After the Erasmus+-funded COLIBRI project comes to an end in August 2017, we will be starting EPIC – also an Erasmus+ project – immediately afterwards. We are delighted to have secured Saxion University from the Netherlands for the EPIC project.
The main focus of EPIC – Improving Employability through Internationalization and Collaboration – is on improving the employability of students, which fits in with the EU’s strategic framework for education and training. This aims to see at least 82 percent of graduates between the ages of 20 and 34 in employment by 2020. To achieve this, EPIC wants to enhance teaching to the relevance of the labor market. To this end, closer cooperation between industry and academia is being sought: Students are to work on case studies from companies in the private sector. The main aim is for students from different universities in different countries to come together and use ICT as a tool for international cooperation. Teaching material is available to them on a publicly accessible database that offers publicly available educational resources (OER).
As students from courses such as mechanical engineering, IT, entrepreneurship/innovation and business informatics are sought for the programme, the companies’ case studies should also be geared towards this.
The project will be carried out over three consecutive years, with the students’ project work being accompanied by conferences and training courses for teachers.
The tasks of aconium GmbH mainly include the provision of teaching materials in the field of blended learning and problem-based learning for university teachers and staff, the filling of the public database with learning resources and the documentation of the impact and benefits for companies and students.
The kick-off event for the project launch will take place in Copenhagen at the end of September.