Lectures held during the consortium-type educational program with five European universities

The WISE Program of Nagaoka University of Technology participates in the Joint Master’s Degree in Sustainable Automotive Engineering (http://www.master-greendrive.eu) and in a consortium with the University of Antwerp in Belgium, the University of Deusto in Spain, the University of Bordeaux in France, Loughborough University in Great Britain, and Cologne University of Applied Sciences in Germany, to provide collaborative practical education. In May 2019, we held lectures during the consortium-type educational program with five European universities. Our professors visited the University of Deusto in Spain and gave lectures on subjects such as LWM (Light Weight Material for Sustainable Automotive).

Students came from Belgium, Spain, France, India, and Iran, and all classes were in English only. In the Spanish class system, each session lasts two hours and three sessions are held consecutively for three sessions (6 hours) from 8 AM to 2 PM. As there are no designated breaks between classes, professors propose breaks during class as necessary. Due to this flexible system, students can move to the computer room to perform calculations or to the laboratory to conduct simple experiments, improving the educational effects. We had the impression that compared with classes in Japanese graduate schools, students are more frequently involved in modeling and verifying phenomena through calculations and use more numerical formulas during class. The LWM classes were conducted jointly with the professors of the university and employees of Spanish companies. Professors teach theories while the employees demonstrate practical applications.

Students of our WISE Program joined the consortium-style Joint Master’s Degree Program. They attended practical training sessions in European companies (long-term internship programs) as well as classes and the summer school.

Photo taken during a visit to a company that hosts our students during the practical training sessions