Between November 9-12, the delegation of Technical University of Moldova, consisting of vice-rector Vladislav Resitca, director of CCOC Radu Melnic, dean of the TUM Faculty of Computers, Informatics and Microelectronics Dumitru Ciorbă and head of ISA Ion Fiodorov, visited the University Lleida (Universitat de Lleida, UdL) in Catalonia (Spain), within the ERASMUS+ project “Integrating Dual Higher Education in Moldova and Ukraine – COOPERA”, reference number: 617490-EPP-1-2020-1-MD-EPPKA2-CBHE-SP, funded by the European Union. The project, coordinated within the University by univ. prof., Dr. Larisa Bugaian, director of the Erasmus+ University Center, aims to develop dual education programs for Bachelor degrees in universities within the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
The Technical University of Moldova is piloting the implementation of two study programs of the Faculty of Computers, Informatics and Microelectronics: Robotics and Mechatronics, Automatics and Informatics. Dual education allows the student to acquire new skills in a real environment, while directly interacting with companies.
The University of Lleida has a successful record of experience in collaborating with regional companies regarding the coordination of studying activities in a dual manner for various fields: agriculture, engineering and socio-human sciences. A central partner of the University of Lleida focused on dual training is the agri-food giant bonÀrea, a company also visited within the Erasmus+ COOPERA Project.
During the 10 years of qualitative transformations, bonÀrea has changed its employment structure. Thus, the number of people with a university education has increased. This need has become imperative for the company, due to the high-tech processes implemented. Xavier Moreno, director of Human Resources at bonÀrea, considers that it is important for fundamental training to be carried out in partnership with an university that is open and easily adaptable to the ever-changing requirements.
Dual education is a central strategy of the company, said Antonio Sanfeliu, head of production. It allows a better understanding of people and, thus, a more meticulous selection of individuals that show potential for growth. At the same time, the involvement of academics brings fresh knowledge within the company, making teams more feasible and innovative. However, the basic criterion of performance is certainly not based on knowledge only, but also the application of this knowledge in production, as well as the attitude, which is best shaped within enterprises.
The Master student Jose Luis Riviera, originally from Zaragoza, joined the bonÀrea group through the Innovation and Management dual education program of the University of Lleida. He declares that this model of learning, although uncomfortable due to traveling (the group is located tens of kilometers away), provides him the best understanding of what production processes are through direct interaction with them. It is worth mentioning that dual programs are often launched by the company as needed, the enterprise offering supervision, a paid job (75% of the base salary, in the case of bonÀrea), a training program, research topics chosen according to the actual production, and, ultimately, a permanent job.
The diversity of partners for dual education can serve as an important factor in their promotion, taking into consideration the fact that the interests of students are different as well. The involvement of companies that offer environmental management solutions provides the educational process with attributes that easily fit into the UN’s sustainable development goals.
RosRoca is part of the Dutch group Royal Terberg, which, in turn, includes dozens of other companies from 15 other countries. Thus, in the case of RosRoca, the students of dual engineering education at the University of Lleida have access to an international work environment (not to mention international employees, including from the Republic of Moldova), but also to a setting focused on environmental issues.
The company puts forward high qualification requirements to all employees. This is justified by the need to handle a wide variety of customized products requested by customers, but also by the aspiration to offer more technological solutions (e.g. smart containers that can communicate their fill level). Currently, the number of Master students is 6. The students are being paid about 14-15 thousand annually and are present in the company for four hours a day. Human Resources Director Ramon Carulla mentioned that the students are well trained, but have very different sets of values; thus, attending the company could help them in their personal and professional development. One of the arguments in favour of dual education is that employees grow in the spirit of good qualitative production values.
The second day of the study visit to the University of Lleida continued with the exploration of dual education within the Catalan university.
The university has its roots in the Estudi General de Lleida, which was created in 1300 by virtue of a map given to the city of Lleida by King Jaume II of Aragon. He based his decision on a papal permission issued in Rome on April 1, 1297 by Pope Boniface VIII. With great regret, politics has always had its say in Education. Thus, after a war of succession for the Spanish throne in 1717, multiple Catalan universities were closed, including the one in Lleida. The official return of the institution as a university was realized only on October 27, 1994. Currently, the university comprises 8 faculties, distributed in 5 campuses, in which about 10 thousand Bachelor, Master and Doctoral students carry out their studies. Among the stated missions, there is dual education and the promotion of programs in Catalan at least at the Bachelor level.
