From May 5th to 7th the University of Trento hosted the kick-off meeting of the project EESIC "Engineering for Environmental Sustainability and International Cooperation", coordinated by Prof. Marco Toffolon of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (DICAM) involving also the participation of the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon (Portugal) and the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain).
EESIC project is co-funded by the European Commission in the framework of the new action “Erasmus Mundus Design Measures” of the Erasmus+ programme, with the aim to prepare a new Erasmus Mundus joint study course as part of the Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering.
The future environmental engineers will be able to tackle interdisciplinary and highly complex issues (both technical and non-technical) within the context of international cooperation, in search of innovative and sustainable solutions. Taking advantage of the excellence of each participating university and their respective complementarity, EESIC will design a new coherent and innovative academic curriculum with integrated mobility among the three universities and a final period of applied research at other Associated Partners that will be selected in various continents. The master program will feature a practical approach to promote the acquisition of soft skills and global competencies, including open mindedness, problem solving and intercultural understanding.
The event in Trento came after a series of meetings online, which will continue in the coming months. During the meeting the representatives of the Higher Education Institutions of the consortium were involved in working sessions and exchanges of good practices in the various aspects of establishing a new Erasmus Mundus joint programme, ranging from the design of the study plan to the mobility among partners, from innovation in teaching and learning to the network of collaborations, etc. Participants also had the opportunity to visit DICAM, laboratories, the new library BUM, as well as the other facilities which will be available to the future EESIC students.
