Quality of EU
Leonardo mobility projects university-enterprise
Authors:
Peter Moson, Budapest
University of Technology and Economics (BME), H-1521,
Ildikó Varga,
Abstract ¾ The “Statement of Principles on Quality in Educational Mobility”
developed by the European Union (EU) contains detailed recommendations listed
in 9 points (Learning plan, Recognition, Preparation, Linguistic preparation
and assistance, Mentor, Logistical assistance, Debriefing and evaluation,
Assistance with re-integration, Commitments and responsibilities). The paper
presents how these principles are applied to the practical placements (of 3 different
types: blue collar, technician, engineer) of students, young graduates in some
European countries and especially at the
Index Terms ¾ Internship, international co-operation, quality, valorization.
Introduction
It is
widely accepted that the practical placements play an important role in the
higher education, especially in the training of future engineers. The
globalization of economy requires more and more international experience.
However in many countries only a small part of students take part in this
activity at home, and even less abroad. The situation is worse in the 10 states
newly entering (in 2004) the European Union (EU). These facts (among others)
led the European Union to the creation of the Leonardo da Vinci program, to
facilitate, support the professional cooperation of economy – education in the
member states. The Leonardo program is in its 2nd phase (2000-2007).
It contains different elements: pilot projects, networks etc. This paper mainly
concentrates on the mobility projects. The practice of Budapest University of
Technology and Economics (BME, www.bme.hu) will illustrate the different
aspects. There is a quantitative growth of the number of Leonardo placements
(e.g. at BME from 8 in 1999, to 105 in 2005), and a parallel increase of
quality requirements, methods to stimulate the good practice. The authors
present the general European, National etc. elements of quality, and consider
their realization in case of BME projects. Some economy-education,
international cooperation activities were considered from a different viewpoint
in [1]-[7]. The aim of this paper on one hand is to summarize the thinking,
activities related to educational mobility, and on the other hand to find new
partners to better realize and develop these principles.
EU Statement of Principles on Quality in Educational
Mobility
Following
the debates of different European organizations (Council / Commission) in the
early 2000 several recommendations were accepted including: “The Commission and
the
Statement of Principles on Quality in
Educational Mobility.
(1) Learning plan,
(2) Recognition and transparency, (3) Preparation, (4) Linguistic preparation
and assistance, (5) A mentor, (6) Logistical assistance, (7) Debriefing and
evaluation, (8) Assistance with reintegration, (9) Commitments and
responsibilities.
Valorization, a new concept in Educational Mobility
Following
the setting of the above mentioned quality criteria a new concept started to
take shape, the concept of valorization in mobility. The international
consultation on this new approach has been initiated at a conference in
Valorization in practice, the possible positive
impacts of educational mobility
Educational mobility is generally viewed
on the individual’s level. Clearly, its positive impact on the beneficiaries
greatly depends on the quality of the mobility. A high quality foreign
practical training obviously has long-term results on the individual’s
professional and personal development, it improves: (1) Occupational and
professional skills and qualifications, (2) Foreign language, communication and
intercultural skills, (3) Personal and social skills and competencies. However, we can also identify long-term
benefits on institutional or even national level as well. By introducing the
concept of valorization these wider impacts come into the spotlight as well.
Without defining the goal, these possible impacts become isolated and the
opportunities are not necessary explored. The achievement of institutional
benefits depends on quality project management, institutional strategies and
well-defined cooperation between the project management and other units of the
institution. Without completeness we list some possible benefits at the
educational institution level: (1) Networking – sharing and exchanging
experiences and professional knowledge, (2) Adapting new training methods in
the institution, (3) Improving the professional international relations of the
institution, (4) Increasing the prestige of the institution. Similarly, we can
identify long-term benefits on the other participating institution, on the
company’s level as well: (1) Improved human resource management, (2) Closer
company-training institution cooperation, which might help to harmonize the
training content and the needs of the enterprise, (3) Up-to-date information
about current research, (4) Possibility to initiate research at the training
institution directly or indirectly. The national level might seem to be very
far from an educational mobility, but if these programs get the needed
publicity (trough dissemination) then the good practice can reach the level of
decision-makers as well. The possible results could be: (1) More practice
oriented training programs, (2) Closer links with the world of work, (3) Policy
declarations closer to reality, (4) Gaining and building on transnational
experiences [8].
