Engineering has a pivotal role to play in solving humanitarian challenges, enabling communities to progress towards sustainable development. Because the issues of humanitarianism are not just engineering problems, there is need to introduce new designs of engineering education to embrace and exploit combinational expertise in community-based engineering. ENHANCE aims at nurturing humanitarian attributes through engineering education for serving unsupported communities effectively and responsibly, in identifying problems and defining sustainable solutions. The novelty of ENHANCE lies in integrating highly diverse, yet complementary, expertise in engineering Higher Education (HE). The objectives of the project involve: (a) mapping professional attributes for mitigating humanitarian challenges over the next 15 years; (b) assessing and evaluating current graduate engineering programmes in Partner Institutions under the enablers needed to ensure humanitarian attributes to graduates; (c) setting up tools for evaluating graduate engineering programmes; (c) building capacity in the field of community-based engineering with interventions in curriculum content, assessment and feedback, methods of delivery; (d) tasting, adopting and implementing in current curricula innovative (i.e. inclusive, interdisciplinary, problem-based) teaching and learning methodologies; (e) developing and testing the ENHANCE Training Kit for staff development/training. Outputs of the project will be disseminated to audiences from HE educators and students in the partner countries; modern media (podcasts, video’s, etc.) will be utilised to share insights with a wide audience. ENHANCE will allow us to ensure advancement of community-based engineering directly to a range of Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipients and to instigate longer-term developments with beneficiaries and end users. Nevertheless, outputs of this project will be applicable to many other countries facing global challenges.

The general objective of SMARTEX is to support the modernisation and internationalisation of Higher Education Institutes in Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan, in the context of the priorities identified in the New EU Consensus in Development and the EU Higher Education in the World. SMARTEX will also contribute to the cooperation between EU and Asian countries through joint initiatives and sharing of good practices. The aim of the project is to improve the level of competencies and skills in Asian HEIs by reforming bachelor degree programmes, which will bring national education systems up to the EU standards level and enhance competitiveness of graduates in the labour market. The specific objectives of the project are:1. To analyse the competences necessary for graduates of textile engineering and related faculties bachelor studies in Asian universities as far as technical and smart textiles are concerned.2. To update the curriculums of Asian Universities, by developing new or updating existing courses in textile engineering and related faculties bachelor studies. 3. To integrate innovative teaching/learning methods into the reformed curriculum of Asian Universities.4. To develop learning material for the new and updated courses and their correspondence to ECTS.5. To promote the internationalisation of Asian HEIs by implementing international exchanges of staff and students. 6. To build capacity of academic and administrative staff of Asian HEIs by training them in European HEIs7. To enhance the competitiveness of Asian HEI graduates in the labour market with the organisation of national and international internships in companies.

This project aims to adapt existing or create new Master of Science Programs in South East Asia Countries aiming at energy supply optimization focusing on Isolated Areas, such as unelectrified areas, island systems etc. Education on various aspects of Energy Supply covering Energy Management, Renewable Energy Sources (RES) utilization, Energy conservation, Intelligent materials application to energy sector and Demand Side management have become a reality on both EU and partner countries. Mastering Energy Supply focusing on Isolated Areas (MESfIA) emphasizes on meeting the need for systematic training on the aforementioned issues for application on the fragile environment of isolated areas. MESfIA main goal is to improve the capacities of the students and teachers of Partner Countries to apply specific skills for the efficient energy supply of isolated areas. This is in line with the needs of these countries where the unelectrified areas are rural areas and according to IEA unelectrified population exceeds 50 million people. MESfIA consortium will prepare a detailed planning of training cycles including scheduling and effort management for the implementation of training courses that will be run in each Partner country. The scope is to provide postgraduate training for Electrical, mechanical engineers and technicians so that they can realize and cope with the difficulties in Isolated Environments and the associated peculiarities with energy management on such systems even in stronger power systems. Apart from knowledge, MESfIA will aid in the legal establishment of recognized MSc titles so that their students can take advantage of participation in applying for jobs in regions with relatively low electrification level and many islands.Within this procedure MESfIA will aid in establishing EU-Asia co-operation at regional level-island regions as common problems require common solutions. This will be sought via workshops, conferences and well defined extovert actions.

Bridging the skills gap for graduates is a key challenge globally and has a detrimental effect on both individual employability, local, national and regional growth and development. Both the EU and ASEAN are putting significant resources towards addressing the issue. Partner institutions have expressed a need for the activities planned in this project. In spite of the focus on development of professional skills development for employability in recent years nationally, regionally and locally (including several EU funded projects), the penetration rate remains low, particularly in STEM education.EASTEM will facilitate employability of STEM gradutes and enhance the quality of STEM education by bridging the skills gap through student centered competence development approaches, increase visibility and sustainability for institutional STEM education activities through the creation of 10 STEM Education centers and a sustainable STEM Education network. The project will also facilitate competence orientation of educational programs and increase university industry engagement Staff development in cascade format is used to address lecturer and student competence development. Sharing of good practices provide collaborative insights into partner institution contexts. All major teaching and learning materials will be made available in four languages (English, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese)Outputs includeChange in attitude (Lecturers, students, institution)Inclusion of industry-based problems in teaching, Asian staff development sessions in student centered competence developmentAsian partners having developed and lead student focused test bed moduleFunctioning centers of Excellence in STEM education Increased visibility of STEM educationActive engagement with industry partnersAS partners staff development sessions for external partnersnational/international network of STEM Education centersUniversity strategy plans updated with focus on competence development

The GECKO project aims to develop student capabilities and improve student employability through the exchange of good practices and the development of regional cooperation in higher education in three ASEAN countries (the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand). The project specifically targets engineering students, aiming to provide them with the necessary management and linguistic skills to become attractive to both local and international employers. The project will support two major academic activities, in order to better adapt the current curriculum to the local labour market, thus promoting regional integration.The 1st activity includes the development and implementation of a multidisciplinary curriculum by international academic teams in order to enrich teaching and learning in the classroom and at home. This new curriculum will be supported by innovative teaching materials and modern teaching technologies such as online tools, MOOC, SPOC and e-learning. The 2nd activity focuses on improving regional cooperation to promote open-minded, critical, and innovative thinking in international teams. This will result in turn in the development of curriculum that encapsulates both global and regional aspects. Master students will participate in these joint initiatives that will be enhanced by ICT-based tools, to acquire the skills needed to be effective global citizens.In terms of multi-skills and innovative digital tools, teacher training is also one of GECKO’s central components and will be implemented through a theoretical and practical approach (E-learning session, exchange of experience, staff weeks, etc.). The project therefore facilitates the transfer, of knowledge and understanding of the multi-skills, leading in turn to a better employability for engineering students in Asia. This knowledge can be applied and developed, from the end of the project onwards, on all of the courses at the partner universities, and in the long term throughout ASEAN universities.