Cooperation Between Europe and Asia in Active Learning in Engineering Education

Worldwide, companies face a shortage of engineering and technology professionals with the right skills and competences. On one side, this is the result of a low number of candidates for those academic careers and, therefore, a low number of graduates. But, on the other side, it is also a result of the mismatch between the competences acquired in the university and those required for a professional practice. Engineering higher education is not seen by potential candidates as a motivating career, in some cases because it is seen as very hard and difficult career, also due to gender stereotypes but in most cases because potential students think that the learning methodologies in engineering courses do not fit their learning styles. It is therefore important that Engineering institutions implement new learning methodologies based on active learning processes, where the student is the center of the process. In this article we present an initiative that is currently being implemented by a network of European and Southeast Asian universities to foster the uptake of active learning in Engineering. This framework combines local laboratories designed and dedicated to active learning practices with remote collaboration through a virtual community of practice.