, Science and Technology and Architecture in Portugal. IST aims to give students and alumni the education and the knowledge tools to improve, to change and to shape society through science, technology, and entrepreneurship. With approximately 11.000 students, it offers more than 30 graduate programs in engineering, architecture and mathematics. IST participates, among others, in CLUSTER and SEFI academic networks.

Prof. Dorin Stanciu, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Head of Psychology and Pedagogy Department

The Technical University of Cluj- Napoca is one of the eight institutions of higher education in Cluj-Napoca, the second largest, obtaining a “high level of trust” qualification after the Romanian Agency For Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS) quality assessment, specialised in the education and training of the engineers and the technical staff.

The University has nine faculties, almost 650 academic staff members, researchers and technicians, as well as more than 12000 students.

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Jelle Dikker, European Students of Industrial Engineers and Management (ESTIEM)

ESTIEM is a student’s organisation which combines technological understanding with management skills. Founded in 1990, ESTIEM was established in order to connect IEM (Industrial Engineering and Management) students all over Europe and provide them with a unique platform.

Their goal is to establish and foster relations between students across Europe and to support them in their personal and professional development. Their network consists of 75 Local Groups in 29 countries, reaching up to 60 000 students. BEST and ESTIEM are partner organisations.

Alina Bota, Vice President of League of Romanian Students Abroad (LSRS)

LSRS is a non-profit, non-governmental, politically neutral organisation led by Romanian students and graduates of universities around the world. LSRS is grouping Romanians who want to study, are studying, or have studied abroad. The main goal of LSRS is to develop the community of Romanian students and graduates of universities around the world.

Prof. Endika Bengoetxea, European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is a body of the European Union based in Budapest, Hungary. It was established by the European Parliament in 2008. It became operational in 2010 in its premises of the EIT Headquarters.

EIT’s mission is to increase European sustainable growth and competitiveness; reinforce the innovation capacity of the EU Member States; and create the entrepreneurs of tomorrow and prepare for the next innovative breakthroughs.

Radu Ilieș, Toastmasters International

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organisation that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations.

Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, the organisation has more than 292.000 memberships in more than 14.350 clubs in 122 countries.

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Participants Danilo Radovic Vienna, Austria

Zdeněk Slegl Prague, Czech Republic

Vienna University of Technology

Czech Technical University in Prague

Gianluca Annunziata Naples, Italy

Daniele Paratore Rome, Italy

University of Naples “Federico II”

Sapienza University of Rome

Diogo Caldas de Oliveira Lisbon, Portugal

Natalia Suder Krakow, Poland AGH-UST University of Science and Technology

New University of Lisbon

Kristina Sarcevic Novi Sad, Serbia

Dorota Feketeova Kosice, Slovakia

University of Novi Sad

Technical University of Kosice

Manuel Docavo Barreneche a-Moxó Madrid, Spain Technical University of Madrid

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Paula Martinez Urios Madrid, Spain Technical University of Madrid

Vanja Vargek Aachen, Germany

Alexandros Bellos Patras, Greece

RWTH Aachen University of Technology

University of Patras

Justyna Modzelewska Warsaw, Poland

Anna Stachowak Wroclaw, Poland

Warsaw University of Technology

Wroclaw University of Technology

Marija Radicevic Belgrade, Serbia

Milena Tihojevic Novi Sad, Serbia

University of Belgrade

University of Novi Sad

Janja Merkac Ljubljana, Slovenia

Miguel de la Iglesia Madrid, Spain

University of Ljubljana

Carlos III University of Madrid

UÄ&#x;ur Saymaz Isparta, Turkey

Daria Koshova Kiev, Ukraine

Suleyman Demirel University

National Technical University of Ukraine

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Schedule

Thursday, 24th July 2014 Public speaking and feedback introduction by Andrei-Alexandr. Danilov, BEST European context of Soft- skills and Innovation teaching methods by prof. Anne-Marie Jolly, SEFI Friday, 25th July 2014 Preparing students to be students by Ana Lucas, IST Lisbon Monday, 28th July 2014 Profile of a modern engineer by Yury Smirnov, BEST Personal and Professional development by prof. Dorin Stanciu, TUC Tuesday, 29th July 2014 Personal Development Planning by Marija Stanojevic, BEST Importance of the involvement in student NGOs by Alina Bota, LSRS and Jelle Dikker, ESTIEM Wednesday, 30th July 2014 Gap between academia and industry by Andrei-Alexandr. Danilov and Cristina Benito, BEST Bologna process and Erasmus+ by Marija Stanojevic, BEST

