[2017] EoE Porto

Education: Be part of the Next Generation

[BEST Event on Education Porto 2017] 22nd August – 1st September 2017

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Authors Writers

Vasiliki Kalfa Michiel Avau JoĂŁo Camacho Tamara Kuretoska Special Contribution by Ana ValĂŠria Rocha

Designer

Ana Sofia Soto Almeida

Homepage of BEST/Educational Involvement: BEST.eu.org/educationalInvolvement Homepage of LBG Porto: BESTporto.org/website/en/ Homepage of UPorto: sigarra.up.pt/up/en/ Other reports and publications: issuu.com/BESTorg

22nd August – 1st September 2017

Acknowledgements The writers would like to acknowledge all those who contributed in the preparations of EoE Porto 2017 “Education: Be part of Next Generation” that took place from August 22nd until September 1st. In an 8 month-journey of hard collaborating work, several people helped make the dream into a reality.

Local BEST Group of Porto A very special thank you to all members of Local BEST Group of Porto (LBG Porto) who organised EoE Porto with the support of the Faculty of Engineering (FEUP) and the Faculty of Science (FCUP) of the University of Porto (UPorto).

The writers would like to express a personal acknowledgement to Margarida Martins, Main Organiser and member of LBG Porto, and Ana Valéria Rocha, Educational Responsible and member of LBG Porto, who worked throughout the whole process of preparations and helped in developing the content. Additionally, we recognise the effort and support of the organising Core Team and the Board of LBG Porto.

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Associated People from LBG Porto

Main Organiser Margarida Martins

Educational Responsible Ana Valéria Rocha

Participants Responsible Ana Carvalho

PR & Design Responsible Salomé Silva

Secretary Maria João Vilela

Quality Responsible Luísa Teixeira

Corporate Relations Filipe Esteves

President of Local BEST Group of Porto João Santos

22nd August – 1st September 2017

Educational Involvement Department of BEST EoE Porto is a project initiated and conducted by the Educational Involvement Department of BEST. Through the Educational Involvement Department, BEST strives to make students’ opinions heard on what can be changed in their universities, study programs or curricula.

The writers would like to express their gratitude to all the people involved in the Educational Involvement Department. Furthermore, they recognise the significant support and guidance of the Educational Involvement Department Coordinator 20162017, Dragana Manasova, throughout the project development and of the Educational Involvement Department Coordinator 2017-2018, Hanija Bujas, to the conclusion of the project.

Educational Involvement Department Coordinator 2016-2017

Educational Involvement Department Coordinator 2017-2018

Dragana Manasova

Hanija Bujas

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Table of Contents Introduction

Board of European Students of Technology BEST Events on Education Partners of EoE Porto Content team

Participants of EoE Porto Topics of Sessions

Next Generation Challenges Global Engineers and Grand Challenges VUCA World

The New Generation of STEM Students Next Generation Teaching Methods and Assessment of Non-formal and Informal Education How should a university foster the development of soft skills?

Recognition of Non-formal and Informal Learning & the NFIF Project Problems that may appear when assessing non-formal and informal learning Next Generation Universities Matching expectations to reality Next Generation Universities Facilities Mission impossible: Designing the perfect curriculum Next Generation Teachers The necessary skills of a teacher in an environment of endless technical possibilities

8 9 10 10 12 13 14 16 16 16 17 18 18 19 19 20 20 20 21 22 22

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The ideal professor to prepare the students for the next generation challenges The role of a professor in an environment of online course materials

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Global Engineers and Grand Challenges

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How should a university foster the development of soft skills?

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Schedule

Methodology

Discussion groups World CafĂŠ

Brainstorming

SWOT analysis

Quadrant Diagram

Session outcomes VUCA World

Millennials & Generation Z: The New Generation of STEM Students

Recognition of non-formal and informal education; Problems while recognising non-formal and informal education Matching Expectations to Reality

Next Generation University Facilities Professors and Next Generation Mission impossible: Designing the perfect curriculum Final Assembly Conclusion References

53 60 68 73 82 96 104 106

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[Introduction]

22nd August – 1st September 2017

Board of European Students of Technology Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) is a constantly growing non-representative, non-political and non-profit voluntary student organisation, whose mission is to develop students. One of the core activities of BEST is the organisation of BEST Courses, which aims to supplement the skills and outlook of European students of technology. Since the founding of BEST in 1989, more activities have been adapted to its vision of empowering students, counting engineering competitions (e.g. European BEST Engineering Competition), career support (e.g. BEST Career Day) and educational involvement (e.g. BEST Events on Education).

A special unit of BEST is dedicated to connecting students of technology on contemporary educational topics in engineering education. Through the Educational Involvement Department, BEST strives to listen to the students’ ideas on what can be changed in their universities, study programs or curricula. BEST is eager to be in close collaboration with the stakeholders of higher education, letting them know about innovative solutions, coming from the main receivers of education - students.

BEST is co-funded by the ERASMUS+ Program of the European Union and cooperates with a number of corporate, career support, project and university partners in its services.

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BEST Events on Education A BEST Event on Education (BEST EoE) is an event where students discuss educational topics, together with university and/ or company representatives. Students have the chance to identify current problems and propose innovative solutions, with the aim of defining the future of higher education in Europe. The gathered opinions are disseminated through scientific work and presented at conferences to universities, companies and higher education institutions representatives. BEST counts on both participants of the event and stakeholders to provide insights on current educational matters in a most active way, in order to influence changes in education across Europe.

In an Event on Education, participants are given the opportunity to express their ideas on educational matters through discussions and case studies. The students’ inputs are then transmitted in Conferences to relevant Institutions dealing with Higher Educational matters, making their voice heard.

Partners of EoE Porto For their valuable input in organising EoE Porto, we would like to acknowledge the contribution of our partners, experts in the field of education. Their presentations empowered the students for the following discussions and their expertise helped in raising awareness on educational matters. Especially, we would like to thank the following experts.

22nd August – 1st September 2017

Prof. Greet Langie

Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Technology KU Leuven

Prof. José Carlos Quadrado

Vice-President of Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto

Prof. Eduarda Pinto Ferreira

Vice-Director of the Informatics Engineering Bachelor Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto

Prof. Anne - Marie Jolly

Member of the board of SEFI Vice President of CTI (Commission du Titre d’Ingénieur) École d’ingénieurs Polytech Orléans

Prof. Paulo M. S. Tavares de Castro

Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto

Prof. José Manuel Matos Ribeiro da Fonseca Faculty of Sciences and Technology Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Prof. Alfredo Soeiro

Vice-Chair of FEANI EMC Associate professor at the UPorto

Prof. António Torres Marques

Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto

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Collaborating Jury of the Final Assembly

Prof. José Luís dos Santos

Vice Dean of Faculty of Sciences of University of Porto

Eng. Joaquim Poças Martins

President of the Order of Engineers (North Region)

Mr. Daniel Freitas

Deputy of the City Hall of Porto

Content team Alongside the experts on education, a content team of BEST members designed the sessions of EoE Porto. Their contact information is shown below.

EoE Facilitator: Michiel Avau email: michiel.avau@BEST.eu.org

EoE Facilitator: Tamara Kuretoska email: tamara.kuretoska@BEST.eu.org

EoE Facilitator: João Camacho email: joao.camacho@BEST.eu.org

EoE Coordinator: Vasiliki Kalfa email: vasiliki.kalfa@BEST.eu.org

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Participants of EoE Porto] A total of 22 students of technology were engaged in the sessions of EoE Porto. Their personal data are shown in Table 1.

Surname, Name

University

Nationality

Bunčić, Vedran

University of Zagreb

Croatia

Cardoso Beco, Rita

University of Porto

Portugal

Çeka, Anastasia

Middle East Technical University

Albania

Cvejić, Aleksandar

University of Novi Sad

Serbia

Gasperoni, Greta

Politechnic of Turin

Italy

Gherman, Ana-Lorena

POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest

Romania

Griniece, Amanda

Riga Technical University

Latvia

Hernanz, Jorge García

Technical University of Madrid

Spain

Kalyashova, Maria

Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University

Russia

Kártyás, Lilla

Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Hungary

Kikidi, Elli

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Greece

Kivinen, Oskari

Aalto University

Finland

Kołodziejczyk, Agnieszka

Warsaw University of Technology

Poland

Mateu, Pau

Technical University of Catalonia

Spain

Milovanović, Branislav

University of Belgrade

Serbia

Nazarov, Anton

Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University

Russia

Popelka, Ľudovít

Slovak University of Technology

Slovakia

Šafránek, Vojtech

Czech Technical University in Prague

Czech Republic

Saiz, Ana García

Technical University of Madrid

Spain

Thomos, Apostolos

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Greece

Vrdoljak, Ivana

University of Zagreb

Croatia

Vukicevic, Veljko

Vienna University of Technology

Serbia

Table 1: List of participants details: student name, university, and nationality.

