UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID

The Universidad Politécncia de Madrid (UPM) is a public university founded in 1.971 through the integration of the Higher Technical Schools of Engineering and Architecture, having the oldest established in the 18th century. It is based in the Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid  (Spain) and located  in several locations in Madrid as well as in Boadilla del Monte. 

The UPM  is the oldest and largest Spanish technical university, with almost 3,000 faculty members, around 35,000 undergraduate students and 6.500 postgraduates in 18 colleges. UPM is now the Number 1 Science and Technology University in the Spanish Speaking world. UPM’s Schools cover most of engineering disciplines, as well as Architecture, Computer Science and Geodesy & Cartography, and recently Fashion and Sports.

Research

Among its objectives UPM  pursues the creation, development, transmission and criticism of science, technology, and culture.  UPM as a top quality academic establishment has a strong commitment to R&D and Innovation, boasting 203 Research Units and 17 Research Centres and Institutes, contributing significantly to the international scientific community with a high number of journal papers, conference communications, and PhD theses. As far as UPM participation in FP7 & H2020 is concerned, the University has taken part up to now in 242 European R&D projects with more than 64 M€ of funding. To this end it also works from its Institutes and Research Centres, assimilating the changes taking place in out society and maintaining its vocation for excellence, which is why it has both national and international recognition.  The Scientific and Technological Park of the UPM (“Parque UPM”) represents a significant boost to the University’s R&D&i activity through the creation of new R&D&i centres, business incubators, and specialized laboratories, with the backing and participation of public and private institutions. UPM has a long tradition of collaboration with Industry (around 50% of its R&D funding) and participation in international R&D programs.

UPM is a full member of the major LAC technological university associations (LACCEI, ASIBEI, HACU, Tordesillas Group, etc). UPM promoted the creation of a Network made up of European and Latin American and Caribbean Technological Institutions. This Network, called Magalhães, has smoothly been running for eleven years. Currently, around one thousand students move every year from one side to other of the Atlantic in the framework of this Network.  Also,  The UPM is part of the TIME network, which groups fifty engineering schools throughout Europe.

UPM is member of the OCW consortium (occupying a place in the board), is very active on MOOC platforms like EdX, MiriadaX, etc. Some of their courses has received several awards (like the 2014 Ministry of Education Awards to the best MOOC)

The Polytechnical University of Madrid holds double recognition as a Campus of International Excellence, a distinction that refers to the quality of its research and teaching activity.

The UPM has been considered one of the best polytechnic universities in Spain in recent years. Currently four Higher Technical Schools of Engineers have international accreditation ABET:6 Higher Technical School of Engineers of Roads, Channels and Ports, Higher Technical School of Engineers of Mines and Energy, Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineers and Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineers.

NOT- FEDERATION OF ASSOCIATIONS OF SCIENTIFICALLY TECHNICAL NOTES COUNCIL OF THE ZACHODNIOPOMORSKI REGION IN SZCZECIN

The Polish Federation of Engineering Associations, “NOT” (or Federacja Stowarzyszeń Naukowo- Technicznych in Polish) is a highly respected non-governmental organisation. Established in 1835, it represents over 110,000 individual members across from 39 technical, scientific and engineering organisations throughout Poland, with strong representation of engineering disciplines such as communication engineers, electricians, IT engineers, food engineers and more.

Representing the interests of its members, the association has developed a robust role as a council for policy development and has a very strong lobbying position within Poland; it is also the voice of the Polish scientific and engineering community on an international level, representing Poland in 46 different international associations. It also provides specialised training courses in many related fields with over 800,000 trainees per year. The Association is also an accredited partner authorised to grant the European Engineer certificate.

The Council of the West Pomeranian Region (Rada Regionu Zachodniopomorskiego w Szczecinie) is NOT’s representation in Szczecin, a separate legal entity with over 3,500 members from 17 different organizations. Its role is to represent the specific interests of the local community, the development of locally concentrated skills and qualifications, integrating them into the country as well as playing a pivotal role in wide reaching global projects.

ZUT-West Pomeranian University of Technology

West Pomeranian University of Technology (Zachodniopomorski Uniwersytet Technologiczny w Szczecinie or ZUT in Polish) is one of Poland’s leading technical universities. Located in the city of Szczecin, the industrial hub of West Pomeranian Voivodeship, it was created in 2009 by the merger of two leading universities (Szczecin University of Technology and the University of Agriculture) and has quickly consolidated its reputation as an innovative and progressive institution which continually seeks to extend the boundaries of high quality scientific and engineering education in the region.

