Techno TN Forum 2006Brussels, Belgium4-5 September 2006

Report from Working Group 1

Working Procedures

1) Brain storming with all the participants together

2) Identification of the key points

3) Formulation of recommendations/comments according to key aspects

Theme 1Third Level of Education (PhD)

Key aspects:

- CASE STUDY- DURATION- FLEXIBILITY- JOINT DEGREES- COURSES OR NOT

Finland Case Study

Encouraging Industry to employ PhD graduates: established long ago and partially successful (more R&D funds)

Question still unanswered: do we need two kinds of PhDs: one more research oriented and one more R&D oriented ?

Encourage coming back to university with some industrial experience ?

Duration: Key Questions

When do we consider the student ready to carry out research autonomously ?

When can we consider the learning outcomes achieved ?

Can we put the word end to the formation of researchers ?

Duration: Recommendations

3 to 4 years (full time work) included, preferably, a period (1 semester ?) spent abroad preparing the thesis. This will allow the student to invest enough time to get publishable results

Flexibility: Key Questions

University/Industry Cooperation: 2 kinds of formation needed ?

It has been observed that one reason for Industry to like PhDs is their fitness for handling longer projects

Flexibility: Recommendations

No clear answer (it also depends on the country) but need to find a meeting point between the Academia and Industry

In case of interdisciplinary doctoral programmes doctoral colleges a good approach

Joint Degrees: Key Questions

Are joint degrees needed at PhD level?

How to structure them?

Joint Degrees: Recommendation

Few cases taken into account but topic left out since it’s too specific

Courses or not: Key Questions

Do PhD students need to follow courses?

Can we quantify the amount of credits for the courses PhD students have to follow?

Courses or not: Recommendations

Establish a range of number of credits from courses (both on general and specialized skills) depending on the background of the student

Learning agreement between the student and the supervisor, possibly moderated by a committee in order to avoid a too strict connection between the student and his supervisor

Broadness of education

Theme 2Students Expectations from the European Reforms

Brain storming among the attendants. Few student representatives within the conference; nevertheless effort to focus on their expectations and point of view.

Top 1 expectation: get a job!!

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance and Accreditation as an added value for degree courses

BUT

Importance to reserve a special role for students in the accreditation procedures (e.g. within the

accreditation teams)

ECTS System

Generally considered very useful

BUT

Still partial. Need to complete ECTS grading rules

Student Centered Approach

Students are definitively in favor of a student centered approach of education however, it has been observed that this is not always easy especially with big groups of students

Mobility

Added value of mobility, which should be given also by Industry

BUT

Need to elaborate distribution curves of marks within European

schools/universities

(existing only in some fields)

Thematic Networks

Positive role of TNs in making formation more transparent

BUT Not enough communication among

students and TNs Only some TNs (smaller projects) are

constructing tools for enhancing students exchanges

Attractiveness of Scientific Education

Improve quality/awareness in Secondary Schools in order to make the scientific/technological fields more attractive

Focus on sustainability and environmental problems

Theme 3Multilingualism

Provocative Questions 2 linguistic competences General Remarks Suggestions Danger ! Optimistic Perspective

Provocative Questions

Why don’t we forbid English ? 3 years for the first level not enough for an

appropriate English preparation: why don’t we propose a first level of education of 4 years ? (4+2 instead of 3+2)

How do we want our Institutions to comply with respect to the multilingualism aspect from a “political“ point of view ?

2 linguistic competences

Use of the language for yourself (reading and writing)

VS

Use of the language for interaction (difficult to arrive at this step at the first

cycle education)

General Remarks

The requested level of English as foreign language should be obtained within the secondary school

Multilingualism a multifaceted topic and difficult to consider it with reference to the scientific technological field

Students need multilingualism and multiculturalism BUT there’s not enough time to get these competences at University

General Remarks

Let the students learn languages outside University, which should focus on classical scientific Technology education ?

Positions of Institutions/University with respect to the European Policy (a certain level of language proficiency should be obtained by each undergraduate)

Need of a technical oriented linguistic preparation

General Remarks

Is the competence in English as a second language enough or do we need also other languages?

Teachers too must have solid language skills competence and in some cases university could hire native speakers teachers

Enhanced employability of graduates who know another language

Suggestions

Use Erasmus also for teachers mobility

Take profit of sabbatical periods to increase the language competences of teachers

Suggestions

Offer courses in foreign languages at home universities

Use materials in other languages (but the students sometimes refuse this!)

English as lingua franca but don’t forget also the other languages. They can be learnt by the students through the participation in the Socrates Erasmus programme

Suggestions

Take CEFR into consideration Co-operation between universities of

language teachers Preparation and use of glossaries of

technical terms in different languages Provide support to universities towards

the creation of language centres

Suggestions

Creation of Tandem groups within the Erasmus programme

Inform the students about the added value of knowing foreign languages (increased employability within industry)

Give priority to the students who want to learn languages to get Erasmus scholarships

Danger!

Awareness of the danger of losing the advantages of European diversity by imposing the use of a lingua franca (especially in scientific/technological field)

Optimistic Perspective

Things are changing, especially where university are investing on the importance of multilingualism to be considered among the targets of the Institutions

Group composed by:

Maffioli F. – Chairman

Guberti E. – Rapporteur

Bonneaud O.

Dumoulin E

Dorcean K.

Markkula M.

Sanchez Villa X.

Sirak V.

Meszaros M.

Titulaer U.

Joosten S.

Navickas K.

Smith A.

Magni V.

Ho P.

Natchiz E.

Benlloch-Dualte J.

Mackiewiecz W.