Topics of Sessions

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During EoE Porto, “Education: Be part of the Next Generation”, the beginning of the next generation of education was tackled. The rise of new global challenges and the new type of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students affect universities, professors and curricula. The participants commenced by finding these challenges, investigating the difference between millennials and generation Z and analysing the VUCA world that we live in. Taking them into account, EoE Porto focused on

the role of professors in this digital world, their profile and the skills they should possess to face endless technical possibilities. Afterwards, participants approached the matter of Non-Formal and Informal Education, why is it important, how can this be integrated in current curricula and the problems that arise from it. Finally, they tackled this subject from universities’ aspect by checking the expectations that students have versus reality, how facilities may inspire learning and the curricula of the future.

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Next Generation Challenges Global Engineers and Grand Challenges Nowadays, we take many scientific and engineering advancements for granted. From assembling a car to breaking down the DNA code, passing by oceans to finding life in other planets, these improvements have changed our lives, expanded horizons and have set new limits to the opportunities of what we can do and what lies even beyond our imagination.

Yet, what we call ‘evolution of science and technology’ and ‘digitalisation’ has become dynamic and ever-changing and, like a living organism, they expand and demand more ‘food’ and ‘variety’ of knowledge and skills. This expansion of challenges has set a common ground in global scale, thus raising the need to develop a new aspect of Global STEM students which transcends cultures and differences. How does education see these challenges? Is it affected by them? Which will come first: education or evolution?

VUCA World Volatile. Uncertain. Complex. Ambiguous. Four words that describe the world that will be ours to work in. The way the world is evolving will require a lot of new things from us and the following generations. Not only new skills, but much broader. A new way of life.

Studies can play a role in arming us to face the challenges

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that lie in a VUCA world. What do we need to thrive in a VUCA world? Or even more importantly, what do we need to survive in a VUCA world?

This session explores the visions of students on essential skills, characteristics, experiences, etc., for a citizen of a VUCA world.

It also elaborates how universities can contribute to the preparation of students for the challenges the VUCA world will bring.

“

The New Generation of STEM Students

s”

We live in an era of smart phones and stupid people.

- Ziad K. Abdelnour

Generations are never the same. Your point of view, your opinions, your desires from life are very different from generations before you. Therefore, what you require from education differs greatly from what your parents needed from it. Just think of how smartphones changed our lives! However, education has difficulties keeping up with these ever-continuous and ever-accelerating changes.

We can only imagine how much more students’ needs will change in the next 20 years. So, it is time for education to refresh, rethink, grow!

Together, this session is searching for the key elements of how the current education mismatches the needs of the new generation, and what universities can do to align their services to the students’ needs.

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Next Generation Teaching Methods and Assessment of Non-formal and Informal Education How should a university foster the development of soft skills?

As university students, we are used to hear the concept of soft skills, and no one doubts their importance. It is not just about employability or the fact that future engineers or scientists will do well in their workplace, it is also about being both great students and great human beings!

The main goal of university is to prepare us, students, for our future careers, and indeed they provide a lot of knowledge, opportunities, help us increase our network and, overall, makes go through a life changing experience (one of our BEST experiences), but are universities paying enough attention to soft skills?

What can universities do to help their students become better professionals in soft skills matters? How can they create an awareness for their development?

Some universities are already taking initiatives, but are they enough? Are they effective?

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Recognition of Non-formal and Informal Learning & the NFIF Project As human beings, we are constantly learning, our thirst for knowledge is unlimited and as young adults, we sometimes feel so excited by the things around us that we don’t know yet and we just want time to freeze to absorb even more information.

Universities are known as institutions with excellent capacity to transfer knowledge to its students in a formal way, but at the same time, they create awesome opportunities for their students to learn non-formally and informally.

Is there a way to certify/recognise the acquisition of knowledge non-formally or informally? What can be the role of the universities in these matters, since a big deal of knowledge is acquired in these institutions?

Problems that may appear when assessing non-formal and informal learning Universities represent high ground for academic development and treading the path to a successful career. They offer classes, courses, laboratory work, and literature with timeless scientific facts to dig into.

However, at the same time, universities are places where massive networking happens, circles of like - minded individuals sharing ideas are being formed. Many of the most successful businesses of this era have happened as a joke that students have been doing in their past-time.

Non-formal and informal learning is what happens outside of the classroom, but why haven’t universities still found a way to acknowledge it?

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Next Generation Universities Matching expectations to reality Everyone starts university with certain expectations. Often inspired by books and movies, we create an image of what we think university will be like. Most of us start our studies with an idea of a career we want to pursue. Yet often, reality is unable to fulfill these expectations.

Maybe your expectations changed, because you got a more realistic view throughout your studies. Or maybe university was simply unable to fulfill your expectations. The same goes for your career expectations. University plays an important role in shaping you for your future.

Now we wonder… How can universities improve to better fulfill your expectations? What can these institutions do to give future students more realistic expectations of their studies and their professional career? This session examines the past and current expectations of students. The key elements were pinpointed on how the universities of tomorrow can improve shaping their expectations before, during, and after studies.

Next Generation Universities Facilities “Because creativity is a key competence that differentiates innovators from non-innovators, the learning environment matters.”

Nowadays companies are changing their workplace architecture in order to foster creativity in their workers, make them happy in their workplace and feel the culture of the organisation. On the

22nd August – 1st September 2017

other hand, most universities in Europe were built decades ago and some of them even centuries ago, but wouldn’t it be more fun to study in an environment like those offices?

There are so many constraints that prevent universities to transform in such a way, but some small steps can lead to big changes! Would students spend more time in a university that understands them?

Mission impossible: Designing the perfect curriculum Engineering education is based on several elementary scientific areas. To be considered an engineer, a student in Europe has to study the same founding subjects as a student in Canada. However, every university has its own say in structuring the curriculum.

Different universities emphasize and prioritize different aspects of science: be it theoretical knowledge, research, or business.

Two engineers graduating from the same field in two different universities will not have the same practice and qualifications, but they are still colleagues.

So, what do students consider important and crucial in a curriculum? What would they omit? What would they add? How would university curricula look like in 5, 10, or 20 years from now? What will change, and what will remain the same?

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Next Generation Teachers The necessary skills of a teacher in an environment of endless technical possibilities There is an importance to the masterful ways that the teachers possess to help students achieve their maximum potential. Yet, how can a teacher do all this in a technical and digital world where Google can provide you more information than they can?

Or when the endless advancements in technology reach way ahead of their time? What skills do teachers need to have to cope in this new technical and digital area?

The ideal professor to prepare the students for the next generation challenges Being a professor nowadays can be a complicated task. From research to classroom, there are endless responsibilities that need to be met daily. The break from the traditional classroom and the introduction of new methodologies, courses and tools are bringing down stereotypes on what a professor should be like.

Yet, throughout the years, students have experienced many different profiles of teachers inside the classroom. This session explores the perception of students on what is it that makes a ‘good’ professor.

22nd August – 1st September 2017

The role of a professor in an environment of online course materials Almost every student today, from elementary scholars to university students, has access to both a computer and the internet, which has become the place to go when looking for references, project ideas, explanatory videos, charts, as well as countless online courses.

With all kinds of course materials available online, is there still a need for professors? How can their role still be relevant? How do students understand the importance of professors in such an environment of online materials?

Many students nowadays don’t feel like they gain more from attending lectures, so they just don’t. What is the added value of a professor teaching a class, and why can’t it be replaced so simply by several hours of online video courses and tutorials?

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Schedule During EoE Porto, a total of 29 working hours were delivered to the participants by content team and experts. The schedule of the event is shown in Fig.1.

Fig. 1: Schedule of the Event on Education Porto 2017.

22nd August – 1st September 2017

Methodology

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Methodology World CafĂŠ A number of facilitation methods were used during sessions. Following there is a general description of them. [5]

Discussion Groups A discussion group is an interactive oral process in which a group of people is given a topic or a situation and after thinking about it for a few minutes, they discuss their views with each other. The opinions and ideas are expressed in a systematic way.

World CafĂŠ methodology is a simple, effective, and flexible format for hosting large group dialogue. Participants are divided into groups, each starting from a different spot or table. Each table has a specific topic that is discussed there.

Everything that is discussed will be recorded and after a fixed allotted time, groups will change tables. After moving to the new table, groups will familiarise themselves with what was discussed there before (by the facilitators in this case). After learning about the previous discussion, the group will add on their ideas.

This will be repeated until all the groups have been to all the tables or until necessary.

In the end, the ideas from each table will be presented to everybody.

22nd August – 1st September 2017

Brainstorming

SWOT Analysis

Brainstorming is a structured process that encourages the generation of a large quantity of ideas in a group setting. All ideas are recorded, and no judgments or evaluations are made. It is perhaps the most popular technique used in groups to expand the thinking process. Brainstorming works on the premise that even crazy and wild ideas should be listed, as they may spark new and practical ideas that would otherwise not have surfaced. Participants in a brainstorming session are encouraged to contribute any ideas, no matter how irrelevant, and to build on one another’s ideas.

