During the period of February and May 2018 at PTP have been held 4 Regional focus groups.
- 1st Regional focus group was organized on 26th of February 2018 with topics: Designing a dual educational plan and Organization of teaching process (academic studies) and practical work with two supporting documents (Introduction of Designing a dual educational plan and Calculation of hours per year)
- 2nd Regional focus group was held on 29th of March 2018 with agenda items: Designing dual study program and definition of mode for student payment in the context of Croatian legal regulations.
- 3rd Regional focus group was held on 26th of April 2018 with tasks: making a draft syllabus of student practical work teachers in collaboration with industrial mentors, Content of contract proposal between company – student – PTP and introduction of criteria for student selection.
- 4th Regional focus group for concluding started arrangements on Contract proposal between company-student-PTP in accordance with the Croatian specific and legal requirements, coordination of professors and industrial mentors for finalizing syllabus for courses included in dual study program. This Regional focus group was held on 17th of May 2018.
The present Focus Group Report (FG Report) aims at:
- analysing the results of regional working groups meetings organized by PTP with the partner companies;
- analysing the Croatian specific and legal requirements;
- review the curricula of the selected programmes;
- defining the content and organization of the practical phases and map the developed practical phases with ECTS;
- setting the criteria for student monitoring during practical phases;
- defining ways of contracting between student-industry-HEI`s;
There were participants in the focus group representing different sectors: higher education, business and social partners.
Higher education was represented by:
- Teachers/academic mentors from the Undergraduate study program Polytechnic;
- Staff of PTP (dean of PTP, vice-dean for academic affairs, head of the Undergraduate study program Polytechnic, Deputy head of the Undergraduate study program Polytechnic, head of finance department)
Business: representatives of partner companies Holcim Hrvatska (LHC) and Uljanik Shipyard (JSC).
Social partners: representative of the Croatian Chamber of Economy (CCE) and Region of Istria (ROI).
Conclusions and recommendations
In the project there will be implement dual study program at PTP in Undergraduate study program Polytechnic, duration is 3 year and has 180 ECTS. As in Croatia for now, there is NO legal framework for implementation of dual education in HEI`s PTP together with partners from Croatia has saw possibility for realization of pilot project DYNAMIC and implementation of dual education in selected study program, in Conclusion of the National Council for Higher Education (Class: 003-08 / 11-09 / 0006; no. 355-02-01-11-9) from 16th January 2012 that says: „Changes up to 20% of the content of the study program are made by the Academic Council of HEI`s“.
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.
Surely in Croatia there is the need for legal adoption and regulations of dual education in HEI`s.
Selected courses which will be offered to the students and performed together with industrial partners are:
- From 2nd year: Material Technology I, Teamwork and Practicum III, Electronics II, Material Technology II, Teamwork and Practicum IV,
- From 3rd year: Project Management, Professional Training, Teamwork and Practicum V, Teamwork and Practicum VI and Bachelor Thesis.
Total number of ECTS involved in dual education are 43 ECTS. During the semester students will participate at a PTP during teaching process and after that they will take a practical part in company:
- In 2nd year – total aprox. 8 weeks (February 2019 / June 2019 / September 2019)
- In 3rd year – total aprox. 10 weeks (February 2020 / June 2020 / September 2020).
The implementation of the practical phases for dual study specialization will be formalized by the following contracts/agreements: PTP – industrial partner – student will sign the contract on practical work. Industrial partner – student will sign the contract of scholarship.