The university serves approximately 13,000 full-time and part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, with a total staff of 2,000 employees, of whom nearly 1,000 are academic appointments and 280 are designated professors. 47 fields of study are offered across 10 different faculties, all of which are STEM related and the majority of which relate to specific engineering disciplines:

The recent addition of new field of study, in response to changing economic context and labour market needs is one of the ways in which ZUT fulfils its commitments to promoting high quality skills development, in line with the EU agenda for higher education. The university also maintains a strong

commitment to modernization (its laboratories and study facilities were modernized in the last few years), to research and to international cooperation. We currently have research teams working on renewable energy sources, bio- and nanotechnology as well as economics and technology of industrial production and maintain our research and scientific cooperation with 20 foreign universities and thanks to financial support from Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Erasmus, Eureka, the 5th, 6th, 7th Framework Programme and Horizon 2020.

CANICE CONSULTING LIMITED

Canice Consulting Limited is an outward looking company that specialises in vocational training and innovation support for regional development initiatives, especially in relationship to digital innovation and digital pedagogy.

Today the company operates from its headquarters in the UK and brings together a core staff of four and a network of six associates with specialist knowledge in the fields of digital pedagogy, digital collaboration, entrepreneurship education, collective impact and more.  We have a proven track record in project management, quality management and evaluation, and increasingly, digital marketing and communications, which enables us to configure the perfect set of skills and resources to meet each client’s needs.

Canice Consulting has over 20 years experience in the development of innovative strategies for encouraging innovation in teaching and in particular the development of interactive, learner-led educational resources. Staff have conceived, managed, participated and evaluated many Life Long Learning and ERASMUS+ projects. Our approaches to education and its relationship to the wider economic and social development agenda reflect this experience, providing a cumulative process of insight, learning, and creativity to solve new challenges.

MOMENTUM MARKETING SERVICES

Momentum is an Irish VET training organisation focused on developing progressive learning programmes and platforms for education with special focus and competence on training content, digital media and social media as a powerful tool in VET education.

Founded in 2003, Momentum Marketing Services (MMS) has grown rapidly in size and now employs 24 staff and subcontractors and equips over 600 learners per annum through classroom training and thousands more through online and blended learning with vocational learning skills and tools. MMS has particular experience and capacity in delivering training for groups including youth, women, and entrepreneurs. Specialising in progressive vocational education programmes and platforms, MMS are passionate about enabling people to enter the world of work and participate as fully as possible in the contemporary labour market. Much of their work concentrates on interpreting emerging digital platforms and building awareness of the innovative approaches available through e-learning and mobile learning (mlearning).

As a VET and Adult training body, MMS competencies include the delivery of employment upskilling programmes to disadvantaged groups e.g. those that are un/under employed and are socially excluded through innovative methodologies e.g. blended learning with work placement and professional development training in self-employment and social entrepreneurship. MMS delivers over 50 training courses per annum, in addition to face to face facilitation, mentoring and web enabled distance learning techniques, specifically webinars and elearning environments. MMS’s quality system is learner-centric and based on the standards and procedures promoted by the Quality and Qualifications Ireland accreditation system.

As well as delivering training, MMS is deeply involved in course curriculum and content development and has numerous new courses accredited or pending accreditation with QQI in the area of enterprise, business development, entrepreneurship and innovation. MMS’s work is recognized as European best practice – in 2016, it won a European Enterprise Promotion Award for it’s work on www.restart.how, a training programme for those who failed in business with the potential and ambition to restart.

TEC – TECHNICAL EDUCATION COPENHAGEN

TEC is the second largest Vocational Training College in Denmark. Located in Copenhagen on 7 campuses with 4.589 full-time students in 2019 and approximately 700 employees.

TEC has a history of more than 145 years. The school is a dynamic merger of six institutions, the first merger took place in 1999. Today we are located at several campuses in Greater Copenhagen and offer a wide scale of educational programmes, accredited by the Danish Ministry of Education.

TEC is involved in international projects that relate to TEC´s international policy. The projects can be derived into two groups on behalf of their overall focus: Mobility – or development projects.

TEC has a strong network and many international partner schools and businesses/cooperations. These partners make our international activities possible. We continually look for new partners to expand and improve our international network.