Quality elements in Hungarian Leonardo Projects
Here we will list the steps taken by the management at the
BME Leonardo Unit to ensure the quality of international practical placements.
Depending on the type of beneficiaries (students at the beginning of their
studies, who will work as blue-collar workers or higher year engineering students
or even newly graduated young workers) some of the steps might be different,
but the main principles are the same. We will follow the previously described
quality criteria classification. The first step is to inform the student body
about the possibilities. We use several channels for this: There is a
constantly updated homepage (www.tudig.bme.hu – Leonardo placements). Information
is posted in the Central building and in dormitories of the university, student
organizations are informed and the info is posted on electronic mail-groups as
well. The teachers of the university are also informed, mainly trough the
newsletters of the Office of the International vice-rector and other university
publications. This ensures the recognition and transparency of the program at
the university. The logistics of the application and selection process is
worked out and the conditions are known to everybody. A special element is that
every student must have a support letter from a university teacher, which is
not only requirement for the selection, but also the first step towards the
preparation of the training. This person might act later as the mentor or tutor
of the student, so giving his support is also a declaration of the fact, that
the planned professional activity at the foreign company is beneficial for the student;
it has the required educational value. The selection process is mostly based on
the CV of the student (professional background) and on the educational quality
of the training offered by the company. There are some other criteria for
selection as well: (1) Positive discrimination
for those students who are receiving some kind of welfare benefits, (3)
Preferred equal distribution of the placements among faculties, (2) At some
faculties there is a pre-selection process to choose the best candidates. It
can be seen, that the learning plan or description of professional activities
at the company plays an integral role in the application and the selection
process. We think that on the individual
level this is the best guarantee of the high educational quality of a practical
training. Here we would like to mention some good practice which points at the
new direction, namely aims at the institutional benefits, the valorization.
Some university-company co-operations have been going on for years now (e.g.
between the Faculty of Transport Engineering and a Cologne-based German
company, RLE International). This means that special skills, that -partially
because of this cooperation- became part of the training program, could be
attained at this particular company, but before the training there is one
semester preparation course for the students at the university. This is how
theoretical and practical knowledge can meet in a university and company co-operation.
This particular joint activity has been going on for more than 10 years,
outside the EU Leonardo support as well. Another example for good practice is a
cooperation between German companies and the Faculty of Civil Engineering. In
the framework of it newly graduated students will have a practical training
period at the company, where the tasks carried out will be supporting the joint
research of the company and the faculty. So the trainee means a real link
between the two sectors. After the selection process all the necessary
administration (contracts, travel plans, insurance…) is helped by a central
management unit, the Leonardo Office of BME. This unit has more than 5 years of
experience in the implementation of practical training programs, therefore
centralizing makes sense, this support activity (logistical assistance) is a
lot more efficient. During the training period the student is asked to report
about the training altogether 3 times ( 1 week after starting, at half-time and
at the end). These reports include professional a practical details (housing,
social activity, communication problems, financial facts) as well. We encourage
the self evaluation of the students, asking them specific questions about
evaluating their pre-training and after-training skills and asking them to
report about their shortcomings as well. In the evaluation of the final report
there is a significant difference between the students working as blue-collar
workers and the older, more qualified students. The students who are at the beginning
of their studies will have to present their final report in front of a panel of
engineering and linguistic experts. This emphasizes that the real educational
value of these placements is not necessarily the actual vocational development,
but the integration to the working environment, the actual work experiences gained
and the improvement of communication skills. They have to give oral account of
all these in front of the experts, after finishing their written final report.
The more trained, higher year students will also write a final report, but the
real evaluation is done by their mentor or other course teachers, preferably
their thesis advisor, who they will report to about their professional achievements.