SWOT analysis is a process that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organisation. Specifically, SWOT is a basic, analytical framework that assesses what an organisation can and cannot do, as well as its potential opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis takes information from an environmental analysis and separates it into internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats.

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[Quadrant Diagram] A quadrant diagram is a method to determine which solution best meets two goals at once, such as low cost and high benefit. Ideas are discussed and placed on a quadrant in relation to how they rank in relation to two factors. Quadrant diagrams help groups see how a particular solution may be desirable in one way and undesirable in another. Solutions that have the most potential are those that fall in the most desirable cell (for example, impact/effort).

Session outcomes

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VUCA World Background VUCA World: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous. Volatility makes long-term predictions inaccurate. Decisions are often based on uncertain factors. Due to the interconnection between many factors, understanding phenomena becomes very complex. Ambiguity, finally, marks the fact that there is no such thing as “the truth” anymore, as several truths can exist in parallel.

In order to thrive in such a VUCA World environment, professionals require certain soft skills, experiences, knowledge, and character traits. Therefore, universities should reconsider the way they educate future professionals in order to prepare them for the challenges ahead.

In this session, the following categories are used in the following meaning: Knowledge: ‘Hard’ knowledge outside of the individual’s field, needed by a VUCA World professional.

Soft skills: Personal, emotional, and social competences.

Experiences: Things a VUCA World professional has gone through in his life.

Characteristics: Personality traits.

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Methodology Participants were introduced to the concept “VUCA World�.

Divided in 6 small groups, students brainstormed for 3 minutes on each of the 4 categories. Then they discussed for 8 minutes and agree upon the most important element in each category.

Afterwards students discussed within these same groups on initiatives universities could take to better provide students with these soft skills, knowledge fields and experiences. Characteristics were left out in this part of the session, since shaping characteristics were more difficult to translate into specific university initiatives.

Outcomes The following table shows per category which element the 6 groups regarded as the most important.

Knowledge Languages (x2) IT skills Philosophy Business Analytical skills

Soft skills Communication (x3) Teamwork Adaptability Speaking skills

Experiences Travelling (x2) Volunteering work Living & studying abroad Exposure to diversity Internships

Characteristics Ambitious Adaptable Creative Open-minded Self-control Courage

Table 2: Most important elements for a VUCA World professional according to knowledge, soft skills, experiences and characteristics.

Each group of students formulated 3 initiatives for universities to better provide its students with soft skills, knowledge, and experiences necessary in a VUCA World. The initiatives are laid below listed per group.

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Group 1 • Use flipped classroom learning, with video lectures and discussions • Interdisciplinary project work • Encourage and improve exchange studies Group 2 • Provide free international internships • Invest in technological equipment • Organise more conferences and workshops (like TEDx) Group 3 • Organise more practical teamwork on projects • Better university connections with companies • Add optional courses to the curriculum to widen students’ knowledge Group 4 • Provide basic IT courses in non-IT faculties • Promote student exchanges • Add subjects about communication to the curriculum Group 5 • Develop places for social interaction • Provide more practical facilities and classes • Organise competitions and challenges Group 6 • Add philosophy courses to the curriculum • Provide more recognition and facilities for volunteering • Add optional soft skills subjects to the curriculum

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Millennials & Generation Z: The New Generation of STEM Students This chapter of the report is based on results from the introduction session and the session “Millennials & Generation Z: The New Generation of STEM Students”.

The session “Millennials & Generation Z: The New Generation of STEM Students” was introduced in cooperation with Prof.

José Carlos Quadrado & Prof. Eduarda Pinto Ferreira.

Background Education of the next generation will be there for the people of the next generation: Generation Z. This new generation is entering university - but is higher education ready?

What characterises these new students, and most of all, how should higher education adapt to their profiles? Should we change the way of teaching?

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Methodology The introduction session was conducted as a group sharing session. Students shared their points of view in answer to questions on the topic: the role of education in the world of the next generation.

The session “Millennials & Generation Z: The new generation of STEM Students” started with an introduction to the topic by Prof. Quadrado and Prof. Ferreira.

The session continued with a crowd-sourcing discussion on the topic: “The most important challenge you recognise in your own future”.

Crowd-sourcing: Every student writes down one answer to the question. Answers are exchanged randomly 5 times between the students. Each time, one answer competes with one other answer. The two owners of the competing answers divide 10 points over these 2 answers, where points indicate the relative importance of the challenges compared to each other. In the end, each answer received 5 scores. The highest and lowest score is scratched. The end ranking is made by summing up the remaining three scores that each answer received.

A speed dating discussion formed the third and final part of this session. It tackled the topic of the role of schools in the quest for quality improvement in education. Specifically, it answered the following questions: • Is the problem more about the attitude of teachers or of the students?

• What is the optimal number of students per classroom?

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Outcomes The top 3 answers to the crowd-sourcing discussion:

The most important challenge you recognise in your own future?

1. Social equality 2. Being sure what I’m doing is what I want to do 3. Finding a suitable job, a life companion, and which country to live in Is the problem more about the attitude of teachers or of students?

Fig. 2: Diagram of the influence of student or teacher on the problem of quality improvement.

What is the optimal number of students per classroom?

In this question, answers varied between 1 and 25.

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Students also answered the question: “How can education make a difference in the world of the next generation?”

• STEM education should allow people to solve problems by providing them with academic background.

• Education plays an important role in raising awareness on global issues, and in sharing with other cultures, as globalisation is bringing different cultures in contact.

• University is vital in its role to stimulate critical thinking in students. Education should focus on being true in the future. Information needs verification first.

• Education should also help stimulate human interaction. As a participant said: “We need education so the next generation could exist.”

• Technology can help turning all of this into reality, by using it in a smart way in education. Yet teachers should know when and how to use technology.

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Global Engineers and Grand Challenges Background What does it mean to be a Global Engineer?

What are the challenges that the world is facing?

How can education aim towards developing a global citizen?

The session was introduced by Professor Paulo Tavares de Castro who explained the topic for the participants with a presentation entitled “Engineering in the future: engineering the future”.

Methodology The session started with a presentation from Professor Paulo Tavares de Castro, which served to get the participants acquainted with the topic through a set of data, examples and references.

For the following part, the European students were split into four groups, with the task to think about the question: “What are the challenges that society, technology, science and environment face?”. Each group got to discuss the challenge of each field: society, technology, science and environment.

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The session continued with a round table, where the participant’s perspective about global engineering could be shared with the following questions: • What is a global engineer/scientist?

• What should a global engineer/scientist be like in his profession? What attributes should he have in order to be good in his profession?

• What should a global engineer/scientist be towards society?

The whole Global Engineers and Grand Challenges slot ended with a World Café, with topics suggested by Professor Paulo Tavares de Castro: • • • •

How to educate engineers for a global society?

How the work in the future will be?

What can the past teach us about the future?

Global World Commerce

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Outcomes What are the challenges that society, technology, science and environment face?

Environment One of the challenges pointed out by this small group was the climate change, where they felt that it should be subdivided in 4 big problems: the rise of the temperature, the rise of the sea level, the ozone layer and the droughts. Besides the climate change, the group stated also the limited supply of fossil fuel and drinkable water (that can be turned into potable water, but it’s still expensive). The fact that green areas are diminishing was also pointed out, meaning less oxygen, caused by the deforestation. Lastly it was mentioned the overpopulation, where they made a reference for the introductory presentation of the huge number of people living with 1 dollar per day. Most of these challenges are caused by the pollution, which was also one challenge that was pointed out.

Science The fact that the planet Earth is becoming more crowded is also a science challenge and the solution of how can we control it was also in the participants’ minds. There are also a number of new diseases, so it’s also the role of science to preventing from evolving and to cure them. On the biology and health field,

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the participants also connected it with ethics, mentioning the genetic modification (especially of crops), which could solve the overpopulation problems. Still on the ethics topic, it was mentioned the artificial intelligence: it’s limits and the question if it’s dangerous or not. Once again, the problem with the ozone layer was something that the participants felt that science is facing.

The group also thought that trash treatment of seas and space and deep-sea discovery was on the schedule of science.

The image of science and scientists was also a concern to the participants, since they considered that there was still a lot of stereotypes.

Society The overpopulation was mentioned as a problem that society is facing, and participants considered that a lot of problems may come with it, namely: the amount of water and food for everyone, the living space, the one child policy as an unethical measure and the lack of jobs (since the jobs are more automated and the robots will do most of our work in the future).

The increasing gap between the rich and poor was also mentioned: the rich people had been having an increasing income in previous years (as it was mentioned in the introductory presentation).