The second day’s agenda focused on the university perspective of dual education, which must offer benefits to the three parties involved: the university, the company and the students. The University of Lleida is a leader in dual higher education, being among the first to initiate the implementation of this type of vocational training in Spain. The representatives of the institution mention that not all the programs succeed, but the engineering ones have some of the best results. Most likely, similar to the situation in the Republic of Moldova, companies within the industry, especially within IT, are more open, while their offers are more attractive (in IT, students are offered 18 thousand per year).
Academics affirm that the benefits are safe and largely focused on three elements:
- professionalization (acquisition of experience, early determination of vocation, development of entrepreneurial skills, understanding of the labor market);
- university-company partnership (requirements/possibilities alignment, close coupling, innovation/experience transfer/exchange);
- motivation (learning through experience).
It should be mentioned that the university also tries to apply this model within Doctoral programs.
On the third day, the visit involved the study of the partnership of the University with the local scientific and technological community. One of them is PCiTAL. In order to revitalize the economic activity of the area by increasing the competitiveness of companies on the basis of innovation and technological transfer, Lleida City Hall, together with the University, decided to set up the Agri-Food Science and Technology Park in Lleida, PCiTAL – Parc Científic i Tecnològic Agroalimentari de Lleida. The park is located in an emblematic part of the city – Gardeny Hill, an area previously used by the military.
The competitive advantage of the park, mentions Miguel Aran, director of PCiTAL, consists in the opportunity of specializing within the agro-industry based on its importance in the economy of the Lleida region. The main objective of the park is to become an important science and technology actor in the agri-food sector in Catalonia, Spain, and southern Europe. In the context of the application of digital tools, multiple IT companies are residents of the park, creating opportunities to capitalize on the synergy of both sectors.
Coincidentally, recently, the Technical University of Moldova launched its own AgroIT Hub pursuing the same objectives, being coordinated by vice rector Dinu Țurcanu and MicroLab Director Andrei Bragarenco, located at the Faculty of Food Technology.
The park offers residence (at a price of approximately 7 euro per m²) to all who correspond to the declared values and objectives. Most importantly, not all companies are completely oriented towards the agri-food sector. Thus, among the institutions with the greatest impact is the private foundation Eurecat, which combines research, technology and engineering in providing solutions to the community. Among the essential directions of research and innovation, the Eurecat representative Xavi Domingo mentions the Application of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in various fields. This is also the direction based on which the foundation contributes in the Software Engineering Dual Master program with the University of Lleida.
The director of the local association of IT companies, AETI, Josep R. Freixanet, considers university education very important, and the application of this model guarantees a low dropout rate. The organization of dual education includes activities within the enterprises of the park from 8AM to 3PM, with teaching activities at the university until 8PM.
The visit proved to be productive and fruitful in terms of analyzing this educational model, which can bring new values within the training of engineers, considers the vice-rector for Didactic Activity of TUM, Vladislav Resitca, mentioning that the relation with the industrial environment validates university education and gives young people guaranteed employment, with work experience gained while still studying at the University and for which they can also acquire credits recognized by the University.
The director of the Career Counseling and Guidance Center, Mr. Radu Melnic, is convinced about the importance of dual education in the vocational training of TUM students: “The model I learned about during my recent visit to the University of Lleida in Spain could be successfully implemented at the Technical University of Moldova, and the Center for Career Counseling and Guidance would be honored to contribute to the promotion of dual higher education at TUM. The representatives of the University of Lleida claim that the best results recorded by them in this regard are related to engineering study programs. Thus, following the model of our Spanish partners and taking into account our situation, we could co-opt, for example, companies within the industry (especially in the IT field), which are open to get involved in the training of future specialists”.
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More information about COOPERA can be found at http://coopera-project.ase.md/ and https://www.facebook.com/coopera.project.Moldova and on the COOPERA page of TUM https://proiecte.utm.md/coopera/