In all cases we encourage companies to issue a reference letter for the
trainees, which they can later include in their portfolio. This however is the
responsibility of the company, and they can not be forced to prepare it. Another
“proof” of the successful internship is the EUROPASS certificate, which has
been delivered regularly since 2005. Finally we address the question of
responsibilities and commitments. In the 2005-round of applications the
applicants had to include an official Letter of Commitment on Quality assurance
signed by each participating institutions, schools and companies as well. So
the previously mention quality criteria was already present at the planning
stage, acknowledged by all partners. Therefore at least in theory every actor
in the educational mobility area is aware of its responsibilities and is committed
to the high quality standards. In practice a lot depend on the middle
management, the persons who are actually implementing the programs.
Technical Support to Hungarian Leonardo Projects
The Hungarian Tempus Public Foundation
(TPF, www.tpf.hu) as the organizer of the Hungarian Leonardo Programme (among
many other European and governmental programmes) offers a wide range of
technical support to the project organizers. In 2004 they created an electronic
database for the running Leonardo projects, which is used by the coordinating
institutions. This makes the practical and financial administration a lot
easier, reducing the administration by using a unified, standard format which
on one hand can be used to keep track of the project developments and on the
other hand can be used to fulfill the reporting requirements. TPF also operates
a home-page which has an international partner search data-base, where for
example companies list job offers for prospective Leonardo beneficiaries.
Project organizers can find every important information on TPF’s home-page,
which makes everyday work quite easy. Any help which reduces the technical
problems and makes administration and legal procedures automatic gives the
opportunity for the project managers to spend more time on the professional
issues, like quality management. TPF also provides professional help in the
form of conferences, where certain aspects of EU programs and policies are presented
and good practices can get publicity (dissemination conferences). The authors
were invited lecturers and participants of such conferences several times in
the past. These informative conferences are very useful tools in dissemination
and in idea-sharing as well, meeting other project organizers gives a great
opportunity learn from their good practices. TPF also coordinates international
activities as well, informing Hungarian institutions about current European
events, meetings or contact seminars and we would like to mention here that the
authors also reported to TPF about the ICEE(R) conferences during the last four
years.
International Co-operation
The quality issues have been playing an
important role for several years. Here we mention only a few EU Leonardo
projects, events with the participation of Budapest University of Technology
and Economics. This participation helped us to study, understand international
experience and by this way improve our own work. The MESIPA Leonardo pilot
project [3] “Methodology to Evaluating Student Industrial Placements Abroad”
developed a Practical Guide containing methodologies, case studies, guidelines.
The project was coordinated by CEFI (F), the consortium member came from European
countries (D, F, H, S, SW). Details, full text of the guide (www.cefi.org). In the
framework of Leonardo Network project (whose consortium covered practically the
whole continent) FACE “Chemical Education for a Competitive and Dynamic Europe”
a White book was published. It contains the current situation, good practice,
recommendations. Detail about FACE: http://face.fh-fresenius.de. The title of
the Annual German Leonardo da Vinci Conference 2004 was “Quality of Mobility
Projects University –
Awards
In some European countries, including
Summary
Engineering education is a segment of
higher education where the need for practical training elements is quite
obvious. The traditionally academic, theoretical education must answer the
challenges of the constantly changing demands of the industry and economy. On
the other hand globalization and the demands and opportunities of the growing
EU pose another challenge, internationalization. The EU Leonardo Program in its
second phase aims at tackling these challenges, by supporting foreign practical
placements in all areas of vocational education, including engineering
education. As the Leonardo program has already finished its first stage, the
early, pioneer times are over, the program is well known in
Acknowledgement
The
authors on behalf of Budapest University of Technology and Economics thank the
European Union (especially the Leonardo da Vinci program) for the support of
the international practical placements. The Hungarian National Leonardo Office
(Peter Tordai, director, Judit Hermandy-Berencz, responsible for mobility
projects) offers continuous help to the realization of the projects mentioned
above. Special thanks to industrial and higher education partners (their list
can be found in the project applications at http://tutor.nok.bme.hu). This
paper and its presentation at the ICEER2005 conference could not be possible
without the support of BME (especially of rector Karoly Molnar, vice-rector and
director on international relations and research Miklos Zrinyi, Antal Adam).
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