As we live in a globalized world, the group defended that a national identity loss may happen, since we are getting more in touch with other cultures and getting more similar.

Technology The artificial intelligence challenge rose again, and its ethical questions: How to use it? Is it dangerous? The participants also

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expressed the big data technologies and their concern with the security of information. Still in the topic of technology, how small can microchips be? Is there a threshold? Will all these challenges affect people’s jobs?

In order for technology to advance, we need materials. If we think about cell phones and cars, they are full of different types of materials. The participants expressed the challenge that technology might not have enough materials to keep manufacturing these products in the future.

Last but not least, the technology sharing between countries.

The students shared that countries keep the improvements for themselves and in their opinion, it is a technology challenge.

They also expressed that it is a political challenge to share the technologies among countries.

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Global Engineers What is a global engineer/scientist?

The global opinion of the participants is that engineers and scientists are capable to contribute to change, have the knowledge to improve the world, and thus reduce the damage that society did during these past decades.

What should a global engineer/scientist be like in his profession? What attributes should he have in order to be good in his profession?

• Good technical knowledge; • Ethical in whatever they put their mind into; • Open minded (understand the problems of other people and not only his country’s problems); • Understand other people’s concerns and how to avoid them; • Very wide knowledge; • Communicative; • Have a variety of soft skills; • Passionate about solving the problems that society faces; • Have entrepreneurship skills so that they can pursue new ideas; • Have economy knowledge.

What should a global engineer/scientist be towards society?

• Able to present their work in a simple way, so that everyone can understand; • Know how to promote their work;

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• Be cooperative to work with people from different fields so that they can solve complex problems; • Creativity to look for new and different solutions; • Have a critical thinking so that they don’t spend too much time on non-efficient solutions.

World Café How to educate engineers for a global society?

• Use a Project/Problem Based Learning approach - It’s an active way of learning and demands a creative approach to solve the problems. The participants also pointed out that the fact that there are no specific subjects, the students are obliged to look for more information for themselves; • Promote international involvement - The idea that participants suggested is through a set of conferences and events where there is a possibility to share problems and solutions.

This way, the students can earn a global vision, understanding that what we do, can affect others; • Have specific subjects about global engineering and global society - These subjects would have as goals the understanding of the impact of technology on society, ethics, legislation, social competence and multiculturalism; • Have soft skills subjects - There are certain soft skills that help students acting globally and working on multicultural environments. Some of the skills mentioned were: communication, how to sell ideas and pedagogical skills to help them transmit technical information;

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• Promote international exchange - There are numerous opportunities for students to go abroad (BEST Courses, Erasmus, etc.), but according to participants, these programs should be more promoted and conditions should be created to facilitate the attendance in this programmes; • Language courses - There should be good and free language courses provided by universities in a variety of languages; • Foster critical thinking during university - Participants shared that a discussion based learning helps them develop their critical thinking, so they prefer them professors ask them things then just present them.

How the work in the future will be?

• Many poor people - Participants predicted that with the automation and the increasing usage of robots, there will be bigger demand for high qualified professionals, thus leaving a huge number of low qualified people unemployed; • Universal Basic Income - There was not a consensus regarding Universal Basic Income, but the participants believed that it will be an approved measure, although they believed that it might not work; • Long hours of work - Although it was mentioned that the Nordic countries are trying to reduce the working hours, participants believe that workers will spend more time in their jobs, having less time to spend with their families and to dedicate to other activities such as art or the discovery of new things; • Transportation easier - As technology evolves, transporta-

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tion also improves, making it easier to go to the working place and come back home; • Virtual work - Participants also believe that there will be almost no limitations to the place where people can work, since the online tools are getting more powerful; • Everybody wants to attend university - As the demand for high qualified professionals increases, the tendency is for young people wanting even more to acquire a higher education, but still there might be work that does not require a university degree.

What can the past teach us about the future?

• Recycling & Selective Collection - It was a problem of our past on what resources are concerned, and it’s up to engineers and scientists to discover and optimize new ways of recycling; • Policy - Policy and technology are related, and professionals of the technology field can create measure to allow technology to perform at its best. It’s not just the government that is responsible for new measures, but also the companies, which are gaining more and more power, so they must think more about sustainability instead of just making profit; • Pollution - As it was aforementioned, pollution caused a lot of devastating outcomes, and fortunately there are being promoted new ways of tackling these issues, for instance: vertical agriculture, artificial trees, make cities more sustainable and environmentally friendly (construction and agriculture, city planning, parks, bicycle lanes, smart cities, im-

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•

•

• •

•

proving the parking system, etc.). Another idea given by the students was to limit the ecological footprint per person; More concern with the trees and forests - Measures should be created to protect the forests and trees, as examples, the participants stated the palm oil and its impact on the natural habitat of a variety set of species and the eucalyptus for paper production; Education of society - Create awareness on society for the problems and solutions around us. The participants gave as an example the fair trade with local farmers, that should be promoted; Technology - Promote the use of new technologies and create measures to its use such as nuclear fusion and fission, solar panels, batteries and circular economy; Change the eating habits - According with the participants, a different diet can also create an impact on the environment, for instance being a vegetarian or flexitarian or even the consumption of insects. Also on this topic, the participants complained about the price for eco-food, which according to them, should decrease; Improve the agriculture - There have been new advancements on the biology and technology field, so this knowledge should be disseminated to make the food better and cheaper.

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Global World Commerce • USA join the free market trade of EU - It was very controversial between the participants, stating that it’s not possible in the near future and smaller companies might be affected by it; • Rich companies get richer - The companies that are already powerful, will become even more powerful, since they are more capable to develop themselves, increasing the difference between the big companies and the small ones, so there should be measures to protect local businesses; • Sharing of cultures - The Global world commerce can also promote the sharing of cultures and points of view, ending up enriching the world. It might also be helpful to keep some cultures and languages alive.

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How should a university foster the development of soft skills?

Background The main goal of university is to prepare its students to their future careers. Nowadays, besides the importance of a great technical background, the professionals of the technology field need to have a great deal of soft skills. In this session, the participants discussed how can universities prepare their students for the professional world in what soft skills is concerned. This session had the contribution of Professor JosĂŠ Manuel Fonseca (NOVA FCT), that presented the system what was implemented in his faculty. The session counted as well with the presence of Professor AntĂłnio Torres Marques (FEUP).

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Methodology The session started with a presentation from Professor José Manuel Fonseca (NOVA FCT), where the participants got acquainted with a possible system of Soft Skills implementation in a University with positive results.

For the remaining part of the session, participants were split in 6 teams, and were asked to think about the most important soft skills, and how can a university address them.

Outcomes With the presentation from Professor José Manuel Fonseca, participants got to understand the problems that are connected with such measures in a university, namely the fact that the curriculum is full of hard skills topics, and there is not enough ECTS for soft skills subjects, neight the Professors are willing to give up their subject ECTS to give spot to those soft skills subjects. Another problem is that the professors don’t have the soft skills, so they cannot teach them.

The most important soft skills collected from the participants are listed below with the possible implementation from the universities: Communication and Presentation Skills This was the most referred skill. Participants felt that it was important for them to dominate rhetorics, good body language and have self-confidence while presenting. They also mentioned that communication skills in team were also of great importance.

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Implementation • Practice by making presentations; • Peer-evaluation; • Teach body language; • Watch videos to get inspired.

Project Management and Teamwork Participants also felt that project management and how to work in team of great importance for both their university studies and professional life. Overall, they mentioned the split tasks, efficiency, roles in teams and teambuilding.

Implementation • Introductory lectures about how teamwork should work; • Divide different roles over the students, and at the end of the week evaluate their role in the group; • Look at examples of great teams and how they organise themselves; • Give tasks to people in a way that they can improve their skills and the projects that make people can grow; • Use group discussion methods and feedback.

Time Management The 22 students of this session stated that because of the ambition, they want to do too many things, so they considered that there was a need to learn how to focus on the essentials.

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Implementation • Define the task deadlines of the projects that they have to do; • Make the students do a timeline and follow it. In the end, it was also evaluated how they followed it; • There is no need for special courses.

Creativity and Critical Thinking During the session, it was also mentioned that, as technology students and professionals to be, it is important to be able to think outside of the box and be critical to our work and the world around us, especially in technology and society (impact of technology, ethics, ecology, etc.).

Implementation • Solve case studies; • Insert discussion based subjects; • Use discussion in groups methods and see the different points of view.

Other soft skills that were mentioned during the session: • Emotional intelligence; • Empathy; • Self-confidence; • Problem solving; • Pro-activity; • Diversity awareness; • Methods and methodology of teaching.

