The Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Sustainable Transportation and Electrical Power Systems –STEPS offers a highly specialized education in Electrical Engineering, focusing on two areas of the highest technological content and professional requirements in the energy sector.The STEPS JMD is promoted by a partnership led by the University of Oviedo (ES), together with the University of Nottingham (UK), the University of Rome (IT) and the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra (PT). Prestigious international universities: the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Illinois (USA), the University of Santa Maria (BR), the University of Concepción (CL) and the National Cheng Kung University (TW), along with and 22 global leading companies in energy and transportation sectors are associated members. Companies will be offering internships, and some senior staff will be teaching courses. Graduates successfully completing the STEPS JMD programme will be awarded with a Joint Master Degree in Sustainable Transportation and Electrical Power Systems by all the Consortium universities, fully recognized in the four partner countries.The course is structured in 2 academic years, with four 30 ECTS semesters for a total 120 ECTS. Students can build their own curriculum based on their previous background and their professional interest, although it offers 2 recommended study tracks: Sustainable Transportation (ST) and Electrical Power Systems (EPS). The approach and content of the Joint Master respond to main challenges faced by the energy sector:To master new energy sources and their implications to the power systemsTo reduce CO2 emissions by increasing energy efficiency and the share of clean energiesTo gradually incorporate electrical transportation as an alternative to vehicles using combustion engines.Students will carry out the courses in at least 3 different countries, with 2 alternative mobility tracks: Coimbra-Nottingham-Oviedo or Rome-Nottingham-Oviedo. Students will also have the opportunity of an internship in an associated universities or companies in Europe, America or Asia. Course will be taught in English but students will have the opportunity to work in at least other 3 EU official languages.Students will attend a 2-week introductory course at the UniOviedo, to meet other colleagues, University coordinators. Semester 1 will be a Levelling Course to compensate knowledge for different educational background. Students wishing to focus on ST strand will rather spend this first period in Rome, while the focusing on EPS will rather attend lectures in Coimbra. Semester 2 will be devoted to the study of advanced subjects on ST and EPS in Nottingham. During Semester 3 students will complete their specialization in either of the proposed strands in Oviedo. In semester 4 students will carry out an internship in one of the associated Universities or world leading companies, and a guided research for the preparation of the Master Thesis.

ENTEP Joint Project proposal has been initiated with the aim of improving the quality of education and teaching, enhancing teaching practices and further developing educational science in Russia and China. Partners experienced in HE teacher training formed a consortium in order to benefit from their different experiences, profiles and specific expertise and to produce relevant and high quality outcomes. The Project is focused on building cooperation and exchange of good teaching practices among European, Russian and Chinese Universities, which will eventually result in the modernization of PCIs.Effective teacher education is key to teachers’ ability to face educational change and handle various socioeconomic conditions, however, more professional training is required throughout a teacher’s career as different professional needs emerge and contextual circumstances shift. RU and CN educational authorities require that HE teachers, who lack pedagogical education, must receive training through professional development in-service programs on theory and practice of teaching, including advanced teaching methods and pedagogy. Thus, the proposed establishment of Centres for Teaching and Learning at PCIs with trained personnel and methodological support will provide a model for such high quality training on a regular basis and engage educators with the most up-to-date technologies to support teaching design and delivery. In order to be able to fit the changing learning environment, University teachers will be informed of modern pedagogy, curricula and syllabi design, contemporary teaching methodologies and psychology in the classroom, thus, being able to teach graduates who will meet needs of the labour market. Consequently, continuous professional development of university teaching staff will be focused on shared international and national ‘centres of excellence’, best practices, advanced teaching methodology and educational psychology in convergence with EU initiatives.

This action supports physical and blended mobility of higher education students and staff from/to third countries not associated to Erasmus+. Students in all study fields and cycles can take part in a study period or traineeship abroad. Higher education teaching and administrative staff can take part in professional development activities abroad, as well as staff from the field of work in order to teach and train students or staff at higher education institutions.