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Main topics Soft skills

The profile of the modern engineer requires a set of specific project-oriented skills and a corresponding mindset. In order to be prepared to work in a multinational environment some changes in the curriculum should be implemented. Including ‘soft skills’ into the studying programme could increase students’ employability and would allow companies to reduce training expenses on certain qualifications.

The list of all soft skills is long and so are their perspectives/potential. By implementing them into the engineering education we can assure better prepared students and, in the future, better employers. Furthermore, young engineers would have developed a certain mindset that would help them not just in their career, but also in their everyday lives, thus developing them as persons.

Self-development of students

The engineering and technology sectors have long recognised the importance of soft skills for successful career development. Higher Education programmes sometimes provide minimal support for the personal and professional development processes, which encourage student awareness and definition of these skills

There can be a tendency to regard reflection and self-analysis as low priority, yet students readily acknowledge their need for support in gaining a clearer understanding of personal strengths and qualities, and presenting themselves more effectively to others. By Lifelong learning programmes (as officially used in EU) the students can improve the capacity of individuals to understand what and how they are learning, and to review, plan and take responsibility for their own learning.

Innovative educational methods

Innovation is the key to growth, competitiveness and social well-being in the 21st century.

The capacity of a society to innovate is crucial in an ever more knowledge-intensive economy.

It is still a great challenge to realise innovative methods in curricula. Innovative methods in engineering education combine theory, academic methods and professional practice. Using innovative didactic concepts in education is an excellent method to prepare students for the labor market. Therefore, the reorganisation of the curricula and the continuing didactical education of the lecturers are necessary.

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The Sessions

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Working Methods during Sessions Learning by doing

A full learning cycle can be considered complete when the presented concepts are put together in a practical manner, by confronting problems and situations. During the event facilitators promoted the idea of Learning by doing as one of the main ways of gaining knowledge or skills: through hands-on experiences, with constant supervision and guidance in order to achieve the expected outcomes.

Students have realised the need to gain knowledge, understand concepts, and apply skills in order to achieve their goals and tasks.

Project-Based Learning (PBL)

PBL is a teaching method in which participants gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, problem, or challenge.

With this methodology participants were able to build a complex Education Planning while building competencies valuable for today’s world, such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity/innovation, which are explicitly assessed together with the results of their work.

Debating

Facilitators used the debate to effectively increase student involvement and participation during sessions. When the debate is used as a framework for learning, it is expected from students to conduct comprehensive research into the topic, gather supporting evidence, engage in collaborative learning, delegate tasks, improve communication skills, and develop leadership and team-skills—all at one go.

Role playing

Role-playing is a valuable teaching and training tool that delivers an immense amount of imprinted learning. This learning is retained and recalled better through the role-play experience.

While it is evolving as a very effective, interactive teaching and training tool, it encourages the use of critical thinking because it involves analysing and problem solving, therefore it can be considered a cognitive learning method.

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Workshops and sharing sessions

A series of small workshops focussed on the various topics of the event set the background for creating a sharing atmosphere.

Within the framework of the workshops, participants discussed and exchanged their univer­sities’ local practices, and as a result gained a deeper understand­ing of different cultures and different educational systems.

Having this information in hand, the participants exchanged information and deepened discussions through different methods that lead to an assembly of best practices and rec­ ommendations.

Presentations

Within the timeframe of different sessions, participants were asked to sustain their ideas in a presentation, either individual or in groups. In order to prepare a presentation, participants needed to put their ideas in a logical order, so as to be able to share and explain them in front of the audience and to keep their attention and interest.

