2020: A YEAR OF DISRUPTION AND RENEWAL

Editorial

The pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted virtually all aspects of human life. It has broken rhythms and routines, shattered patterns and norms, and exposed the best and worst of humanity and human institutions. Universities and institutes of higher education worldwide were not spared either.

On 16 March 2020, KU Leuven switched overnight to digital education. At the same time, the development of a mixed educational model was started, based on the principle ‘online when possible, on-campus when necessary’. This mixed model went ‘live’ on 21 September. In the first weeks, the user numbers on the digital learning platforms and the livestream service broke all records. Both professors and students quickly found their way to new forms of work, tools and technology.

In our Faculty, ‘Going Digital’ was accompanied by another radical operation: the implementation of a new engineering curriculum. This not only focuses on mastering the technology, but also on numerous other qualities and capabilities that companies expect from an engineer. At the same time, students are given more responsibility for their learning process, the possibilities for personalizing their study programme are increased and contacts with professional practice are intensified. The aim of the operation is to educate versatile and creative problem solvers and developers, who think across disciplines, and for whom lifelong learning is an indispensable part of the job. In this issue, we pay ample attention to the curriculum reform and to one of its most illustrative emanations: the Engineering Experiences.

Despite the pandemic crisis, our Faculty’s international activities continued in 2020. This is evidenced by the cooperation agreement with two new partner universities in India and China, a top position in the board of directors of The European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), an Honour Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the participation in international projects in Aruba, Ethiopia and Ukraine. Furthermore, Technovation Hub has joined the Design Factory Global Network and the Solar Team became European champion with its selfbuilt solar-powered racing car. A new Erasmus Mundus Master in Imaging & Light Extended Reality was launched at Ghent Technology Campus. Two international students won the first KU Leuven KICK Award with their innovative project and alumnus Lin Zhang became the first president of the new KU Leuven Alumni Chapter Beijing. You can read all about it in this issue. Contrary to expectations, the number of international students continued to grow. On the Leuven Campus, there is even an increase by 22%, mainly due to female newcomers. The fact that students from all over the world still find their way to our faculty is a source of hope.

COVID-19 has turned the world upside down. In a number of respect, the malignant virus has also activated and accelerated necessary innovations. The spectacular digital transformation in education is a prime example of this. This turnaround was necessary anyway, not because of the virus, but to educate suitable engineers and professionals for the 4th Industrial Revolution currently taking place.

Professor Bert Lauwers - Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Technology