Talks and Workshops

The EuropeAid Office of the European Community has just awarded the University of Borås a grant for a three-year project devoted to the development of an International Masters programme entitled: “Linking universities in Asia and Europe in implementing Sustainable Technology to SME:s”. The project will be enforced in close co-operation with the University of Reading in the UK and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyokarta, Indonesia. The programme is targeted to students with an engineering or economic background from all countries. App. 50% of the positions is intended for students from less developed countries. The developed curriculum will be “tested” on a first group of 24 students and the development and testing of distance learning techniques. During the curriculum development, as well as during the accomplishment of the master’s programme, teacher as well as student exchange and mobility will be important issues. This proposed project will promote networking between higher education institutions in Europe and Asia, but also promote networking between universities and society. Although from the start, only one Asian university will be involved, further universities in Asia and elsewhere will participate in tutoring the master thesis projects and thus be included in an active network. These universities can – in a continuation of the international master programmes – also be hosts for such programmes. The overall objective is - to upgrade and enhance the skills of teaching staff and postgraduate students of European and Asian universities - to transfer knowledge and technology to SME:s (Small and Medium sized Enterprises) - to enhance the co-operation with universities as well as SME:s in Asia and Europe. These are important issues, as the rate of acquisition of knowledge and research results from universities to SME:s normally is very low. We acknowledge that there exist different traditions and views on sustainability issues as well as on ways of co-operation between universities and SME:s in different countries. An important goal of this project is to melt these traditions together. Students are a primary source for transfer of new knowledge and – just as important – new attitudes to society. The students will at their future employments do as they have been trained to do and use the tools they have used during their studies. This is a primary goal of the project. The overall theme of the master’s programme is SUSTAINABILITY in technical as well as economic and social perspectives, with respect to a. o:- Energy conservation- Natural resources management (including water management)- Waste management- Industrial processes- Entrepreneurship and SME co-operation- Technology transfer principles, including intellectual property issues- Leadership.An important part of the masters programme is an R&D (Research and Development) project for the last two semesters of the Master’s programme. The projects will be performed in active co-operation with local universities, local society stakeholders, such as local, national government, regional, and international institutions, enterprises (SME:s) and business associations as well as NGOs and professional associations in Europe and Asia. Preferably, the students work together in a group of two or more students, preferably with mixed Asian and European students and mixed academic backgrounds.The main task for the associate partners in the project:1. The ITDG-group Ltd, UK2. Artefact fGmbH in co-operation with Universität Flensburg, Germany3. Center for Sustainability Driven Enterprise Development, CMF, Borås, Sweden4. Directorate for Vocational Education at the Ministry of National Education, Indonesiais to supply the students with ideas of R&D-projects (Master theses) and, just as important, background information and data. The associate partners will also support in tutoring the R&D-projects.Provisional content of the curriculum:1st semester:Initial theoretical studies including courses covering different aspects of sustainability and training in modern leadership, problem analysis, project handling, written and oral reporting. Students with an engineering background will get an introductory course in economics, relevant to the programme and vise versa for students with an economic background.2nd semesterThe students can during this semester choose one specialization from this (tentative) list:- Sustainable energy management- Fresh and waste water management- Industrial processes and natural resource management- Entrepreneurship for sustainable technology including leadership and design.2nd Academic yearThis year is fully devoted to a project including a Master’s thesis. During the 2nd academic year, two or three short courses will be offered to the students. Distance teaching, probably in co-operation with teachers of the local university, will be utilized for these courses.The first students will initiate their studies at the three co-operating universities in September 2004.

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