BEST Courses

Board of European Students of Technology Courses Booklet Celebrating 25 years of BEST

External Events Committee is the team in BEST in charge of coordinating, supporting and developing many of the services that shape the existence of BEST : They are external events.

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Foreword Introduction for BEST Courses BEST Courses General Organisation Types of BEST Courses Quality Assessment on BEST Courses Social and Cultural Components of Courses Testimonials Endnote Credentials

Foreword Dear reader, I would like to express my warmest welcomes and invite you to discover how does BEST offer complementary education to students, through courses.

As BEST is celebrating its 25th anniversary, this booklet from a set of four has come to life in order to emphasise the core services our organisation has to offer to its stakeholders.

Even from 1989, the moment BEST was established its main goal was to help European students of technology. BEST programme of complementary education is one of the oldest and most important services that it offers. It aims to broaden the knowledge of European students mainly in the field of technology yet it also in other areas that contribute to personal development of every individual student involved. Therefore, BEST courses, enhance participants knowledge in a way that it complements the formal education provided by universities.

Mihai Tociu President XXVI International Board of BEST

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This booklet has been created in order to give a more thorough description about one of the core activities of the organisation.

I hope you have an enlightening reading and that this publication will give provide you more information regarding one of the most important services BEST has to offer.

Board of European Students of Techology

The essential feature of BEST Courses is their availability for the students: every Local BEST Group organising a course takes care of its participants and provides accommodation, food and social activities. Having a low fee for a BEST course empowers participation for the students of technology all over the Europe.

For each BEST Course, organisers select a minimum of 22 students, based on the evaluation of their motivation letters written in English, in which applicants state their interest about the topic of the course and the culture of

Introduction For BEST Courses

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The main activity related to Complementary Education (one of the three main services that BEST provides) are Courses - short courses, hosted on an annual basis by all Local BEST Groups throughout Europe, in which students have the opportunity to study for up to 2 weeks in a university abroad and develop their knowledge on a hot topic related to technology and engineering or non-technical fields of study.

During BEST Courses, participants combine traditional lectures with alternative forms of education such as company visits, laboratory practicals and hands-on masterclasses. All of this is integrated seamlessly with social and cultural activities.

During BEST Courses, participants combine traditional lectures with alternative forms of education.

the country. While selecting participants, organisers also keep in mind the cultural diversity - usually BEST Courses have an average of 15 European countries represented.

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Average numbers per year: Courses: 96 Participants: 2000

2011: 2012:

Total Number of Students by year 9710 10254

Number of Selected Students 1948 2086

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At the end of the course, students are evaluated on the knowledge and skills they acquired during the course. This often takes the form of either an oral exam, e.g. a presentation or a written exam. It gives the possibility to receive a BEST certificate of successful participation and a Course Information Form (CIF) - a detailed document stating the academic part of the course, which is stamped and signed by professors of the university hosting the BEST Course. CIF can be recognised by a participant’s home university with ECTS credits and can be used towards the completion of a student’s degree.

Every student of technology from a university in the BEST network is eligible to apply to a BEST Course through the BEST website: www.BEST.eu.org

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Board of European Students of Techology

BEST Courses embody one of the external events offered by BEST. These courses provide students with an opportunity to go abroad, meet people from many other countries, gain new and wonderful friendships, learn and improve their knowledge on certain subjects, all of which while experiencing a multicultural environment.

The courses are divided into 3 categories, which provide students with a wide range of events and subjects from which to choose from. The current 96 Local BEST Groups are required to organise one of these events at least once every 4 seasons. In these courses, all the essentials (accommodation, transportation, three meals per day, as well as social and cultural activities) are included in the fee, so the only thing students have to pay for is the trip to the location of the course.

There is a minimum of 22 participants in each course but, if the Local BEST Group wants and has enough resources, they can accept extra participants, co-organisers and guests who applied to the course. With this, there can be up to 25 people from approximately 15 countries in one event.

These materials are then distributed around the

BEST Courses universities and shared through social media.

With this strategy, we can reach up to 1.3 million students around Europe. Moreover, each Local BEST Group organising a season course is required to create a web page for it, which should include relevant information regarding the event in order to help students decide if they really want to apply to that specific course or which course fits their needs best.

Applications for BEST courses are made on the BEST Public Website (http://www.BEST.eu.org) through the BEST Application System platform.