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General ideas for universities The participants were divided on having special classes just for soft skills or not, but they all agreed on having to apply them on their other subjects, on projects for instance (learn by doing it). For the soft skills classes, the participants gave a few ideas about them such as: • Be mandatory but without grading; • Give ECTS to motivate; • Be once in a while (once a month or on the weekends, for instance), to make it easier for the university to implement; • One soft skill subject per semester; • At the beginning of the semester, because the students don’t have so much to do and they can learn in the beginning to apply from the middle to the end of the semester.

Having a specific class for softs skills or not, the participants agreed that it’s important to have a feedback system, so that everyone can improve.

Since there was a discussion in the beginning of the session about the availability in curricula to teach soft skills, the ideas generated, were to assess what’s really important in the curricula and change the not so important subjects. It was also mentioned that the professors don’t feel comfortable in teaching the soft skills, so it’s important to educate professors on those matters.

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Recognition of non-formal and informal education; Problems while recognising non-formal and informal education Background Universities represent high ground for academic development and treading the path to a successful career. They offer classes, courses, laboratory work, and literature with timeless scientific facts to dig into. However, at the same time, universities are places where massive networking happens, circles of like minded individuals sharing ideas are being formed. Non-formal and informal learning is what happens outside of the classroom, but why haven’t universities still found a way to acknowledge it?

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Methodology In the session about Recognition of non-formal and informal education, Professor Alfredo Soeiro from FEUP presented the NFIF project.

Then, the group of participants was split in four teams and they had time to discuss and devise a system of recognition of non-formal and informal education, by coming up with a number of criteria and guidelines. After this activity, the groups put their ideas on flipcharts that were placed around the room.

The groups were broken down, and every participant could go around, read and feedback the ideas written on the flipcharts.

The session discussing the problems while recognising non-formal and informal education took place the same day, with the support and lead from Professor Anne Marie-Jolly from Polytech OrlĂŠans. There was a presentation about the challenges and obstacles the recognition of non-formal and informal education face, as well as some initiatives for the future, which were the topic of the discussion that followed.

In the last part of the session, the participants formed the same groups from the session about recognising the non-formal and informal education, and they did a SWOT analysis on their devised system of recognition.

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Outcomes Designed systems Team RED LEVEL GRADING SYSTEM (A, B, C) • Set-up skills defined • Standardized tests to achieve next level (comment: then it’s formal) • Standardised globally • Every level defined precisely (comment: how precise?)

• Standardized card with online database • Accumulative points • A1, A2 - B1, B2 - C1, C2 Team BLACK • One-on-one interactions (professor-student, HR-employee) • Main organisation that coordinates all the small ones (certificates, well known by the companies) - many participants agreed • Competitions that promote soft skills (teamwork, creativity, communication) - many participants agreed • Point system (for attending informal educational events) • Online portfolios and events evaluating them

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Team GREEN Rewarding methods Traditional • Certificates (that only involve academic, technical skills, you can forget everything you’ve learned after an exam, but also if you pass it with a good grade you can get a certificate that companies look for • Diplomas • Credits New methods • Developing a website similar to LinkedIn, but with more objective reviews from colleagues, teachers, employers • Anonymous grades to colleagues • Star rating (Airbnb style - you don’t see your review until you’ve posted yours), then publishing the best collaborators (associations like BEST); you can have scholarships and access special projects (filter based on different characteristics - leadership, communication, etc.); companies should be part of the evaluation of some projects or presentations in order to choose their next employees Team BLUE ECTS (useless after you graduate; often does not match the effort that you need to put in; reevaluate the work of non-formal and informal learning to match the hours of work to the credits) Diploma supplement (could it lead to people ‘collecting’ diploma supplement?)

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1. Review from the people you work with (could be subjective, but that can be avoided by having been reviewed by different people) 2. Review from the organisers 3. Interview 4. Report 5. Practical exam (a situation where you are tested; simulation - to test the soft skills achieved) 6. Recommendation letters 7. Case studies 8. Oral presentations How about this EoE? Where would it fit, into the ECTS or diploma supplement?

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Presentation of SWOT analysis Team Red

Table 3: SWOT Analysis for proposal by Team Red.

Team Black

Table 4: SWOT Analysis for proposal by Team Black.

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Team Green

Table 5: SWOT Analysis for proposal by Team Green.

Team Blue

Table 6: SWOT Analysis for proposal by Team Blue.

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Matching Expectations to Reality This session was designed in cooperation with Prof. Greet Langie (University of Leuven).

Background Professor Langie provides an introductory presentation on the topic of student expectations, focusing on 3 aspects: 1. BEFORE students start at university: choice of study 2. DURING students’ studies: dropout 3. AFTER their studies: professional roles of an engineer Part 1: BEFORE Future students need guidance to make a well-thought choice of study. The following factors play a role in their choice: • Prior secondary education level • Personal capacities • Content of the programs of study • Job opportunities • Essential profile of the program (KU Leuven STEM Project, 2017)

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Part 2: DURING Dropout rates differ a lot between different European countries. Admission requirements show to have an important influence on these rates.

According to the KU Leuven readySTEMgo project 2017, the following skills are the key skills for students to succeed in their STEM studies: • Mathematics level • Effort levels in secondary education • Self-regulatory skills Part 3: AFTER After their studies, engineers can take up different roles as a professional. The PREFER Project aims to set up a Professional Role Framework that aims to raise self-awareness of students regarding their role as a future professional. The framework is based on three roles: 1. Operational Excellence 2. Product Leadership 3. Customer Intimacy Each role relies on a specific set of skills. The model allows universities to train its students in the skills relevant to their future role as a professional.

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Methodology The session starts with a 30-minute introduction by Prof. Greet Langie (University of Leuven).

Afterwards students reflect individually upon their own expectations from university during 15 minutes. They categorise their expectations in 4 categories.

1. Fulfilled: “Expectations you have that are fulfilled by your university.”

2. Unfulfilled: “Expectations you have that your university does not fulfill.”

3. Changed: “Expectations that changed throughout your studies.”

4. Newly created: “Expectations that only arose while you were in university.”

After the individual reflection, the group gathers. Students share their unfulfilled, changed, and newly created expectations with the entire group.

Finally, the last 30 minutes are spent in 3 groups. The division of the groups is based on the students’ year of studies. The newest students are in the ‘BEFORE’ group, the oldest ones are in the ‘AFTER’ group, and the middle ones are in the ‘DURING’ group.

Group ‘BEFORE’ is divided in two subteams. Each subteam creates around three proposals on how university could better shape future students’ expectations, in order for these expectations to be more realistic. Students base their proposals on the expectations mentioned in categories ‘Changed’ and ‘Newly Created’.

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Group ‘DURING’ is divided in two subteams. Each subteam creates around four proposals on initiatives universities could take to fulfill students’ expectations that are currently unfulfilled.

Students base their proposals on the expectations mentioned in category ‘Unfulfilled’.

Group ‘AFTER’ holds a group discussion with Prof. Langie about how universities are shaping their students’ career expectations and ways to improve this.

Outcomes During the individual reflection, students expressed their views on the 4 categories. The results are laid out in the 4 tables below.

Fulfilled “Expectations you have that are fulfilled by your university.”

Theory (x2) Good theoretical education Development Brain development Jobs (x2) Possibilities to find a job in science/engineering Presentation skills Training presentation and other soft skills Social Social life Complexity Get complex insight into topics Hard work I expected hard work Time Enough time left for hobbies Table 7: Fulfilled expectations of participants.

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Unfulfilled “Expectations you have that your university does not fulfil.”

Enthusiasm Diversity & depth of subjects (x2)

To be amazed through all the learning and find out what I like the most Limited variety of subjects, and more in-depth study of various subjects

Experience (x2) Summer practice, experience of work in a company Teachers’ feedback Little contact with the teachers Freedom

More freedom to shape the study program to fit my needs. (e.g. having a minor, etc.)

Hard Incorrect idea of how hard it would be Extra-curricular activities University schedule doesn’t allow for extra activities Mentoring One to one approach Modern (x2) Keep up with new technology (methods, facilities) Table 8: Unfulfilled expectations of participants.

Changed “Expectations that changed throughout your studies.”

Student organisations Improved opinion Soft skills I didn’t recognise the importance of soft skills Interdisciplinary subjects

I didn’t recognise the importance of interdisciplinary subjects

Table 9: Changed expectations of participants.

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Newly Created “Expectations that only arose while you were in university.”

Good contact with teachers Time management

To have opportunity to ask teacher about everything, even after lessons In advance, I didn’t know I would have to learn time management

Soft skills (x3) Provide courses on soft skills (e.g. communication) Project Based Learning

Apply Project Based Learning methods through the course

Studies and the subjects are too general and wide, Too general not focusing on issues and how to solve/improve them Colleagues Lower student dropout Companies Being in touch and cooperating with companies Table 10: Newly created expectations of participants.

Group ‘BEFORE’: Proposals Subgroup 1 • First year basic subjects are too theoretical and should be adapted. High school - university gap!

