On March 14th and 15th, the JEDI (Joint European Degree Label in Engineering) project final event took place at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM).
This two-day gathering brought together representatives from EELISA, ENHANCE, EUt+, the European Commission & other stakeholders, who fostered a discussion on the challenges and potential of establishing joint engineering degree labels in Europe, emphasizing the necessity of standardizing criteria across nations and streamlining accreditation processes.
Attention was also given to future strategies, recognizing the imperative for systemic changes at the national level to foster innovation and flexibility in higher education while safeguarding quality and autonomy. To further understand the impact of this project, EELISA interviewed JEDI’s coordinator, Ramón Martínez:
Q. After a year of JEDI, the project had its closing event on March 14th and 15th. Did you find this meeting a success?
A. Yes, I am fully convinced of the success of this event. We had the opportunity to have key speakers with us that discussed open topics related to the implementation of joint European degrees.
Between the two days we had around 50 people with us in the room and there were around 40 people connected online. Regarding the participation of the stakeholders, we had the opportunity to hear people from universities and European alliances representatives, employers, accreditation agencies, and accreditation bodies also. The European Commission and also alumni representatives.
As well we had with us some joint degree owners who shared with us their experience in the design and implementation of their degrees. In general, I can say that all the participants looked for practical solutions for the implementation of joint European degrees and the results of their roundtables were pretty concrete and applied.
Q. How did this project start?
This project started one year ago and isnow reaching the final meetings and activities. It was a response to a call from the European Comission which dealt about the presenting pilot projects for policy experimentation in two fields:
The first field is the design and development of a joint European degree labels and the second topic of that call was about the legal status of European alliances. In the case of JEDI we participated in the first topic, in the design of joint European degrees and we had a clear focus on the field of science, technology and engineering degrees. So the project has been, let’s say, quite fast, just a year, and we are very happy with the results and with all the work we have done.
And I would like also to emphasize the joint work we have done with another pilot project which have worked on different fields. And I think that all together we will provide interesting conclusions and recommendations to the European Commission to pave the way for the future location in Europe. And what will be the added value of an European joint degree or label? Well, the added value of having a joint European degree is to increase transnational collaboration in the field of higher education.
Q. Which institutions have been involved in JEDI?
A. In JEDI we have been working with 16 universities and 2 associated partners. One is CTI and the other one is ENAEE which are 2 accreditation bodies within Europe. The 16 partners are also part of 3 European alliances in the field of engineering.
Apart from that, for the surveys and the analysis of the JEDI, we have closely worked with stakeholders from employers to student representatives, other universities, experts, accreditation bodies, and some bodies of national legislation. We have also worked with joint degree owners in order to test the implementation and the applicability of the JEDI approach to the joint degrees. I must say that we have had a very smart and positive atmosphere within the project.
We have all been pushing towards the same direction while respecting the different academic strategies of the 3 alliances participating in JEDI. These 3 alliances have been EELISA, ENHANCE, and EUt+.
Q. What would be the added value of a European joint degree?
A. The main objective of the joint European degree, in particular in the field of engineering, science, and technology related degrees, is to increase the transnational collaboration within Europe in higher education. One of the tools we have to increase this collaboration is to develop and implement joint European degrees with the participation of European alliances. So, we really think that this joint European degree will contribute to the sustainability of European alliances in the future, and from the implementation perspective, thanks to this European approach, we can have recognition of qualifications across Europe.
Hence the mobility of engineers’ labour work could be leveraged and we will have a reduction in all the administrative burden and accreditation processes because they could rely on well-known processes. And we think that with the European approach the obstacles, either external or internal, could be reduced for proposing these new joint European degrees.
For the students, they will be within reach of an excellent technical education and also some other components will be introduced in these joint European degrees, such as physical mobility or the consideration of European values and also the analysis and the introduction of sustainability approaches in the technical solution and the potential evaluation of how these technical solutions affect society.
As well for employers, will have the opportunity to have an enriched labour market in the field of engineering so that the engineers who will be studying and will be successfully finishing joint European degrees will have the opportunity to join European companies very smoothly.
Q. When talking about the students, how do you think a joint European engineering degree can approach student-centered learning?
A. We at JEDI aim to transform engineering education in Europe. Student-centred learning is one of the key ingredients of this transformation.
So it is really important for us, to the student-centered learning approaches, and in fact, this is one of the European degree criteria that the European Commission has established for promoting these joint degrees. This criterion currently is defined very openly, so this basically means that any joint degree can select different methodologies for taking the active participation of students in the learning process as an added value. As benefits, we think that proposing and implementing student-centered learning approaches will produce solutions, technical solutions, or engineering solutions, considering not only the technical aspects but also the orientation to society, inclusiveness, equity, and sustainability, so that future European engineers can leverage that combination of technical and impactful solutions as part of their careers.
Q. Talking about future engineers, is there any particular discipline that you think could benefit from a European joint degree?
A. In JEDI we have a focus on engineering, technology, and science-oriented degrees, so these joint European degrees are not focused on a particular discipline, but any engineering discipline could benefit from these joint degrees. So we think that there are some major important aspects in the criteria that are closely related to engineering, and these are the sustainability of the proposed solutions and the evaluation of the impact they have on society. Also digital skills, which is something that every student should have after finishing the joint European degrees.
Also, interdisciplinary and holistic approaches, so this is something which is closely related to engineering, where the borders between disciplines are every day less clear. And finally, student-centered learning is also close to engineering because we are used to make this approach either using project-based learning or challenge-based learning and other innovative approaches. So we can say that through joint European degrees engineers in Europe can leverage European competitiveness in the near future and hopefully reduce the technology dependence of Europe in some particular sectors.
Q. And are these kinds of European joint degrees applicable only to bachelor degrees or are also for master’s and PhD?
A. The joint European degree criteria proposed by the European Commission is open to bachelor’s or master’s and PhD. Some particular criteria apply only to either bachelor’s or master’s or to PhD, but the criteria can be fully applicable to any higher education level. This is something very important because today after we analyzed the current playground of joint degrees in Europe we found that there were very very few joint degrees because normally universities opt to have double degrees and when you narrow the scope to engineering the number of joint degrees is even lower and if you move to regulated professions there are very very few I would say below 10 joint degrees in engineering in Europe for regulated professions.
Apart from that I would like to say that the survey told us that most of the joint degrees were at the master’s level so we should take advantage of this new criteria to produce joint degrees in the bachelor’s and also at doctorate level.
Q. Thank you, Ramon. And before finishing our interview, is there anything else you would like to comment on the topic?
Well, JEDI is an alliance of three alliances EELISA, EUt+, and ENHANCE; and from the final meeting and all the work we have done this year we would like to take advantage of the momentum to keep on working together even after the closing of the JEDI project. Another message I would like to give, just to conclude is that we are committed to transforming engineering education in Europe and hopefully we will have a new engineering education in the coming years.