Learning café

The participants were divided into different groups; each of them had been initially assigned a different topic or questions to develop. After a certain amount of time, the groups rotated so that each of the symposium topics was taken into discussion by all the groups. This was done always iteratively, by building on the ideas discovered by the previous groups.

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Session Topics European Context of Soft-Skills and Innovative Teaching Methods Introduction

The goal of the session was to provide a better overview of soft-skills education in the curricula and of new teaching practices. During the session ideas were gathered from students on innovative teaching methods.

Methods

In first part of the session professor Jolly used a regular presentation method to inform students about most recent discussions, problems and ideas regarding inclusion of soft-skills and innovative teaching methods in higher education. Students had an opportunity to ask questions and clarify the topic, which made a good basis for the second part of the session in which students discussed and shared experiences they have from their universities.

Outcomes

Discussion among students delivered the next conclusions and outcomes: • Difference among soft-skills consideration in technical universities is variable around Europe and it goes from universities which offers soft-skills courses (usually as optional) to those which discourage students to take extracurricular activities (because they are time-consuming) in order to develop soft-skills. • Most of the students are getting soft-skills through extracurricular activities (mainly organised by student organisations) or during work in groups on university projects. • Tutoring (by professor) and mentoring (by older student) programs are important and it is best to use them together; Students who receive credits for extra-curricular activities Students experiencing soft skills in University (extra-curricular) Students have a tutoring or mentoring program in the University Conclusions

The session helped students understand how important soft-skills are and what innovative methods are used in the education system. They argued that implementation of these is very low in their university. Still, how and what methods/soft-skills are available depends a lot on university and students had very different experiences.

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Preparing students to be students

Introduction

The goal of the session was to gather ideas from students on innovative teaching methods in order to prepare students to be students, come up with good teaching practices and find out the importance of soft skills. The discussion was encouraged by sharing real experiences from IST (Pro-active teaching; Practical teaching (assignments); Inclusive teaching (involve students); Motivational teaching; Student-oriented teaching ).

Methods

The input was gathered through discussion and sharing during the presentation made by Ana Lucas. In addition, there was a case study when participants came up with the ideas on how to implement soft skills into the curricula.

Outcomes

The outcomes of this session are divided in three main areas: Soft skills, Innovative methods and pedagogical methods.

During the part referring to soft skills, participants expressed that they should be implemented during the studies, before the graduation and came with suggestions to implement them: • Give optional tasks which require soft skills for extra points • Encourage extracurricular activities • Assign students with group tasks • Invite people from companies to make interviews/case studies • Evaluate working methods of a project • Combine language learning with soft skills, adding more case studies • Encourage creativity • Interaction with other courses (e.g. business/marketing) • Mandatory internships

Participants emphasis in the importance of innovative teaching methods, with the ideas of: to make students interested what is needed to define objectives of the course, to ensure a background on the topic and keep teacher’s learning process continuously and to implement evaluation of the teacher.

Regarding the third part, improving pedagogical methods, participants described some tasks for professors, such as: Align the syllabus to the objectives; be available for students and give feedback on time.

Conclusions

Participants shared experiences on teaching methods at their universities and came up with ideas how to implement soft skills into the curricula taking into consideration IST practises.

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Profile of a modern engineer Introduction

The modern engineer faces new challenges and the changing environment requires certain abilities like being capable to work in multinational teams, being strong in virtual work and eager to self develop. The main purpose of the session was to complete the list of requirements for modern engineers as a consequence for challenges which they face nowadays and reasons behind these challenges.

Methods

Discussion and learning café. Participants were divided into four groups (each for software, civil, power and mechanical engineers). At first they wrote down the list of challenges faced by the engineers of a certain branch with the next group completing this list with skills required to overcome challenges mentioned by first group.

Outcomes

Despite the fact that teams described the routine of the engineers daily tasks and set requirements for different engineers they came up with the list which had many certain common skills, defined below: • Being open for multicultural engineering • Being responsible (open-minded) • Being creative • Having global overview • Being flexible • Being ready for competition and cooperation • Being efficient • Being eager to develop yourself and learn • Being eco-friendly • Being a leader but also teamwork player lifelong • Being accurate • Being innovative/specialised • Having problem-solution oriented skills • Being multidisciplinary • Having analytical skills • Having soft skills • Having research skills • Possessing transversal knowledge Conclusions

Participants thought of the job requirements from a different side understanding the tasks they may need to solve as engineers and the skills needed to succeed with them.

