Quality Issues of Leonardo Industrial Placements of Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary.

Peter Moson, Leonardo Institutional Coordinator, moson@tutor.nok.bme.hu

1. Introduction

The presentation (and this abstract) will start with a short introduction of the university. Section 3. is devoted to the different Leonardo mobility projects realized. It is followed by the presentation of the Mobility Award winner project HU/01/PL/202. In Section 5. some question formulated by the chairperson of this workshop is discussed. The last part contains related literature, links etc.

2. Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE, www.bme.hu, founded in 1782) is a research (3 Nobel Prize winners) and higher education (15.000 students) institution in Hungary, Central Europe. It has regular HE training in 5 languages (Hungarian, English, German, French, Russian). There are 8 faculties (architecture, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, transportation engineering, natural, economic sciences). At this moment BUTE offers 2, 3, 5 (here is the most important number of students), 8 year training. A new educational system corresponding to the Bologna declaration will be introduced in 2005/06. The increase of practical placements (especially abroad) is a part of the strategic plan of the university. There are different internships, among others those carried out in the framework of EU Leonardo da Vinci program.

3. BUTE has been taking part at the Leonardo mobility program since 1999. At this period in 11 mobility projects more than 200 students, young graduates went to work (minimum length 13 weeks, average is 20 weeks) in an EU country. The main elements of the Leonardo support are: ca. 400 EURO / month scholarship, one round trip, insurance.

BUTE organizes 3 types of placements: Blue collar (for students having ca. 60-120 credit points, mainly to France); Technician (ca. 200 credit points, mainly in informatics to Germany); Young graduates.

4. Quality assurance of a mobility project

The French language education of BUTE (where similarly to the German one the first 4 semesters are taught in French) contains a compulsory summer practical placement in France. The internship corresponds to the field of studies. Since 2001 it has been partly realized (ca. 20 students / year) by Leonardo projects. The presentation follows the EU “Statement of Principles on Quality in Educational Mobility”.

(1) Learning plan. As it is a blue collar internship there is no such a plan fixed earlier. In other placements (technician, young worker – engineer) it is a must.

(2) Recognition. The students receive a Certificate signed by the director of the French “grande école” INSA de Rennes and the rector of BUTE for the full training, of which this placement is an integral part.

(3-4) Preparation. Linguistic: the training contains 4 hours / week professional French lectures in each semester; Cultural, general: BUTE has a young French employee who takes part both in preparation (e.g. how to write a CV) and organization of the placement.

(5) Mentor. Besides the double tutorship mentioned earlier most of the students (especially who works for a new in the project enterprise) are visited at their workplace in the second, third week.

(6) Logistics. The university has an experienced Leonardo financial unit, it cares for this type of activities. The project has its own homepage, where all necessary information (including documents to fill it) can be found (see http://tutor.nok.bme.hu ).

(7) Evaluation. During the placement period the standard Leonardo documents are used. After the return the students prepare a written report (in French, ca. 20 pages). There is an oral presentation before a board (members: a university professor, a language teacher, sometimes a representative of the company). Finally a mark is given.

(8-9) Reintegration is not relevant to this project. Responsibilities are defined and can be found on the homepage as well.

5. Some remarks.

The Leonardo internships are organized by university personal. There is a coordinator on university level, the financial organization is common. Some other placements are organized by the students’ union.

The university cooperates with technological college of Budapest (their program contains a so called practice semester).

Future. BUTE understands the logic of Leonardo program and the differences between Erasmus and Leonardo. However we would appreciate a larger stability (e.g. if the projects have been realized with success then the renewal is quasi automatic).

6. Literature, links.

A practical guide has been prepared in a Leonardo pilot project coordinated by CEFI (France) about the evaluation of industrial placements abroad. See www.cefi.org . The presenter reported about these activities at different ICEE (International Conference on Engineering Education) conferences. See www.ineer.org .

Budapest, October 27, 2004