SEFI Newsletter 12/2016

SEFI ENGINEERING EDUCATION NEWSLETTER

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Dear SEFI members,
This is the last SEFI Newsletter of 2016. We sincerely hope that you have had the best possible year. In this newsletter we will report on some of the latest events but especially focus on what is in the pipeline for 2017.
Before you sit back and read the news in Engineering Education, we would like to thank you, our dear members, for your support in the past year, and we would like the Board of Directors and the Working Group Chairs for their work and finally, the active officers from our partner organizations for the fruitful cooperation. Our special thanks goes also to the organizers of the successful 2016 events, our EU Debate in March, Deans convention in April and the Annual Conference in September. Thank you all, you made SEFI in 2016!
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a successful year 2017 and we look forward to working with you in the new year!

Yours,
SEFI HQ

FROM SEFI

Dynamic 2017 ahead of us!

Annual Conference - Our biggest events are traditionally the Annual Conference. The 2017 conference will take in Terceira, Azores, Portugal on 18-21 September, you may submit your papers here until 19 March!
ECED - European Convention for Engineering Deans will be organized by TU Munich on 3-4 April.
Working Group activities - You may look forward to Physics Teaching in Engineering Education conference in Žilina, SK, which will take place on 18-19 May. Our Working Group on Continuing Engineering Education is considering a new strategic partnership project and its members are now actively exchanging about it. More details may come early next year. Our Working Group on Mathematics is preparing the seminar for 2018 (read below).
SEFI Debate will be organized in Brussels in May, topic of the debate will be announced soon.
Projects - PREFER (Professional Roles and Employability of Future Engineers) EU knowledge alliance project is set to kick off in January. EPICES project will finish on 30 March. All partners are currently working on the final report. Ready STEM Go project continues. SEFI is currently considering joining two new projects in the context of innovation.
ETALEE workshop will be hosted by the Danish network for Engineering Education IUPN at the Southern Danish University (SDU) on 23-24 May. With the support of SEFI and in partnership with NI and QUANSER.
Board of Directors Elections - Call for candidates for Board of Directors and Vice-presidency of SEFI will be announced in March. Elections will take place at the General assembly in Terceira.
New SEFI website and database - In the first semester we would like to launch a new SEFI website and a database of members, which will have a user-friendly interface for you to navigate.

November SEFI Board Meeting

25 November 2016 - SEFI HQ Brussels. Board members from all over the Eurpe gathered in Brussels to discuss and take decisions on the SEFI matters. Since 2015, in the context of our Action Plan and implementation of the 2015-2020 Strategy, each of the Actions became a responsibility of one board member. In this meeting, Dr. Seweryn Spalek was appointed to be the new director responsible for regional activities.
The next board meeting will take place in Copenhagen at the TU Denmark on 5 May.
25/11/2016 Brainstorming at BOD meeting

18th SEFI Mathematics Working Group Seminar in Gothenburg

27-29 June 2016 - Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. The 18th biennial seminar of the Mathematics working group was focused on transition to higher education for traditional and adult learners, learning mathematics through project work, mathematical competencies in web-based learning scenarios and using technology to improve mathematics education.
Amongst the keynote speakers, we had the pleasure of having Tom Lindstrøm, University of Oslo (“Teaching mathematics to students who are not primarily interested in mathematics“.) Jana Madjarova, Chalmers University (“Making the Right Choice”) and Mogens Niss, Roskilde University (“Competency based curricula in mathematics”). Interesting presentation "Mathematics for carousels and roller coaster: Challenging project work for engineering students" by Ann-Marie Pendrill, special guest from Swedish National Resource Centre for Physics Education at Lund university, was followed by practical activities at the famous amusement park Liseberg, where participants could test presented ideas and experience in motivating students in practice.
More information on the event and the invitation to the next seminar in Coimbra 2018 can be consulted at our website in an article by the WG chair, Daniela Velichova, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

PhD. candidates in Engineering Education
The PREFER project is set to kick off on 1 January 2017. It will be a EU Knowledge Alliance project coordinated by KU Leuven including universities, industry and other stakeholders (SEFI, FEANI,...) in the engineering profession within the Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium.
KU Leuven and TU Delft are looking for PhD candidates in the field of engineering education as part of a Knowledge Alliance on the Professional Roles and Employability of Future Engineers in the Erasmus+ programme. For more details please refer to job adverts at: KU Leuven website and TU Delft website

DO NOT MISS!

