Abstract:

Started in 2019, “GLOCAL-Innovation future engineers' training for contemporary city's problems” is an “Erasmus + KA203 - Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education” project (2019-1-PL01-KA203-065654). A consortium of three European universities is carrying out the main objective of the project: Politechnika Bialostocka / Bialystok University of Technology (BUT), from Poland, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), from Spain and Klaipedos Valstybine Kolegija / Klaipeda State University of Applied Sciences (KVK), from Lithuania. There are universities open to the modernization of their education programs to current needs, having a wide range of technical science, including research aimed at public space's modernisation and raising cities's standard of living. The implementation of this GLOCAL project, under the lockdown of many countries due to Covid-19, has been difficult. We have been confronted with an unexpected risk that has compelled us to using new digital technologies and resources, developing new strategies and methods to overcome the lack of face-to-face activities. This paper will explain the importance of those new tools for education but it will also underline how direct contact is needed to create the links that allow the collaborative process to be effective.

GLOCAL is a project that will teach future engineers to think globally and act locally. It responds to the current needs of the European labour market, through changes in the higher education system. It takes into account the need to improve the standard of living in cities, expectations addressed to the engineering industry, the availability of ITC technology and greater professional mobility's need. Assessment of current skills of technical university graduates showed lack of competence in the field of cooperation in multi-disciplinary teams, in dealing with difficult interdisciplinary projects, in responding to location, technical, social, legal, ecological, cultural heritage, image and brand development problems to improve the quality of life in the city's complex conditions. Engineers working in the broadly understood architectural, construction and civil engineering industry must now demonstrate the skills of creative action and cooperation in interdisciplinary and international teams of designers and contractors. They are expected to act in engineering teams to understand the non-technical values of their activities. The GLOCAL project will promote among summer school's participants the extension of interdisciplinary technical knowledge, language competences and work in international teams.

The project also includes three short methodological training sessions for partner universities' academic staff (24 teachers), to improve their skills in modern education technologies as well as the exchange of interdisciplinary knowledge and establishing scientific contacts. The First of this short training courses (C1. E-learning) was held from 2 to 6th March 2020, at Bialystok University of Technology, in Poland. The consequences of Covid-19 have made this course even more effective than it was planned, as we explain in this paper.

Keywords:

Students and Teaching Staff Exchange Programmes, Research Projects on Learning and Teaching Innovations.