As they apply, students are required to read and accept a disclaimer that informs them about their rights and duties. Each student is allowed to apply to a maximum of three BEST courses per season. The applications should be ranked in order of preference, choice number one being considered as most important during the optimisation process. A student can be accepted to a maximum of 1 BEST Course per season.

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mention the unique experience of interacting with people from different backgrounds, cultures and traditions.

General Organisation

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The unique experience of interacting with people from dierent backgrounds, cultures and traditions.

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The organisation of external events such as BEST Courses demands certain abilities in leadership and project management and also triggers a boost of creativity among the organising students.

From the beginning of planning a BEST course organisers have to work in groups and take into consideration the time limits and the deadlines set by the international body of BEST. As a result, organisers' soft skills such as teamwork, time management, negotiation and planning strongly improve. Another advantage would be that having to communicate before and during the event with students from all over Europe can really help to improve their English level, not to

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Universities can also benefit from supporting a Local BEST Group hosting a BEST Course. First of all, while teaching on Courses that our organisation offers, professors gain experience, improve their skills and have a great opportunity to try out innovative teaching methods. The challenge is even bigger if both a BEST Course and the attending students cover a high cultural diversity.

Local BEST Groups also imply the possibility for local students of the university to attend the academic and social part of a BEST Course. This way, local students have the unique chance to study and communicate in an international enviroment inside their own university.

During a BEST Course, universities have the opportunity to promote their Master and PhD programmes, as well as increase their own visibility in the European Academic Network.

The BEST programme of complementary education is one of the oldest and most important projects of our organisation, aiming to broaden knowledge of European students, mainly in the field of technology, but also in other areas that can contribute to the personal development of every individual student involved.

There are three categories of BEST Courses organised by Local BEST Groups.

BEST Course on Technology is an event aiming at increasing and broadening students’ professional knowledge in a certain field of technology, especially concerning modern technical applications of technology and the latest research achievements.

BEST Course on Career Related Skills is an event concerning non-technical subjects in order to provide knowledge to students of technology in areas such as marketing, economics, business studies, law, etc. as well as to develop personal skills in topics linked with working methods, communication techniques, project and organisation management and other soft skills. Courses on Career Related Skills emphasise learning by doing practical work.

Types of BEST Courses Hard skills are complemented with soft skills such as presentation skills, teamwork, effective meetings, conflict solving, leadership etc. because they are considered part of the occupational requirements for a job in today´s world.

BEST Course on Applied Engineering is an event where students put theoretical knowledge into practice. Participants work in different teams and strive to solve specific time-bounded tasks with limited resources. At the end they have to present the solutions they came up with to a jury composed of professors and company representatives.

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Quality Assessment On BEST Courses

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The standards are the foundation for a well-organised course.

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Ensuring the academic part of courses is a crucial aspect of the BEST programme for complementary education that aims to broaden the knowledge of European students of technology.

After more than 20 years organising courses, the organisation has been able to develop a set of standards that all BEST groups follow in order to sustain and improve the quality of all events. The standards are the foundation for a well-organised course and they cover different fields, from the academic and logistic part to the social part.

There is an internal body that is in charge to

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ensure these standards are followed and implemented correctly in all the courses. To do this, every participant is requested to fill an evaluation form after the course regarding all the areas of the event. The input from the participants is highly valuable for the organisation in order to check if the course fulfilled or not the stated requirements.

BEST is always trying to improve, develop and innovate the external events offered to European students of technology. With that aim a project named Market Research was launched in 2012 to get familiar with students’ wishes and needs.

The first stage of the project consisted of a wide survey sent to students from all around Europe and completed by more than 2000 students.

The outcomes of such an amount of data will help BEST develop all the external events, including courses, according to students’ opinions.

Two other projects were created to improve the quality of courses: Green and Red Apple. Unlike Market research, these two projects are focused on BEST members, the organisers of courses.

Green Apple was launched in 1998 to improve the flow of information to students before, during and after the course. It was in that

moment when the mid-evaluation form was introduced. That form allows students to evaluate the course in the middle of the event this way, the input collected from the participants is used to improve the organisation during the second half of the course. Whether to follow or not the project’s requirements was optional until 2004 when it became compulsory thanks to the agreement of all BEST groups.

On the other hand, Red Apple is a currently active project and aims to follow and improve the academic part of courses. Its two main focuses are: providing the students with materials related to the academic part of the course to be better prepared and encouraging to have different kind of learning activities besides lectures such as laboratory work, case studies, workshops, etc. It is not compulsory for BEST groups to take part in the Red Apple project although it is highly advisable as it aims to provide a better service to students. Fulfilling the requirements is understood as an award for a job done well and therefore such courses are recognised as being of a high standard.

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Besides the academic programme, a significant amount of effort is put into developing the students in a cultural and social manner during BEST courses. Students are introduced to the culture, traditions and people of the host country, and at the same time they can share their culture with others. The fact that participants don’t know each other in advance provides all of them with the opportunity for mutual understanding between students from different cultures and societies.

Social and Cultural Components of Courses

BEST groups strive to have as much diversity as possible when selecting the participants for courses, trying to have only one or two from the same country. This way it is ensured that English will be the official language used by everybody and that there will not be groups of participants speaking to each other only in their native language.

For the whole duration of all BEST external events there is an organised social programme that provides a wide diversity of activities at no extra cost for participants. Examples of these activities are international evening - all the participants prepare traditional cuisine from their countries and share their knowledge on the culture and cuisine - or city rally - a fun visit of the city organised by students for students.

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Testimonials Spring Course 2009 in Messina was my first BEST experience, which I will remember all my life! I fell in love with Sicilian people and culture, this is a place in the world I will visit again for sure.

I’m studying Materials Engineering so the topic was just ideal for me, I really enjoyed taking part in labs and lectures in the modern University in Messina. All of the participants loved the head Professor, Mr. Proverbio, he was really fascinating because of his knowledge and a cheerful person. All LBG Messina are amazing people, they are full of energy and helpful! They made the course unforgettable! This course has brought me a lot of friends from all over Europe and amazing memories.

So coming back home I decided to join BEST and become an active member.

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Daniel Hillerstrom Aalborg, Denmark, for the event “SecurITy Guide for the Galaxy” organised by Vienna, Austria.

I loved every moment of Vienna Summer Course. It has really widened my perception and it has given me lots of new stuff to reflect upon.

Furthermore, on the personal level it has helped me clear up some doubts and answer some questions about my own future.

Professor Craeye Catholic University of Louvain, for the event “Send your BEST vibes out!” organised by Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.

I am familiar with the organisation because there’s a pretty active BEST branch in Louvain for many years. I would like to congratulate the organisers. The organisation of the course was excellent. The attendance was perfect: all students on time, well awake, asking many questions. In the final examination the students got very good marks. That’s the point we appreciated the most, which means that the students had been paying attention and that they had been truly working. It is always nice for a teacher to realise they got their message through.

Martyna Hubisz Gdansk, Poland, for the event “The energy of Sicily!

Materials for energy, the energy of the future!” organised by Messina, Italy.

The BEST team in my faculty is very active. BEST Courses are an opportunity for students to learn new points of view and to do networking. I always encourage my students to participate in this kind of international activities. Therefore, I cannot reject my participation whenever students ask me for a lecture in an international enviroment.

Professor Javier Pajares University of Valladolid, for the event “Artificial Intelligence: Could your toaster pass your exams?� organised by Valladolid, Spain.

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Endnote “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 on an international basis.�

BEST Mission This wonderful booklet, I hope you agree, is an excellent testimonial on the importance and impact BEST Courses have in the development of students.

Every year, over 2000 students have the possibility to discover and experience combination of knowledge, friendships and different cultures through BEST Courses.

Pedro Cardoso Coordinator External Events Committee of BEST

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In conclusion, BEST Courses are the most important and relevant service we provide to external students. More than a simple service, and considering their mandatory status within the organisation, they are part of what defines us as a service provider to students. They are also a main source of development for BEST members who take part in their organisation.

I hope you had an excellent and enjoyable read and that this booklet has given you an idea of the marvellous things that are BEST Courses.

Board of European Students of Techology

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Credentials

BEST Anniversaries Project Coordinator: Ana Rita Gonรงalves, Porto Authors: Alexander Vaniev, Moscow Andrea Cucurull, Barcelona Artur Corte, Lisbon Designer: Oya Merve Duman, Ankara

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President Mihai Tociu

e-mail: mihai.tociu@BEST.eu.org phone: +40 74 566 8097

Ambassador Mathieu Vandenberghe e-mail: mathieu.vandenberghe@BEST.eu.org phone: +32 498 69 53 74