FACULTY LAUNCHES NEW INTERNATIONAL POLICY PLAN

NIEUWS UIT DE FACULTEIT

The Faculty of Engineering Technology has invested resources and staff in developing an international strategic plan from its founding onwards. The previous five-year international strategic plan 2016-2021 was under review in the middle of a pandemic situation with international collaboration almost reduced to zero. Nevertheless, the Vice-dean for International Affairs, Professor Koen Eneman, and his team did not hesitate to renew the international engagement. Together with the Faculty Council for International Policy (FCIP) he developed a new vision for the coming 5 years.

The context for international relations has changed, so our faculty approach and strategy are facing up to the new challenges and opportunities. The pandemic situation of the past two years has yielded some important international insights: digitalisation is here to stay in all fields of international collaboration, new formats for mobility are proliferating, and multiculturality and international competences are at the forefront of the learning outcomes of our study programmes.

The new policy plan builds upon the realisations of the previous one and on the international mission statement that was adopted in 2015. The international activities in our faculty are geared towards four levels: students, staff, the organization as a whole and our role in society. The basic principle is that inter - nationalisation is a transversal action, which permeates all activities in education, research and services in the faculty. Internationalisation is not a goal, but a means to higher quality in each on each of these four levels.

Hilde Lauwereys and prof. Koen Eneman

© Julie Feyaerts

Motor of innovation

The international mission statement starts from the assumption that our graduate engineers can function well in an intercultural environment. Professors and staff are coaching the students actively and work in an international context whereby internationalisation is a motor for innovation in education and research.

The faculty creates the necessary framework to allow these international activities to develop. It facilitates international activities by a specific human resource policy, by a strategic partner policy, the necessary services, and financial means.

The strategic targets for students for the period up to 2025 focus on developing intercultural competences for our graduate students. All students graduating in Engineering Technology must be able to function in an international and intercultural context.

The post-covid era urges us to think of new ways of achieving these targets such as blended and virtual mobility, COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), international student challenges etc. In this respect several concrete actions were set up such as participation in the UNA EUROPA student hackathon (July 2021) or the blended intensive programme “Sustainable energy in an IoT world” (March 2022).

Partner universities

Another strategic choice lies in the increase of the faculty’s English-taught course offering at Master level (in addition to the unique English-taught ‘Bachelor of Engineering Technology’). At the moment, our faculty boasts 8 master’s programmes and 3 advanced master’s programmes in English. A new working group on international recruitment, founded by the FCIP, is taking concrete actions for these study programmes, such as an online recruitment evening.

The new policy plan furthermore includes actions geared towards staff, with specific attention to support for the integration of our increasing group of international staff. An online networking event to address questions from our international staff and doctoral students in May 2021 proved to be very successful.

International collaboration builds upon a strong network of international partner universities and there also the faculty is making some important choices. The international partner plan has been reviewed and updated with an increased attention for the development of several strategic partnerships. The faculty’s educational programme committees (POCs) have been involved in a discussion to work towards an appropriate partner policy, both for EU and non-EU partners. The ongoing operation in the POCs will result in a pilot project for course package semesters later in 2022.

This in-depth curriculum comparison can yield important insights for the ongoing curriculum reforms in our faculty.

International campuses

New formats for mobility, increased attention for international master’s programmes and a pilot project for course packages are three actions that are at the forefront of international activities in the ongoing year. Professor Koen Eneman, together with Hilde Lauwereys, the Domain Coordinator for Internationalisation will also monitor the quality of all activities by a set of quality indicators (figures are an important basis for data-based policy).

They will, based on the results of the international quality indicators, define an annual action plan with priorities for that year.

Building on international campuses is a long and winding road, the faculty’s new international policy plan is an important corner stone to achieve this goal.

Koen Eneman, Hilde Lauwereys