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Personal and Professional Development Introduction

The purpose of the session was to develop the abilities to plan efficiently strategies and techniques for personal and professional development and self-assessment.

Methods

Dorin Stanciu, professor at the Psychology Department of the University Cluj-Napoca, delivered a lecture regarding personal development from the viewpoint of psychology and self-assessment as first and most important step in this process. He used regular presentation as learning method, but participants had the opportunity to ask questions and get broader knowledge about the topic.

Conclusions

Participants got to know about personal development, tools offered and importance of selfassessment.

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Personal Development Planning (PDP) Introduction

The goal of the session was to learn about the PDP circle and discuss about the best balance between studies, non-formal education and practice.

Methods

During this session three facilitation techniques were used in order to involve participants the most and get the best outcomes. Using the learning cafe method students were divided into four groups to discuss activities for personal development offered or missing at their university.

Also, they discussed about balance between all possible activities which could help them develop the most during studying. Participants were divided into 4 groups with 5 people and each group discussed about one topic for 15 minutes, then groups switched to another topic. In the end all the groups had the opportunity to contribute to all the topics. In order to share the results of learning cafe, participants presented the outcomes of the last topic they discussed. In the second part of the session the students took part in an individual exercise to make their individual planning of personal development.

Outcomes

The learning cafe method brought many outcomes regarding balance of different activities during studies.

• • • • •

Students appreciate and value PDP activities offered during the university such as: Personal projects (especially during 1st year of studies) Mentoring (by older students) and tutoring (by professors) programs Workshops on time management, study technics, entrepreneurship, CV writing and interviews Language, software and other complementary courses Probationary interviews with companies with feedback, meetings with employers, company visits and job fairs • Internships/studies around Europe • Debate competitions, drama clubs and science fairs

• • • • •

Students would like to have the following possibilities offered during the studies: Mandatory case study sessions Incubators for start ups provided by the universities Workshops on soft skills – presentation, public speaking Self-assessment sessions and PDP counselor More exchange programs

The biggest problem in this discussion was that, depending on Universities, students have different activities available, so it was difficult to put them in one of these two fields, because some students at universities have certain opportunities which others don’t offer. Therefore, the lists should rather be considered together as opportunities students are expecting to find while studying.

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Participants discussed study balance with focus on balance between optional versus mandatory and practical versus theoretical courses. The main problems they identified are: • Unbalanced groups at optional courses and some optional courses have limited number of places • Different difficulty levels makes students take easier courses • Professors care less about optional courses; these are not that much appreciated • Optional course are not integrated in the schedule • Students don’t understand why to learn theory; also, sometimes practical and theoretical part of studies are not related • In many universities theoretical studies are the focus of the studies and practical studies are not covered enough

Students suggested improvements for the current system: • Promote unpopular courses and give the same amount of credits for mandatory and optional courses • Practical and theoretical classes should be on the same day or should be logically connected in some way • More time should be spent in laboratories and at practical lessons • There should be more real life examples and problems included • Professors should explain the purpose of the theoretical part

While talking about balance between university and students’ work/internships participants recognised the following problems: • Companies don’t give enough attention and don’t make appropriate tasks for interns • Universities doesn’t recognise internships and/or they are not part of the curriculum • It’s hard to find companies which offer appropriate internships; especially paid ones • Students need very good time management; there is lack of time for doing internships • Lack of information about internships

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Suggestions for improvement students have are: • Companies which hire should have more internships and could then choose their next employees from the interns; This will motivate students and be useful for companies; • University has to approve and recognise internships; • It would be nice if companies would offer at least small payment for internships; • Internships should be compulsory for students and a final report should be required; • Universities should make partnerships with companies and offer a list to students: this will ensure that practice is appropriate and also help students find internships easier.