• Create a personality test to discover which studies fit you better; • Promote the life experience of a gap year between high school and university; • Organise meetings with old students (student organisations) • Provide more extensive, correct information.

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Subgroup 2 • Create an anonymous platform where students share their own experience; • Provide a tour at the university for high school students, let them meet professors; • Provide a mentoring program; • Organise open sessions, where students can be informed about their future lessons.

Group ‘During’: Proposals Both subgroups • Freedom: more optional subjects which leads to diversity of subjects; • Mentoring: hiring more professors (teacher feedback, individual approach); • Practice: more industry cooperation: real case studies, practical projects, etc.

Subgroup 1 • Balance between free time and work: making attendance not mandatory; • Modern: constantly improving the curriculum; • Hard: higher level of entrance exams.

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Subgroup 2 • Clear communication between teachers and students, and better guidance from the teachers; • In-depth analysis of each subject so as to discover what you like; • Advanced equipment and easy access to new technology, combined with educated teachers to know how to use them; • Diversity in teaching methods (equal amount of both individual and team projects); • Information about job opportunities - career advice.

Group ‘AFTER’: Discussion outcomes The students in the ‘AFTER’ group don’t know what they want to do after their studies.

Universities should focus more on practical work and contact with the industry, especially during the master years. This can be realised through company visits, company case studies, and Problem - Based Learning.

In the first two years, most curricula contain general courses.

Since experiences at university can change a student’s interests, a good starting point for shaping career expectations is the third year of studies.

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Next Generation University Facilities Background “Because creativity is a key competence that differentiates innovators from non-innovators, the learning environment matters.�

Nowadays companies are changing their workplace architecture in order to foster creativity in their workers, make them happy in their workplace and make them really feel the culture of the organisation. The goal of this session was to make the bridge between the new companies and what our universities can be regarding the facilities.

Methodology This session was designed as ideas gathering, so the goal here was to listen what the participants thought that a university should have and should be.

The first part of the session, the participants were divided into 4 groups, where they reflected on the following questions:

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• Why do university facilities matter and how can they be beneficial?

• What do you like about your university? (in terms of facilities) • What would you change in your university? (in terms of facilities) In the next part of the session, the participants took part in a World Café, where the facilitators divided the topic “Next Generation University Facilities” into four different sub topics: • Academics • Student Life • Health & Sports • Infrastructure In each table, the participants had the opportunity to propose ideas of what they would like to see in a university.

Outcomes Before the reflection block start, the participants were asked how many universities have they ever been, and the average result was 3.44 different universities.

Globally the participants stated that the facilities where they were studying, were important for their education and social life, once it helps create an environment where the communication, diversity, networking are improved. They also referred that it’s important for they working conditions, once it helps them feel more concentrated, relax, happy and with a better quality of life.

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What do you like about your university? (in terms of facilities) Cheap Food Machines

Laboratories 24h open

Parking Lot

Cafeterias in every building

PC Rooms 24h open

Bike park

Cantine with different menus

Accessible printer

Private rooms to study

Many Study places

Open Door Rooms

Gardens

Sports facilities

Open Spaces

Big Natural Lake

Atmosphere (home-like)

Resting spaces

Great view

Big table to work in groups

Light

Chargers on benches

Study spaces

Relaxing spaces

ATMs around

Working space

Accessible computer rooms

A nice common room for relax and hanging out

Rooms for students organisations

All the building in one area Getting to know different people

A sport center in the middle of university

Table 11: Elements that students like of their university.

What would you change in your university? (in terms of facilities) Have a common building

Bigger Library

Be safer

More attractive colors

Cozier atmosphere

Good Wi-Fi

Have lockers

Separate

Have a power nap area

Have a parking lot

Party places

More comfortable seats

Have bigger laboratories

Have a place to sit outside

Have a canteen

Have bigger tables

Have more rooms for exams

Have a gym

Have separate rooms for staying alone and groups

Have a place without distractions

Have a place to study overnight 24/7

More common rooms (beanbag, carpet, etc.)

Better acoustics in classrooms

Specialised facilities for project works

Have one building for students organisations

Have rooms with different seating arrangement

Table 12: Elements that students would like to change in their university.

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World CafĂŠ The proposed ideas of the students on what they would like to see in a university are presented below in the forms of word clouds.

Academics

Fig. 3: Elements that students would like to see in their university in accordance to academic facilities.

Infrastructures

Fig. 4: Elements that students would like to see in their university in accordance to infrastructure.

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Health & Sport

Fig. 5: Elements that students would like to see in their university in accordance to health & sports facilities.

Student’s Life

Fig. 6: Elements that students would like to see in their university in accordance to students’ life.

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Professors and Next Generation Background Professors are key players in the education of their students.

How can they cope in an ever changing world that faces global challenges? What skills will they need? What is their role in an environment that provides online course materials?

This topic is combined by three connecting sessions. The session “The ideal professor to prepare the students for the next generation challenges” was introduced by Professor Anne-Marie Jolly. The other two sessions were presented by members of the Content Team.

Methodology For the first activity, the participants were divided into 6 groups in order to discuss on the skills of a professor and then discuss to keep the 5 important ones.

During the second activity, students made an impact-effort diagram containing 4 proposals they formulated on the role of either students, universities or professors themselves in the development of these skills in a professor.

In the session “the ideal professor to prepare the students

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for the next generation challenges”, students were involved in a World Café discussing teaching approaches to promote next generation challenges and ways of stimulating entrepreneurship.

In the session “the role of a professor in an environment of online course materials”, students took part in 3 activities. During the activity, students proposed ideas and then evaluated them by agreeing or disagreeing with them.

Outcomes Hard and Soft Skills In the next table, the hard and soft skills are mentioned according to what students believe that professors should have.

• • • • • • •

Hard Skills Analitycal and technical Pedagogical knowledge Specialized knowledge on field Languages (especially English) Technology Knowledge (IT) New teaching methods Working experience

• • • • • • • • • •

Hard Skills Communication and presentation skills Self-critical Evaluation skills Presentation skills Empathy Leadership Adaptability to students’ profiles Algorithmic thinking Teamwork Ability to work under pressure

Table 13: Hard and soft skills that professors should possess according to students.

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The students have highlighted some main skills that they believe a professor should possess in order to cope in Higher Education. There are a few honorable mentions, such as empathy, algorithmic thinking, languages and new teaching methods.

Communication and presentation skills are ranking higher than any other with all 6 teams mentioning that it is a critical, needto-have skill inside the classroom.

How to acquire skills Students According to the participants, university students can have an active participation in helping professors with their skills. Feedback from students is highly mentioned to help professors improve themselves. Semester evaluations can be mandatory and rewarding to students to promote the idea of feedback. Follow ups on evaluations by the university is equally important to process the results. Immediate interactive cooperation between students and professors can be also used after each class and during projects or simply studying.

Universities Universities play an important role in helping professors as well. Professors can gain soft skills and hard skills through skill improvement courses. They can be either mandatory or freechoice and linked to the evaluation that they receive and improve it. Among these courses, professors should also receive pedagogical training in relevance to the training of elementary and high school teachers.

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Creating a rewarding system for the professors with higher marks in their evaluation can be proved useful. It will encourage feedback and generate a healthy competition among them.

The idea of sending professors to conferences is strongly supported. Active participation in conferences will lead to learning current and future trends on their scientific field and on teaching methods.

Professors Self-improvement and life-long learning have an impact on professors. New technologies facilitate the process of learning while professors’ personal initiative to take private courses promotes self-improvement. Reading papers and related literature on teaching methods can be effective.

Peer feedback between professors is encouraged by attending each other’s lectures and may produce positive results. In this aspect, it is suggested the exchange of experiences and good practices between professors of the same or different countries.

Preparing students for next generation challenges Students provided their input on specific statements. Studying the results that are shown in Fig. 7, it can be noted that innovation and entrepreneurship is rating low in what professors promote to the students. On a negative to neutral range, students are referring to if they are taught how to learn by themselves.

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Fig. 7: Diagram of students’ views on specific statements.

World Café During the world café, students discussed how professors may stimulate entrepreneurship and what teaching approaches to use to promote the next generation challenges. The results are shown in the following table (Table 14). Company visits are mentioned as real life scenarios that serve as showcases.

Stimulating entrepreneurship

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Integrate business aspect in technical subjects Innovation incubators Start-up mentoring by professor Connect business angels (money-mentoring partners) Student organisations on entrepreneurship Pitching competitions with professor as mentor Start-up fair (e.g. SLUSH) and competition Management classes Learn design Law classes ECTS for start-up Internship in start-ups Analysing examples from market Stimulate creativity Promote exchage programs Double degree on business & engineering

Teaching approaches to promote next generation challenges

• • • • • • • • • •

Company visits Open book exames / No time-constrained exams Oral exams Online platforms (e.g. Moodle) and MOOCs Research internships during studies Skills-based learning Seminars / conferences Case studies Flipped teaching Project-based learning

Table 14: How professors can stimulate entrepreneurship and what are the teaching approaches to use to promote the next generation challenges.

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The role of a professor in an environment of online course materials In order for students to be introduced to the concept of online materials in relation to the professor, students answered to if they use online materials, how often and if how useful they find them.

Fig. 8, 9 & 10: Pie-charts showing students’ experience with online materials.

During the open discussion, the matter of skipping classes in relation to online materials was tackled. There are a lot of variables that influence this issue. Older students mentioned that, during the latter years, their schedule is heavier and thus, they are unable to follow all classes. Additionally, experience has helped them know how to learn on their own. There was a frequent mention on how the professor influences the attendance through the presentation and the used materials. Though, most

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of them skip class when the professor is not interesting. If the online materials are tough to understand, students prefer the professor’s explanation.

The students went on to discuss what activities, apart from online materials, that require physical presence in the university to work or discuss are to be kept or suggest new activities that could provide added value. The results are shown in Fig. 11.

Fig. 11: Ideas and opinion on activities beside online materials.

On the matter of inspiration, students proposed what will make great professors distinguish themselves from mediocre ones, in accordance to online course materials. The results are shown in Fig. 12.

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Fig. 12: Ideas and opinion on distinguishing professors.

In Fig. 13, the students mentioned types of evaluation of courses based on online materials. As shown, students agree that open book exams though beneficial have a high difficulty level.

Fig. 13: Ideas and opinion on types of evaluation in courses based on online materials.

According to students, the types of online materials should professors use to base their course on, in order to build a complete course, may vary greatly. Interactive materials, like educational games, and videos of lectures rank among the favourite ones, as shown in Fig. 14. Online materials are considered important alongside the guidance of professors.

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Fig. 14: Ideas and opinion on types of online materials for professors to use.

The final chart is based on teacher - student interaction. Students responded to how to contact their professors and proposed ideas of the possible scenarios. In Fig. 15, the results are laid out. It is interesting to mention that though meeting during office hours and attending conferences that professors organise were mentioned, students remained neutral neither agreeing or disagreeing. While other ideas were supported, there was a unanimous disagreement on approaching them too closely by learning their hobbies.

Fig. 15: Ideas and opinion on ways of approaching professors.

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Mission impossible: Designing the perfect curriculum Background Creating a perfect curriculum is an impossible task, because for every STEM student out there, there would be a different one.

Nevertheless, higher engineering education needs to combine the founding scientific and technical blocks with different other subjects, to shape and form a specific career and profile. In today’s ever-growing and changing society, these curricula have faced the need to be revised, redefined and refreshed, according to the contemporary needs.

This session discussed what students consider important and crucial in a curriculum, what they would omit, what they would add, and tackled the topic of how university curricula will look like in about ten or fifteen years from now, in order to achieve the best desired effect for the future engineers and employers. The expected outcome was defining and shaping an ‘ideal’ curriculum that would best meet the requirements of today’s society, as well as the society of the future.

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Methodology This session was divided into three parts.

First, each participant evaluated individually their ‘perfect curriculum’ for the present year, and for the future, or year 2030.

They had to allocate a specific amount of ECTS to these subject groups: • • • • • • • •

Natural sciences (Math, Physics, Chemistry) Specific technical knowledge Business and entrepreneurship Social sciences/Humanities Sports Languages Arts Soft skills

The second part was repeating the same activity, but now the participants were split into groups of people studying the same or similar fields. They discussed their choices about the subjects they chose to form their perfect curriculum, and had to create a new curriculum together, based on their degree/field of study. In the end, every group presented and explained their results.

The last activity of this session had the group of students evaluate the importance of several different teaching methods on charts, positioning them in accordance to the effort that is needed to provide them, and the impact they are having on students.

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Outcomes

Part 1 The individual results of the first activity counted in percentages are shown according to team members that were formed in the second activity.

Team 1 – Individual responses

Fig. 16: Individual opinions of Team 1 members on what is happening now in their curriculum.

Fig. 17: Individual opinions of Team 1 members on what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

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Team 2 – Individual responses

Fig. 18: Individual opinions of Team 2 members on what is happening now in their curriculum.

Fig. 19: Individual opinions of Team 2 members on what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

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Team 3 – Individual responses

Fig. 20: Individual opinions of Team 3 members on what is happening now in their curriculum.

Fig. 21: Individual opinions of Team 3 members on what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

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Team 4 – Individual responses

Fig. 22: Individual opinions of Team 4 members on what is happening now in their curriculum.

Fig. 23: Individual opinions of Team 4 members on what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

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Team 5 – Individual responses

Fig. 24: Individual opinions of Team 5 members on what is happening now in their curriculum.

Fig. 25: Individual opinions of Team 5 members on what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

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Part 2 The first team, studying electrical and computer engineering, stated that with the increase of global changes, the need for social sciences will increase, and there should be a bit more focus on soft skills in the curriculum. Regarding sports, they agree that it should be a matter of personal choice, and not a mandatory part of a university curriculum. They think that languages should be represented less and less in a curriculum, because the new generations can learn on their own, from each other, and outside of school.

Fig. 26: Diagram of Electrical and Computer Engineering students’ opinion on what is happening now and what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

The second team agreed with the previous team about the lesser representation of languages and about not needing sports in university curricula. Because of the limited amount of soft skills present in schools right now, there will be a bigger need for them in the future, and their presence will increase. In addition,

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they thought having social sciences was important, in order to move aside from the ‘engineering mindset’, and discuss topics such as the relevance of global warming, for example.

Fig. 27: Diagram of Team 2 opinion on what is happening now and what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

Team three tackled the opinion about increasing the amount of sports in a curriculum, mandatory or optional, mainly because of the students’ sedentary lifestyle in front of a screen. However, their opinion on arts was that it is not very important to have in a curriculum, because it is a thing that every person should do in their own time.

Fig. 28: Diagram of Team 3 opinion on what is happening now and what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

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The fourth team argued the importance of being educated better in natural sciences and technical knowledge rather than business skills and social sciences, mainly because of the notion that engineers should be mostly knowledgeable deeper in their own profession. On the topic of sports, they agreed that the university should include minimal mandatory activities, and foster healthy life practices. Regarding the knowledge of languages, their opinion was that it is highly important to master one language’s technical vocabulary rather than just the general knowledge, in order to be capable of understanding and working with technical papers, patents, etc. There were mixed opinions about including arts in the curriculum - whether they could be applied and mean being able to design, create and promote more successful and aesthetically pleasing products, or be present just as a theoretical concept which arguably has no added value to a STEM degree.

Fig. 29: Diagram of Team 4 opinion on what is happening now and what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

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Team five consisted of architecture and civil engineering students. They stated that in the future, the natural sciences in a curriculum would decrease on account of the specific technical knowledge. They agreed that business classes would be more in demand, but not social sciences. Judging by their choice of study, they logically agreed on the importance of arts, their impact on creativity and the prosperity of architecture. It was also agreed that as much as soft skills are important and useful now, their usage and effect would only increase in the future, and they would be indispensable.

Fig. 30: Diagram of Team 5 opinion on what is happening now and what will happen in 2030 in their curriculum.

Overall average It is interesting to mention the average of what students see happening in their education right now according to their experiences. This compared to their beliefs as to what curricula would like in 2030 produces intriguing changes, such as the increase of soft skills subjects and decrease in natural sciences subjects (Fig. 31 & 32).

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Fig. 31: Pie-chart of overall average of students’ opinion on what is the current situation in their curriculum.

Fig. 32: Pie-chart of overall average of students’ opinion on what they believe will happen by 2030 in their curriculum.

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Part 3 In the last part of this session, the participants evaluated these teaching methods: • Traditional classroom • Project-based learning • Case study • Discussion • Flipped classroom • Internship For the traditional classroom, the opinion was that it takes medium effort and achieves medium impact now, but in the future, the impact would be even smaller, but the effort of the professors would increase.

The project-based learning was rated having a relatively high impact and high effort nowadays, but in the future the effort would be lower, and the impact would stay high.

The opinion on the case study was that it has medium impact and effort now, but in the future, both would increase.

Regarding discussions as a teaching method, the participants stated that now they require low effort but have relatively medium impact, whereas in the future the impact would increase greatly.

The idea of a flipped classroom was also being discussed and considered on this event. Participants stated that now, this ap-

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proach takes a lot of effort from the professors without being very significant and impactful on the students. However, in the future, they think that the impact would increase greatly, while it would also require bigger effort from the professors’ side.

The internship as a concept was ranked as a high effort for the professors, but having great impact on the students. In the future, the opinion is that it would take less effort to organise and arrange internships, but they will still remain highly impactful for the students.

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Final Assembly Background For the Final Assembly of EoE Porto, participants prepared specific topics according to the sessions that were involved with.

Working in teams they created proposals on education to be debated orally and readied themselves to answer questions on their projects accordingly.

Methodology For the 3-hour long session, the participants were divided into two committees of five people and two committees of six people.

Each committee was responsible to present one of the four topics discussed during the previous working hours: • Next Generation Challenges; • Next Generation Teaching Methods and Assessment of Non-formal and Informal Education; • Next Generation Teachers; • Next Generation Universities.

The goal was for them to identify the current issues within each topic and find eight achievable measures that governments and universities could develop to improve Higher Education.

The discussion of each topic took around 30 minutes and went as follows:

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• Introductory Speech by one of the committee members, in which they highlighted the issue associated with the topic; • Brief presentation of the measures; • Debate between the discussing topic committee, the other committees and also the jury; • Closing Speech by one of the committee members, in which they reinforced their opinions of the issues and, if they agreed, adapted the committee’s point of view according to the debate.

The experts present in the Final Assembly were also the jury: • Vice Dean of Faculty of Sciences of University of Porto, José Luís dos Santos • President of Order of Engineers (North Region), Joaquim Poças Martins • Deputy of the City Hall, Daniel Freitas

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Outcomes Committee for the Next Generation Teachers The discussing committee stated that the quality of teachers is vital to a faculty’s success and considered that in order to ensure this, teachers should have pedagogical training in order to know how to pass their knowledge on to the students; improved salaries so they can feel more motivated to do better; peer-to-peer evaluation and student-to-teacher evaluation to receive feedback and know where to improve; changes in selection process.

The majority of the participants raised questions regarding the way of applying the suggested measures such as how can the trainings be implemented. 27% of participants agree that teachers get more holidays than the usual workers, so they questioned the need for improved salaries. Other 3/11 of participants questioned about the justice of the changes in the selection criteria, since the teachers who are already working in universities couldn’t simply be dismissed. The opposing committees, 72%, highlighted the importance of the discussion of the teacher duality: teacher or researcher?

The committee for the Next Generation Teachers stressed that teachers’ evaluations by students should be focused in pointing out improving points as well as in the life-long learning education. They suggested that the necessary trainings focus in the problematic areas exposed in the evaluations: soft, pedagogical and IT skills. The committee stated that teachers’ evaluations only focus on the papers they publish as researchers, which can lead them to focus their motivation only in that area,

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instead of finding a balance between teaching and researching.

Overall the committee agrees that teachers should have training in order to learn innovative pedagogical skills and develop critical thinking. Teachers are the key that defines how education can evolve.

Committee for the Next Generation Teaching Methods and Assessment of Non-formal and Informal Education (NGTM) In their introductory speech, the committee clarified that they based their work on the three skills students are lacking: motivation, responsibility and time management. They consider today’s education should work with implementation of online materials; usage of flipped classrooms system; apply virtual reality simulation; a wider curriculum which involves society involvement and soft skills training and that is recognised by other entities. They stated that universities should provide students with freedom and flexibility in order to reach a global education system.

During the debate round, the opposing committees shared some concerns regarding the implementation of the flipped classrooms concept and the usage of online materials as they could entirely remove the human factor of learning. Also, one committee questioned about the applicability of the flipped classrooms - should it be applied in all courses? Or should the professor be able to decide?

The discussion about the broadening of the curriculum raised some controversy: about 50% of participants asked about the

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implementation of mandatory society involvement as well as how to assure an objective evaluation of soft skills in an international level.

The committee for NGTM defends that the human factor would not be lost in flipped classrooms since the practice would be done at the university, where there would be a teacher. The balance between teachers, usage of online courses and flipped classrooms allow students to better manage their time and is a way to respect everyone’s working rates and preferences, which are always different. As for the society involvement, the committee states that it should be mandatory for a semester and that the students could choose whichever activities they wanted such as volunteering associations, Red Cross or others. According to this committee’s participants, the certification of soft skills is just like the certification of hard skills: there is never a way to assure it is completely objective, students must trust the teacher’s good judgement.

In general, the discussing committee believed that the measures they proposed can make a change for non-formal and informal education. The usage of online platforms will allow other opportunities that will promote gradual developments for the upcoming years.

Committee for the Next Generation Higher Education Challenges In order to strive in a world that requires constant adapting, the committee for the next generation higher education challenges believes universities should promote new education and tools

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to adapt the teachers. They state that the implementation of technology in the teaching processes is a current challenge and it should be universities’ jobs to monitor and assure that it is being included inside classrooms. Also, the VUCA World forces students to have both hard and soft skills and teachers can play a vital role in helping this, so the committee stands that the existence of a feedback system is of extreme importance. Since we live in a globalized society where everyone is expected to work in multicultural environments, the committee agrees that universities should be role models and help prepare students for this world.

About 50% of participants showed concerns regarding how universities can guarantee that teachers are adapting their classes to the technologic world as they are unable to do anything even if it is not being followed. The idea of promoting new education was also questioned by one committee.

As other committees had already defended, the evaluation of teachers is very important so they can have feedback and know where and how to improve in order to match the evolutions in technology. In order to allow students an accurate understanding of real situations, the committee for the next generation higher education challenges believes subjects should be adapted and resort to new teaching methods such as project based learning and the flipped classrooms concept. While they agree that some subjects should be mandatory, the committee also agrees that students should be able to choose other subjects they can take.

The cooperation between companies and universities is considered vital by the discussing committee, as they can allow

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students to have more contact with the real world.

Summing up, the committee believes that everyone should focus on building the surrounding world. By analysing, it is possible to predict the upcoming challenges ahead of time.

Committee for the Next Generation Universities The committee for the next generation university claims that universities have a high impact in everyone’s lives, so there should be taken measures in order to assure that they are matching students’ expectations: connecting universities and companies, while allowing an adapted curriculum based on the company; self-built curriculums; a bigger diversity of subjects; universities with modern labs and facilities available at all times; shadowing of students.

During debate, the majority of participants questioned the feasibility of the collaboration between universities and companies due to several possible consequences: companies could try to mold the curriculums to their interests or even lure students to start working before they finish their degree, thus risking that students might drop out of university. The majority of participants agreed that the self-built curriculum should have an objective basis. Moreover, as 22% participants agreed, universities are a product of human developments and they often are a way to deal with the issues that are emerging. This makes their attitude towards the challenges technology is facing quite relevant, making participants question the importance between connecting the scientific curriculum to soft skills. One committee also called out to the importance for universities to ap-

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proach society in general, considering they can’t separate the knowledge from where it is created.

The discussing committee clarified that behind the self-built curriculum, students would have a variety of subjects they could choose from which ones they think is more appropriate to their studies. Also, while building the curriculum, students could be advised by someone from companies who can help them understand which skills companies are looking for. Regarding the cooperation between companies and universities, the first could allow tours or even lectures where students can view and understand the environment they will work in, one day.

As for the open labs to all the students, the committee for the next generation universities believe that universities should install security cameras in the labs and the access to them should require the student card, to assure that only the universities’ students have access.

Overall, the committee believes that the role of universities is vital to prepare students for society as they can provide knowledge on specific areas and understand the competences students should acquire. They also state that there needs to be done a deep study regarding the current curriculums and well as the workspaces.

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Conclusion

22nd August – 1st September 2017

During BEST Event on Education 2017 in Porto, 22 students convened along with experts to discuss their views, concerns and expectations on specific educational matters and current issues.

They traced problems to be tackled, raised their awareness on their education, but foremost, provided solutions that maybe proved helpful for policymakers and other related stakeholders involved in education.

The latter is easily traced at their proposals for the Final Assembly. From teacher training to society-centered

and soft-skills-based education, and from globalised universities to self-built curriculum, students have shown motivation in improving Higher STEM Education.

The outcomes of these sessions shall be distributed to all interested parties regarding European STEM Education. It is of high priority that the findings are to be used for further research to promote new advances and increase the involvement of students and engage more stakeholders for a better Next Generation education.

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References [1] Global Engineering Dean Council: GEDC Industry forum, Concept paper, University Industry Collaboration to develop the Engineer of the future (Fontainebleau, 28-30 Juin 2017) [2] American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) The attributes of a Global Engineer Project (from GEDC website) [3] Kamp. A (2016), Engineering Education in the Rapidly Changing World: Rethinking the Mission and Vision on Engineering Education at TU Delft, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands (from website TUDelft) [4] National Academy of Engineering (NAE), 2004, The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century, Washington DC: The National Academic Press [5] Facilitation Tools, TRAP 4 2002 Gliwice, Board of European Students of Technology.

Contacts

Dragana Manasova Educational Involvement Department Coordinator 2016/2017 E-mail: dragana.manasova@BEST.eu.org

Hanija Bujas Educational Involvement Department Coordinator 2017/2018 E-mail: hanija.bujas@BEST.eu.org

www.BEST.eu.org www.facebook.com/BESTorg