Editor in Chief

EJEE
We are looking for an Editor in Chief of the European Journal of Engineering Education. You may apply until 31 January 2017!

FROM SEFI MEMBERS

Enhancing your mechatronics lab
Increasingly engineering education can no longer focus on a singular domain area. Complex systems that combine electrical circuits, controllers, mechanical sub-systems and heavy computational power means that students need to be educated in what were previously separate engineering disciplines. It is at the intersection of many of these areas that we have seen the development of the field of mechatronics.
The NI ELVIS RIO Control Module brings the industrial standard NI Reconfigurable I/O architecture to the NI ELVIS teaching lab station, enabling students to learn and apply concepts in mechatronics, robotics, hardware-in-the loop and power systems.
The surrounding ecosystem including the Qnet Mechatronics Systems Board and Qnet Energy Conversion Board provides all new ways to bring engaging and exciting experiments into the laboratory.
See full article for a Complete Mechatronics Laboratory Experience.

FROM OUR PARTNERS

The Global Engineering Education Leader Conference
5-7 December 2016 - Shenzen, China. The new University SUSTech (Southern University of Science and technology) organized together with UNESCO , GEDC and IFEES this manifestation. It was founded in 2012 and has the ambition to lead the higher education reform in China and serve as a test ground for building high-level research universities through innovation while supporting the sustainable development of China. Many deans (many of which SEFI 's EEDC Deans) had been invited to present their vision on innovation and innovative pedagogies in an interactive way (for example, we had to play with Lego!); this was a good occasion to see the very different levels on universities on that subject and encourage cooperation with SEFI.
SEFI was represented by Prof. A. M. Jolly, French Commission des Titres, and by Prof. Manfred Hampe, TU Darmstadt. We thank Prof. Anne-Marie Jolly for this article.

SEFI BEST Cooperation

SEFI has been in contact with BEST in order to outline the future cooperation. We informed each other about the upcoming events and suggested a possibility to cooperate on common topics. BEST will be present at the SEFI EU Debate and at the Annual Conference. SEFI will participate at the 26 April 2017 - BEST General Assembly, and at the Presidents meeting in November. SEFI may cooperate on local level on numerous Local Events on Education.

PUBLICATIONS

European University Association: Roadmap for European Universities in Energy
EUA has published the “Roadmap for European Universities in Energy.” It outlines a path forward for universities to coordinate their contributions to energy and climate challenges.
The document was presented on 1 December 2016 at the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) Conference in Bratislava, Slovakia. More than 300 university leaders contributed to the vision, objectives and actions outlined in the document.
The Roadmap was developed by EUA, through its European Platform of Universities in Energy Research & Education (EUA-EPUE), and KU Leuven, which represents the universities in KIC InnoEnergy, in the context of the UNI-SET project.

Transnational Accreditation by ENAEE Authorized Agencies: A Good Practice Guide
The document aims at providing good practice guidelines which ENAEE Authorized Agencies (agencies authorized by ENAEE to award the EUR-ACE label) should follow when performing Transnational Accreditation. including Accreditation of International Double or Joint Degrees.

EUROPEAN UNION

Commissioner Navracsics answers written questions from EP

What steps has the Commission taken pursuant to Parliament's resolution of 28 April 2015 on the follow-up on the implementation of the Bologna Process?
Since the adoption of the European Parliament’s resolution of 28 April 2015, members of the Bologna Process, including the Commission, have adopted the Yerevan Communiqué establishing priorities for the European Higher Education Area for 2015-2018.
Three working groups and four advisory groups are now following up on different objectives and commitments set out in the Communiqué. The Commission actively participates in all groups in order to help drive the European Higher Education Area forward.
To invigorate and accelerate efforts to achieve the Bologna goals, the Commission is supporting reforms on the ground. Under a EUR 3 million Erasmus+ Call in 2016, 24 Erasmus+ Programme Countries have been awarded funding for projects which address national gaps in implementing Bologna priorities. The projects will run from 2016 to 2018.
The Commission continues to provide financial support to the Bologna Secretariat and through the Eurydice network with a view to monitoring the state of play of reforms. This will feed into the Bologna Implementation Report that will be prepared for the 2018 Ministerial conference.

SEFI thanks its corporate partners: