On Wednesday, April
The event was entitled “Bridging academia and industry by integrating ‘theory’ with ‘practice’ using the PBL approach in Engineering Education”. It was co-organized by the Social Computing Research Centre (SCRC, https://www.socialcomputing.eu/) via the Cyprus Interaction Lab (CIL, https://www.cyprusinteractionlab.com/) of the Cyprus University of Technology, CUBEiE LLC (https://www.cubeie.com/) and GrantXpert consulting (http://www.grantxpert.eu/), and was supported by the Research center on Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies (RISE, http://rise.org.cy).
The event was attended by graduate and undergraduate young engineers, VET educators, members of industrial and VET associations, representatives from companies as well as academics in higher education, who were interested in finding out more about the project and its main outcomes.
A series of presentations took place, giving the overall impression of the ENGINITE programme and major outcomes.
- Professor Panayiotis Zaphiris, director of SCRC, opened the event with an introduction to the Social Computing Research Centre of the Cyprus University of Technology.
- Assistant Professor Andri Ioannou (Project coordinator, Cyprus University of Technology) presented an overview of the project and its general goals.
- Professor Søren Willert (Project partner, Aalborg University) presented on Problem-based Learning as the main ingredient of ENGINITE.
- Dr Yiannis Georgiou (Project manager, Cyprus University of Technology) and Dr Nikos Xekoukoulotakis (Project coordinator at Technical University of Crete) presented the implementation and evaluation of the ENGINITE postgraduate Vocational Education and Training (VET) programme in Cyprus and in Greece.
- Mr Andreas Andreou and Mr Panayiotis Andreou (Project partners, CUBEiE LLC) presented on why companies and young engineers should to follow the example of the ENGINITE project.
- Mrs. Christina Achilleos, Ms. Stephani Theophanous and Mrs. Elina Spiliotakopoulou (Project partner, GrantXpert) presented on maximising the impact of ENGINITE via new opportunities for professional development.
The event concluded with an open discussion, during which the attendees had the opportunity to interact with the speakers via posing their questions.
The event was a very successful one. The attendees gained a better understanding of the role of PBL pedagogy, as a valuable pedagogy in the training of graduate engineers. In particular, they had the opportunity to understand how the ENGINITE Vocational Education and Training (VET) programme has captivated the career and employability skills of the new engineers – among others: innovation, entrepreneurial skills, efficient quality, health and safety management, problem solving, communication and presentation skills – while it also enhanced their technical knowledge in critical fields of engineering.
Stay tuned by following our ENGINITE Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/EnginiteErasmus/) for receiving more news and updates about the project!
