Our IPD-projects have changed: more international partners became involved and simultaneously we started to carry out real projects for real companies. This caused a number of problems. In order to be able to give full support to the projects and conclude them with a nice, formal symposium we need financial funds. Therefore companies were asked for additional sponsoring, which introduced new problems. How we dealt with all these problems is explained in this paper. Other ways of co-operating with different partners in the IPD-projects are also considered. A recent development is to create combinations with students from secondary technical education that already work in practice. First experiments have started in February 2004. First results and further plans on these combinations are reported here.
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Nowadays companies need higher educated engineers to develop their competences to enable them to innovate. This innovation competence is seen as a remedy for the minor profitable business they do during the financial crises. Innovation is an element to be developed on the one hand for big companies as well as for small-and-medium sized companies through Europe to overcome this crisis. The higher education can be seen as an institution where youngsters, coming from secondary schools, who choose to learn at higher education to realize their dream, what they like to become in the professional world. The tasks of the Universities of applied Sciences are to prepare these youngsters to become starting engineers doing their job well in the companies. Companies work for a market, trying to manufacture products which customers are willing to pay for. They ask competent employees helping achieving this goal. It is important these companies inform the Universities of applied Sciences in order to modify their educational program in such a way that the graduated engineers are learning the latest knowledge and techniques, which they need to know doing their job well. The Universities of applied Sciences of Oulu (Finland) and Fontys Eindhoven (The Netherlands) are working together to experience possibilities to qualify their students on innovation development in an international setting. In the so-called: ‘Invention Project’, students are motivated to find their own invention, to design it, to prepare this idea for prototyping and to really manufacture it. Organizing the project, special attention is given to communication protocol between students and also between teachers. Students have meetings on Thursday every week through Internet connection with the communication program OPTIMA, which is provided by the Oulu University. Not only the time difference between Finland and the Netherlands is an issue to be organized also effective protocols how to provide each other relevant information and also how to make in an effective way decisions are issues. In the paper the writers will present opinions of students, teachers and also companies in both regions of Oulu and Eindhoven on the effectiveness of this project reaching the goal students get more experienced to set up innovative projects in an international setting. The writers think this is an important and needed competence for nowadays young engineers to be able to create lucrative inventions for companies where they are going to work for. In the paper the writers also present the experiences of the supervising conditions during the project. The information found will lead to success-factors and do’s and don’ts for future projects with international collaboration.
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Nowadays companies need higher educated engineers to develop their competences to enable them to innovate. This innovation competence is seen as a remedy for the minor profitable business they do during the financial crises. Innovation is an element to be developed on the one hand for big companies as well as for small-and-medium sized companies through Europe to overcome this crisis. The higher education can be seen as an institution where youngsters, coming from secondary schools, who choose to learn at higher education to realize their dream, what they like to become in the professional world. The tasks of the Universities of applied Sciences are to prepare these youngsters to become starting engineers doing their job well in the companies. Companies work for a market, trying to manufacture products which customers are willing to pay for. They ask competent employees helping achieving this goal. It is important these companies inform the Universities of applied Sciences in order to modify their educational program in such a way that the graduated engineers are learning the latest knowledge and techniques, which they need to know doing their job well. The Universities of applied Sciences of Oulu (Finland) and Fontys Eindhoven (The Netherlands) are working together to experience possibilities to qualify their students on innovation development in an international setting. In the socalled: ‘Invention Project’, students are motivated to find their own invention, to design it, to prepare this idea for prototyping and to really manufacture it. Organizing the project, special attention is given to communication protocol between students and also between teachers. Students have meetings on Thursday every week through Internet connection with the communication program OPTIMA, which is provided by the Oulu University. Not only the time difference between Finland and the Netherlands is an issue to be organized also effective protocols how to provide each other relevant information and also how to make in an effective way decisions are issues. In the paper the writers will present opinions of students, teachers and also companies in both regions of Oulu and Eindhoven on the effectiveness of this project reaching the goal students get more experienced to set up innovative projects in an international setting. The writers think this is an important and needed competence for nowadays young engineers to be able to create lucrative inventions for companies where they are going to work for. In the paper the writers also present the experiences of the supervising conditions during the project. The information found will lead to successfactors and do’s and don’ts for future projects with international collaboration.
