Forecast Engineering: From Past Design to Future Decisions Erasmus Project

Project Title

Forecast Engineering: From Past Design to Future Decisions

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Research and innovation; Recognition, transparency, certification; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Universidade de Aveiro (Portugal), University of Osijek (Croatia), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), and Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary) were working together and being put on a strategic footing as part of the program lines »Erasmus+ Key Action II: Strategic Partnerships«. At the center of international cooperation was the exchange of technical competencies in the areas of earthquake engineering, steel and bridge construction, mathematical models, and structural analysis. The aim was to help shape innovative developments in civil engineering in intercultural exchange and to improve/promote the specialisation, social and language skills of excellent junior staff. The range of measures were diverse and spanned different disciplines in Civil Engineering, Mathematics, and Media. The strategic partnership (SP) project focused on joint short-term learning, teaching, and/or training activities, including summer schools, tele-teaching, events, and guest lecturers. Particular attention was paid to interdisciplinary research and the promotion of master and doctoral students.

As part of the SP, the expertise of the involved partners was brought together in order to first gain information and further knowledge in the planned learning activities. For this purpose, all partners provided different data sets for further common use. Individual data sets were elaborated and prepared by the teachers for the different learning activities. The results obtained by the participants were then re-incorporated into the project database/platform. Thus, stepwise knowledge could be achieved.

To exchange and impart knowledge, various learning formats were offered and learning groups were addressed within the framework of the project. With the aim to create offers to meet the increasing demands on civil engineers the following learning activities were included in the project and represent a major part of the project.
In total three International Elective Master Course Modules were organized with five students per partner institution per course participating. The blind prediction of the experimentally observed response of scaled structural elements/specimens were organized in order to test the abilities of the students to predict this response using standard numerical models based on the pre-training course. Students obtained knowledge about the state-of-the art numerical models and procedures for the analysis and design of the tested structures/elements. They got numerous competences that are applicable in advanced design tasks.
The objectives of the summer schools were to emphasize demands and solution approaches on civil engineering structures. The courses targeted post-graduate students (i.e., 2nd and 3rd cycle students) from different institutions and countries to enable knowledge transfer among the participants.

The demands and challenges in research are rising due to an increase in interdisciplinarity and in complexity of mathematical models. Training courses for PhD students in specific topics were providing the chance to get easier approaches to the increasing demands and challenges in research. As part of the Erasmus+ SP project the involved partners bundled their resources and expertise to establish a network and a basis for such courses.

As part of the project groups from different areas and different international universities were working together to bundle their capacities to offer attractive high-quality learning opportunities and to elaborate a common platform for future teaching and research activities. Thus, multilayer impacts could be achieved on all levels. The collaboration with internationally recognized institutions led to an increase in attractiveness and reputation of the involved Universities on a European and International level. Commonly organized blended learning activities developed training profiles, trained participants’ soft skills, and addressed future demands in research and practice. Interdisciplinary, novel and creative thinking & collaboration among all involved participants were encouraged and led to new forms of cooperation and research. New networks could be established and existing networks strengthened. New research ideas were born and joint project applications initiated/submitted. The initiated discussion among the participating institutions about assessment criteria for student learning outcomes contributed to the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications and might led to the introduction of new teaching and evaluation concepts.

The SP linked different already existing bilateral contacts and improved European diversity in higher education. All partner institutions were enabled to better benchmark and position themselves. The participating students gained additional skills by studying different European views/ demands on structural engineering due to the different construction techniques and load impacts.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 381671 Eur

Project Coordinator

BAUHAUS-UNIVERSITAET WEIMAR & Country: DE

Project Partners

• UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
• SVEUCILISTE JOSIPA JURJA STROSSMAYERA U OSIJEKU
• UNIVERSIDADE DE AVEIRO
• BUDAPESTI MUSZAKI ES GAZDASAGTUDOMANYI EGYETEM