FACULTY BOOSTS INTERNATIONAL PROFILE

EDITORIAL

In 2023, the Faculty of Engineering Technology will celebrate its tenth anniversary. From the start, work has been done to develop an international profile in education, research and services. This manifests itself in an increasing number of Englishlanguage programmes, international research projects, student exchanges and cooperation with partner universities worldwide. The figures show that we are on the right track with our internationalisation policy. This academic year, the number of international students increased by 14%, double the university average. On the Leuven campus, international students are even in the majority in the first bachelor year. They represent no less than 80 different nationalities. Among PhD students, we see the same trend: half come from abroad, over 70% of them from outside the EU.

What drives students from all over the world to register at our faculty? A survey of international starters shows that they are mainly attracted by ‘the practice-based approach’, followed by the level of ‘technical skills’ and ‘interaction with the professional field’. Decisive factors in the study choice were ‘KU Leuven’s place in the international rankings’, ‘the content of the courses’ and ‘the professional options with the degree’. The prestige of our university, the quality of our education and the extensive future and career prospects we offer are motivating more and more young people to leave their home countries and become KU Leuven students.

In this overview issue, we highlight professors, researchers, students and alumni who have worked to raise the international profile of our faculty and its campuses in 2022. Best practices undoubtedly include the successful 29th Conference on Life Cycle Engineering and the 9th Conference on Assembling Technology & Systems, both under the auspices of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), a leading organisation in production engineering research that unites more than 600 academics and industrialists. Other eyecatchers were the smart wheel chair built by spin-off CoMove IT and the launch of two new international programmes: the Advanced Master of Artificial Intelligence in Business & Industry and the Postgraduate Smart Operations & Maintenance in Industry.

In this issue, we also pay attention to the researchers working on lifelong learning programmes and the development of polymers for the production of smart wound dressings with diagnostic and antimicrobial capacities. Furthermore, we reflect on the structural embedding of business practice in training through the collaboration with the Siemens Industry Academy. This should lead to moments or periods in every year of the programme where the students will be immersed in engineering practice. Intensive cooperation with industry is also one of the strengths of the Lab for Lighting Technology, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

Of course, the student teams did not leave themselves out in international competitions in 2022: the Solar team in Africa, Formula Electric Belgium on the European racing circuits and the iGEM team in the international synthetic biology competition in Paris. They were joined this year by two new strongly internationally oriented teams: Aether and Neurotech Leuven. We proudly introduce them in this issue.

That alumni are our best ambassadors at home and abroad has been confirmed again this year. Graduates from our campuses won prestigious awards, make careers in business and academia or are entrepreneurs in sectors where you would not immediately expect an engineer such as agility, self-management or sociocracy to name a few. They are examples of the versatility and multi-purpose of engineers trained on our campuses.

By the way, innovative ideas and projects are not only born from international cooperation. Where young people from different continents and cultures meet, feelings also germinate, from close friendship to true love. Witness this George & Jesheena in this country and Stijn and Sophie in the States. With their warm story, we end a dark and chilly year in beauty.

Professor Bert Lauwers Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Technology