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An on-going investigation in the learning effects of IPD projects. In three subsequent semesters the students were asked how they rated their competencies at the start of the project as well as at the end of it. Also questionnaires were filled out and students were interviewed. A lot of students tended to give themselves lower ratings in the end than in the begin. It appeared that if they met any difficulties in for instance communication or co-operation during the project, that they interpreted this as a decrease in competencies. Finally the students were explicitly asked to mention an eventual increase in competencies and also a possible contribution for this effect. Only a few factors that actually contribute to the learning effects have been defined.
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Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have become global players in the current globalized labour market and their economic activities are no longer territorially limited, but they extend in different countries, thereby leading to the development of global supply chains. Against this background, companies’ operations are increasingly conducted by foreign subsidiaries and they are being outsourced to business partners worldwide. In both cases, lower working conditions and production costs in foreign countries are one of the driving factors leading to this business choice.
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Re-structuring of a Dutch mono-industrial region; example of TwenteTable of contents of the chapter Introduction Geography and location of Twente Industrialization of Twente and development of the Textile Industry Decline of the Textile Industry Restructuring Twente: arguments for a regional innovation strategy Moving towards a more diversified economy Stronger co-operation between governments, universities, and industries The role of universities and the example of ‘Kennispark Twente’ Further regional and international co-operation Twente today
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This paper describes a model for education in innovative engineering. The kernel of this model is, that students from different departments of the faculty of Applied Science and Technology are placed in industry for a period of eighteen months after two-and-a-half year of theoretical studies. During this period students work in multi-disciplinary projects on different themes. Students will grow to fully equal employees in industry. Therefore it is important that besides students, teachers and company employees will participate in the projects. Also the involvement of other level students (University and high school) is recommended. The most important characteristics of the model can be summarized in innovative, interdisciplinary and international orientation.
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Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is often framed as an example of a broader practice known as Virtual Exchange (VE). The term Virtual Exchange has increasingly been used as an attempt to unify a fragmented field of Higher Education practice and is often used interchangeably with the term COIL. However, the design of COIL, with its strong focus on collaborative and intercultural learning, is often very different to other VE initiatives. Labelling all VE initiatives, including COIL, generally as VE, can lead to both educators and researchers having difficulty identifying and distinguishing COIL. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of VE and define COIL and its key characteristics. This article also describes how theory can inform practice and explains why continued interchangeable use of the term COIL with the umbrella term Virtual Exchange is unhelpful for future research and practice.
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Tallinn University in co-operation with Tartu University has conducted a four month long research on deinstitutionalisation policies, financed by the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs, between August and November 2015. The research programme consisted of an international review on the experiences of seven selected European countries and on focus groups and individual interviews among Estonian stakeholders related to deinstitutionalisation and community based services in the field of disability care and mental health. Based on the research the international research group suggested a number of considerations for the Estonian Case. Some of the most relevant are reported in this Research note.
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This thesis reports on an interpretative case study about student teachers’ and new teachers’ personal interpretations in their teaching practice, during and after an international teaching internship. The main aim of this study was to describe how an international teaching internship interrupts existing, familiar ways of thinking or acting. The findings are an interpretation of how this interruption influences student teachers’ and new teachers’ “personal interpretative frameworks” (Kelchtermans, 2009) during their teacher training programmes and transition from student to teacher. This framework reflects the basis on which a beginning teacher grounds their personal decisions or judgements for action and answers the questions: ‘how can I effectively deal with this particular situation? and ‘why would I work that way?’ (Vanassche & Kelchtermans, 2014, p. 118).
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