Balance between university and extracurricular activities (complementary courses, work in NGOs, volunteering) has the following problems from students’ point of view: • Lack of time (students have to prioritise) and lack of motivation (it is not recognised anywhere) • Universities sometimes discourage students to take part in such activities • There is not enough information about these opportunities

• • • •

Participants suggested following improvement ideas: Credits (recognition) for extracurricular activities Recommendation for activities that fit your profile Increasing teachers’ involvement in extracurricular activities A legal acknowledgment of volunteering (by state)

• • • • • • •

Students think that all these activities are going to influence them in the following ways: Help them like the studies more and focus on what they prefer Personalise careers Balance knowledge and skills they get during the university See practical application of theory; Get practice and experience Improve soft skills: communication, organisation, time management Improve their CV and job opportunities Learning in a different way (informally)

In the part of the session where PDP was discussed further, students mentioned that they never did PDP and just one of 21 of them has a PDP counselor at university. Some of them have thought about their future and PDP but never put them on paper or discussed them with someone, while others pick courses and PDP activities they find without selecting. They haven’t thought about PDP ever and the way they choose courses is almost random, so they highly depend on the information they receive in their environment. The difference between participants who have thought about PDP and those who didn’t is very visible and it influences their motivation for participating in sessions.

Conclusions

Students had the opportunity to discuss balance between different activities offered at universities. They realised how important that is for appropriate personal development. The biggest problem is that activities and studies differ a lot among universities, so it was hard to make conclusions which are be valid for all the universities.

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Importance of involvement in student NGOs Introduction

Working in NGOs is a unique experience which allows students to be involved in different projects, gain skills and meet new friends. However, the students’ engagement in NGOs and its influence cause different opinions. The aim of this session is to hear real experience and show participants how they can benefit from NGOs. Methods

The session was a lecture which ended with round of questions and answers where participants shared their different experiences coming from different backgrounds, which resulted into making a list of ‘values’ and ‘gains’.

Outcomes

During the session participants came with values and gains from being part of a students’ NGO: • Values: Possibility to make a real change; Influence on society; Productivity; Opportunity to give and get help; Learning; Making networks.

• Gains: Social skills; Time-management; Confidence; Leadership; Gaining new friends/ experience; CV improvement; Public speaking; Responsibility; Proactiveness; Creativity; Teamwork; Open mindset.

Conclusions

Participants agreed that working for NGOs can equip students with soft skills, bring amazing memories and uniques experience valuable for the future job.

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Gap between academia and industry Introduction

In an ever-changing environment where each day new technologies are being developed, new processes are being researched, new tools are being brought to light, the engineering industry is fastly adapting to the increasing needs of the market. However, in order for universities to have graduates that are ready to step forward and take challenges in this market, they need to adapt to the daily changes in the industry. We designed this session in order to generate new ideas that are meant to break the gap between Academia and Industry.

Methods

The main part of the session was the debate. For this, participants were split in groups, with different roles in which they needed to prepare: Professors, Students, Companies, University Representatives and a Facilitator. After the debate, they gathered in the same groups as before to sum up their experience with a presentation.

Outcomes

The session itself produced a series of outcomes from all of the stakeholders involved in the process. In the following paragraphs we will describe the ideas developed by the students present in this event, from the perspective of all the entities involved in this process.

The ones identified in the debate as students saw in internships an opportunity to learn and develop more, and they proposed that universities should be able to facilitate the access to internships to all the interested students, as well as consider the idea of providing similar opportunities for professors to be more in contact with what is changing the industry. During the discussion the need of companies for more than hard-skills from the candidates for different job opportunities raised the proposal of including soft skills in the curricula. This could be achieved with additional support from the Ministry of Education that should be part of the regular meetings of the stakeholders involved in shaping the engineering education.

The ones representing companies supported different directions of being present in the students’ development, in order to step over the gap between Academia and Industry. Organising Open Days for both students and professors, providing internships with the possibility of getting a full contract afterwards, being present in Job Fairs or in universities with information desks or just organising informal meetings were ideas that support this. Soft Skills, Innovation or Entrepreneurship are just some areas in which companies could support universities to develop new subjects in their curricula, as well as being able to propose more practical teaching practices to professors for the hard skills.

