9601

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EU-CANADA CO-OPERATION EN CAN-9601 (FACHHOCHSCHULE BIELEFELD) 4130

International engineering and management training

Improving the education of engineers andmanagers

For the global market-place of the future, engineering and managementstudents need to broaden their education. To meet this challenge eightCanadian and European universities took part in a project to improve

the mutual understanding between the European Union and Canada inthe field of engineering and management training. To date, 110 studentand 20 staff have been involved in exchanges and the project has led to

the signing of new co-operation agreements between its partners.

Today’s engineering students are tomorrow’s research and development managers. Their

education is part of a country's investment in its future economy and growth in new fields

of industry and business. As markets become increasingly global, an important part of this

education is for students to learn about different cultures and gain practical experience in

overcoming the difficulties of communicating and working in a foreign land.

With this objective in mind, a project was started in 1996 to promote international co-

operation and understanding between Europe and Canada in the higher education of

engineers. It involved five EU universities in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and

the UK, and three Canadian universities in British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec. These

training institutions in international engineering and management set up joint educational

programmes to improve both the quality and content of their study courses by supporting

the exchange of students between them.

Improving mutual understanding

The project’s main purpose is to improve the mutual understanding in the field of

engineering and management training between the EU and Canada. This is being

achieved by introducing student exchanges, developing procedures for the mutual

recognition of academic results, applying new technologies and integrating periods of

industrial training into study courses.

Language courses and short visits are furthering the development of an organisational

infrastructure for student counselling, selection criteria and the recognition of academic



results. Lectures by academic staff from overseas are being given to acquaint students

with the teaching methods and study contents of another country’s educational system.

Teaching material is being developed for the field of distance teaching and staff are

working at partner institutions to improve their virtual mobility.

Bilateral acceptance

An infrastructure has been developed to enable the exchange of students. Each

university had its own selection criteria for students and was responsible for helping to

establish points of contact and supply initial information. A grade transfer system has been

negotiated and has become established as the common basis for all European and

Canadian partners. Bilateral acceptance of courses and placements by all partners has

been agreed for the duration of the programme and the future.

The European partners hold an annual seminar for all Canadian students to provide a

uniform approach to the project. Teaching methods are improved by regular quality checks

including monitoring the experiences of students taking part. This helps to promote

understanding of the higher education systems of the countries involved. In Canada, an

information handbook has been produced on the European partner universities. The

number of exchange students has reached 110 so far and around 20 staff have crossed

the Atlantic as visiting lecturers.

Modifying courses

Negotiations between partners are now concentrating on preparations to continue the

project beyond the funding period. Bilateral agreements have already been signed or, are

on the way, between EU and Canadian partners as well as just between EU partners. The

exchange programmes will be extended to both engineering and management graduates

and within the former exchange the focus will be more on training in industry projects.

This project will influence the contents of study courses on both sides of the Atlantic. In

particular, as a result of its success, student mobility and credit transfer have been

accepted into degree courses for Canadian engineers for the very first time.



PROJECT NUMBER 96-07-CAN-0004-00PROJECT TITLE International engineering and management training

KEYWORDS business, credit transfer, cultural training, distance learning,engineering, handbook, management, training

NUMBER OF STUDENTS Mobile: 110Non-mobile: 200

STARTING DATE June 1996DURATION 42 monthsTOTAL COST Europe: 270,000 euro

EC contribution: 123,000 euroCanada: CAN$ 160,000

EUROPEAN CO-ORDINATOR Brigitte PerlickFachhochschule BielefeldKurt-Schumacher-Str. 6D-33615 Bielefeld

TEL: +49 521 106 2610FAX: +49 521 106 2600EMAIL [email protected] www.fh-bielefeld.deTYPE OF INSTITUTION: University

PARTNER 2: Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-CambresisCONTACT: C. Delebarre

Le Mont HouyB.P. 311F-59304 Valenciennes Cedex

TEL: +33 3 27 14 12 34FAX: +33 3 27 14 12 00EMAIL: [email protected] OF INSTITUTION: University

PARTNER 3: Hogeschool voor Economische Studies RotterdamCONTACT: A. Siddré

Kralingse Zoom 91NL-3006 AA Rotterdam

TEL: +31 10 24 20 181FAX: +31 10 24 20 183EMAIL: [email protected] OF INSTITUTION: University

PARTNER 4: Universitá Politecnica de CatalunyaCONTACT: Juan Jesus Perez

Avda. Diagonal 647E-08028 Barcelona

TEL: +34 93 40 16 627FAX: +34 93 40 16 600EMAIL: [email protected] OF INSTITUTION: University

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.fh-bielefeld.de/



CANADIAN CO-ORDINATOR University of Manitoba, Faculty of EngineeringWinnipeg, Manitoba

TYPE OF INSTITUTION: University

PARTNER 2 University of VictoriaVictoria, British Columbia


PARTNER 3 Université de SherbrookeSherbrooke, Quebec


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