During the period of February and May 2018 at LBUS have been held three regional focus groups:
- 1st Regional focus group was organized on 26th of February 2018
- 2nd Regional focus group was held on 26th of March 2018.
- 3rd Regional focus group was held on 18th of May 2018.
Focus groups (FG) were organized in Romania (at LBUS), involving representatives of the university involved in the project and the partner companies. There were participants in the focus group representing different sectors: higher education, business and social partners.
Higher education was represented by:
- University teachers/academic mentors from the Department of Machines and Industrial Equipment, which is coordinating the bachelor degree study programme in Mechatronics at LBUS;
- Staff of LBUS (vice-rector, dean of Engineering Faculty, head of the Department of Machines and Industrial Equipment – DMIE), members of DMIE);
- Students at “Mechatronics” study programme.
Business: representatives of partner companies Continental Automotive Systems Sibiu (CASS) and Marquardt Schaltsysteme SCS Sibiu (MSS).
Social partners: representative of the German-Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK RO).
Conclusions and recommendations:
This project aims to implement the dual study option for the existing “Mechatronics” specialization at Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. At present, the program is unfolded on 4 years (8 semesters), 240 ECTS. There is no legal framework in Romania yet for implementation of dual education in HEI`s, so by means the DYNAMIC project, a pilot implementation will be done by LBUS and its industrial partners, CASS and MSS.
The adaptation of the curriculum for the dual study specialization will be made by adapting/changing the syllabuses of specialty subjects. The targeted specialty subjects were: Computers programming, Digital Electronics, Power Electronics, Microcontrollers Hydraulic and pneumatic driving systems and Programmable Logic Controllers. A supplementary amount of 810 hours of practical activities will be added to the existing 240, which will lead to a total amount of 1050 hour for the dual study option. A new syllabus for the practical activities was designed and agreed between LBUS and industrial partners.
The students in the academic year 2018-2019 will be able to choose between the normal version and the dual version of the “Mechatronics” specialization. A limited number of places are allocated to the dual study specialization, and the selection of the students will be done according to a selection procedure was proposed and agreed between LBUS and the industrial partners. Also, new rules for assessing the students for the practical activities were established by LBUS and agreed with the industrial partners.
In the adaptation of dual model of education at PTP and Undergraduate study program there will not be made changes in the content of the study program, but only part of teaching process of selected courses will be held in companies from industrial partners.
The implementation of the practical phases for dual study specialization will be formalized by the following contracts/agreements: LBUS – industrial partner – student will sign the contract on practical work. Industrial partner – student will sign the contract of internship.