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The first step brought into discussion by the participants engaged in the University Representatives roles was that a main contact person that connects companies with students should exist, as well as cooperation plans between the Industry and the Academia. As in some universities the financial situation might be an issue, companies should be open to support universities in organising extra-curricular activities that could develop their future employees. The group agreed that the professors are the ones with a huge power to change and fill in this gap, and providing them tools as coaching or innovative teaching methods is a direction to hold on to in the future.

The students in the Professors roles acknowledged the benefits of having courses or shortterm training programs organised by company representatives and they proposed to be involved in the quality assurance part of the content. Also being in contact with different student organisations or directly with students in informal meetings could help them be closer to the needs of students and fulfill their desire to be part of the changing industry environment that surrounds them.

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Bologna process and Erasmus+ Introduction

The goal of the session was to present and discuss about Erasmus+ as a tool for continuing the improvement and modernisation process of education started with the Bologna agreement.

Methods

The main part of the session was the debate. For this, participants were split in groups, with different roles in which they needed to prepare: Professors, Students, Companies, University Representatives and a Facilitator. After the debate, they gathered in the same groups as before to sum up their experience with a presentation.

Outcomes

During the discussions about implementation of Bologna and Erasmus+ programs participants came to the next conclusions: • Only 4 out of 21 participants took part in Erasmus exchange for one semester or two, however, 17 of them plan to participate in Erasmus programs (some of them who already participated) • The Bologna process is not applied everywhere equally and that creates big problems if someone wants to go to other institutions for studies. For example, at some universities the bachelor studies amount to 4 years and the master studies to one year, at other universities it is 3+2, so some students need to study 6 (4+2) if they change university.

• Students still have problems with subject equality and recognition after the exchange programs because universities have different ECTS systems or subjects.

• Flexibility is one of the most important characteristics of Erasmus exchanges, however, it depends on universities, so problems can appear with universities which are not that flexible.

• The Erasmus experience depends a lot on the support received from the host university and community around it (buddy, mentors, exchange offices,…)

Participants got much better overview of Bologna and Erasmus+ programs, values and ideas which motivated them to use opportunities the Erasmus+ program offers.

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Conclusion

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From 24th until 31st of July the BEST Educational Symposium in Cluj-Napoca was inspiring both participants and speakers to take action in the topics of soft skills, self-development and innovative educational methods in Higher education. During this event participants came with new ideas to improve the current European engineering education system.

The working methods used during the event were new for most of the participants. Students appreciated the innovative approach and the fact that methods were interactive. Everyone liked the methods, especially the parts where students were presenting their own outcomes, sharing their ideas and debating. Students also expressed satisfaction with the knowledge they gained, with the topics and the current situation in different European universities.

During the 11 sessions and more than 30 working hours, participants developed two ideas: soft skills need to be students and the ones needed to be engineers. All agreed those skills should be gained during the Higher education, with flexibility to create their own curricula and to gain the needed skills for personal development; all of them can be applied to shape the profile of the modern engineer.

In order to bring in soft skills to European engineering education, to close the gap between University and Industry and to ensure the self-development of students during their studies, participants defined ideas as Mentoring Programs, student-oriented teaching (by case studies, practical work or personal projects providing the tools to face the daily engineer’s challenges), self assessment and counseling - as key actions to ensure and achieve personal goals - and internships - as the practical and hands-on part of the studies that the current curricula doesn’t provide to students.

Other ideas that participants defined during the Symposium in order to innovate the ways of teaching and learning were to extend and support the learning period of the professors by complementary activities as company visits or internships, workshops on soft skills or tutoring programs between them. Also improving pedagogical methods such as online resources, proactive teaching and student-oriented teaching can represent few directions that could improve the mentioned issue, as well as providing recognition of extracurricular activities as a source of developing skills, that is not present currently in universities.

As main conclusion, participants understood the day-to-day engineer’s and student’s needs, which are not currently in the European engineering curricula. In order to improve these skills, new teaching and learning methods should be defined, including soft skills and self-development of students; furthermore, the collaboration between the three main stakeholders needs an innovative change in order to assure the full preparation of the students and of the future workers.

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