Project ICM number 2018-1-PT01-KA107-047082 of Polytechnic of Coimbra (IPC) with 38 months duration, running between 01/06/2019 and 31/07/2021 has been the first ICM application submitted by IPC. The institution participated previously as co-benefeciary. It involved 4 institutions, including the beneficiary, located in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Republic of Korea. The network of partners was based on previous academic relationships and existing exchange agreements. The project focused on staff mobility to and from institutions in the partner countries to/from IPC (programme country). Of the 10 STA/STT mobilities initially planned, 7 of them were accomplished. Despite all the planned execution was not totally accomplished due to pandemic.The main focus of the project aimed to further strengthen institutional links and to build connections between individual staff members that may lead to future academic and research collaboration, promoting the qualification of the staff involved in the project and the promotion of new projects in areas of common interest, facilitated by the physical interaction between the various agents.

The ERASMUSCENTRO Consortium was created in 2011, being registered this year as the first Portuguese regional consortium, covering the entire central region of Portugal. It assumed as its main mission and objective to strengthen and deepen the connection between polytechnic higher education and the labor market. The Consortium consists of the 8 Polytechnic Institutes of the central region, namely the Polytechnic of Coimbra, Castelo Branco, Guarda, Leiria, Viseu, Portalegre, Santarém and Tomar. In addition to the partnership between HEIs, the Consortium brings together the main business structures in the region. We highlight the Business Council of the Center / Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Center (CEC / CCIC) that includes 41 corporate associative structures. They are also active and interested members of the Consortium, Associations and Business Centers, Municipal Councils and relevant entities of the zone of influence of the Consortium. Through its active members, ERASMUSCENTRO's agglutinating capacity enables the generation of an extensive regional matrix network, bringing together more than 50,000 students and over 5,000 teachers and non-teaching staff from the polytechnics involved and more than 40,000 companies that make up the Business Council of the Center. Never in Portugal has a project of this kind brought together, in such a wide dimension, and with such a wide intervention, higher education agents, companies and local authorities. The extensive and diverse partnership and its regional dimension make it possible to affirm the consortium on a European scale.The Erasmuscentro aims to generate synergies in order to maximize resources and links with the labor market and regions where the institutions of higher education are included, allowing a greater investment in the skills of its students and teachers through the experiences of international mobility, which, in particular with regard to new graduates, is often reversed in the recruitment of foreign and / or Portuguese companies whose international experience is assumed as a key element in hiring.Thus, being the first Portuguese consortium of regional dimension, we believe that it is a good practice for other countries, other than Europe, demonstrating the synergies that can be created not only among higher education institutions (HEIs), but also with the labor market, promoting an evolution in the competences of higher education for the benefit of its students and communities where HEIs are inserted. In addition, our unprecedented partnership effectively fulfills the objectives of International Credit Mobility, like: to increase the attractiveness of higher education in Europe and to support higher education institutions to compete in the world market for higher education; support the internationalization, attractiveness and modernization of higher education institutions outside Europe in order to promote the development of partner countries. We believe that we have been able to contribute, through our example of a consortium, to strengthening the interinstitutional relations of higher education in the partner countries, demonstrating the added value of the connection we have established with the labor market, where both academic and professional spheres coexist, depend and work for the common good.Our project has implemented staff mobility activities (outgoing and incoming) and incoming students. The staff involved was teachers and non-teaching staff from higher education institutions, which carried out teaching and training missions respectively. The students received were from Palestine who completed periods of study.The mobility numbers of the project was reduced, and the objective was also pedagogical since it was the first time that Erasmuscentro managed International Credit Mobility projects. Although the results achieved were positive, considering that it was the first time that the Erasmuscentro consortium implemented a project under this measure, we believe that this type of project should go further. In other words, continuity should be allowed, only in this way would it be possible to build more sustainable bridges with the partner countries. Let us stress that financial support is essential if we are to implement joint projects and lay the foundations in the partner countries and this will only be possible with the support of the European Union.It is difficult to talk about long-term benefits, because, as already stated, long-term capital gains will be possible with continuity. However, this does not mean that various cooperation scenarios cannot be designed with the partner countries of the project concerned. In fact, we believe that we will continue to cooperate with these countries, and in particular with the institutions involved, in other types of projects.