Educating European engineers - EuroTeQ celebrates its first anniversary

EuroTeQ Engineering University, a project supported by the European Union to increase collaboration between higher education institutions across Europe, celebrates its one-year anniversary. Alongside five partner universities of science and technology*, École Polytechnique participates in this ambitious project to train tomorrow's engineers in Europe. 

Various initiatives have already been developed and offer faculty and students the opportunity to experiment and implement new teaching and learning formats while involving corporate partners and staff. The end of November 2021 marked the first anniversary of the EuroTeQ project, and there are already many achievements to celebrate:

A joint Course Catalog

Within the framework of EuroTeQ Engineering University, students have the opportunity to take courses taught by professors from partner universities, either in hybrid or online formats, and hence further enrich their academic pathways. The joint course catalog allows for innovation in terms of collaboration as it represents a more integrated level of partnership. Moreover, it offers students a new mode of virtual mobility, to which professors adjust their courses accordingly.

For the academic year 2021-2022, faculty members from the six partner universities offer around 150 courses from the joint course catalog. Courses offered by École Polytechnique represent one-sixth of the catalog. During the first semester, about 180 candidates from partner institutions enrolled in the courses offered by École Polytechnique. Also, about 60 students from l’X have taken advantage of the same opportunity at the partner universities abroad.

Faculty across all departments of École Polytechnique participate in the project. Students from partner universities can take courses in innovation and entrepreneurship or computer science and physics. Language courses are also in high demand, and the professors are expanding the catalog with each new semester, adding courses in mechanics, electronics, biology, architecture, and philosophy.

Pedagogical innovation

Teaching modes have evolved in recent years, paving the way for new digital and hybrid formats. Not being bound to physical locations, these new formats require the design of innovative ways to encourage exchange and collaboration. It is also crucial to consider the potentially broader diversity of profiles amongst the participants who will take a given course and foster peer-to-peer interaction and intercultural exchange. The EuroTeQ University project provides opportunities for professors to experiment and develop new teaching formats.

In collaboration with École Polytechnique's E-Learning department, seminars and workshops bring together faculty from l'X and its partner universities to discuss opportunities and challenges of pedagogical innovation and hybrid teaching formats (Learning Lab). In addition, EuroTeQ Engineering University provides funding to support professors in implementing new course formats. The next call for collaborative projects of the EuroTeQ Teaching Fund will open for applications in mid-February 2022.

The Collider: Tackle global challenges in a collaborative effort

EuroTeQ University's academic approach includes a challenge-based learning format called "Collider", which requires participants to form teams in order to solve specific grand challenges. The name alludes to the process at work in a subatomic collider, as this learning format aims to stimulate collective intelligence like a particle accelerator and trigger the formulation of new solutions.

Designed to bring together university students, researcher professors, professionals, and vocational learners around a central theme, the Collider's inclusive format offers participants an experience of international collaboration, with the ambition of contributing to addressing current societal and environmental issues.

The first EuroTeQ Collider will focus on the theme “Leave no waste behind” and be launched on the 10th of February 2022. The various challenges the teams will have to take up during the Collider will all be linked to this overarching theme. A Call for ideas was recently published to enable students, corporate partners, and staff of École Polytechnique to participate in formulating the challenges of the Collider and ensure they also reflect their thoughts and preoccupations linked to the overarching theme. During the Collider, participants will take up the challenges in teams and elaborate solutions.

International mobility for staff members

EuroTeQ also provides opportunities to experience international exchange for administrative staff from each university and encourages them to visit the partner institutions to share the experience with their counterparts. A call for applications was recently published and is ideally in line with École Polytechnique's internationalization. Several staff members will travel to partner universities to work with their counterparts in 2022.

* The six partner universities of EuroTeQ Engineering University are École Polytechnique (L’X), Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Technical University of Munich (TUM), Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) and Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU).