Strengthening Capacities of South-Mediterranean Higher Education Institutions in the Field of Solar Energy by Enhancing Links among Applied Research, Business, and Education, MedSol

Project No. 573722-EPP-1-2016-1-FR-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

The overall aim of this project is the capacity enhancement of HEI&rsquos in the target countries, in the context of modernisation, accessibility and internationalization of the Higher Education systems in large. More specifically, this project aims at improving the quality of the master programmes provided by the Partner Country HEIs in the field of renewable energy (and more specifically, solar energy) in order to respond to the true needs of the sector, at the level of industry and scientific research.

In order to achieve this, the project will foster cooperation between the Programme and Partner Countries and their institutions in the fields of higher education, business/industry and applied research to form the so-called &lsquoKnowledge triangle&rsquo around the study, research and application of renewable energy technologies. This collaborative structure will engage in sharing know-how and good practices and tackle the issues identified as the main deficiencies of the current training programmes:

1) Multidisciplinarity (in terms of improving the quality of education and teaching)

2) Practice-based training (leaning on links between education, business and applied research).

The project will have substantial impact on the capacities of participating organizations, notably the HEIs in Partner Countries. The quality of their educational offer in the Solar Energy field will be improved through curriculum development and the issues listed above will be alleviated. The institutions will be able to update their teaching methodologies and laboratory equipment for teaching purposes. Through the mobility scheme, the HEIs staff will receive high quality training in the latest developments in the field and become well equipped in teaching the updated curricula. They will be able to further share the know-how with their institutions, train other trainers and benefit from the new knowledge in their future professional careers. The involved Partner Country HEIs will be able to attract an important student basis and provide them with state-of-the-art educational programmes and opportunities of international mobility.

The established collaboration between the partners is also expected to result in opportunities of networking and building personal and institutional relationships. This in turn will result in a continued scientific collaboration in form of joint results, publications, products, patents and future projects within the renewable energy field. The MEDSOL project will present a successful example of a joint strategy for Partner and Programme country collaboration within the business-research-education model and function as a basis for solidifying future collaboration. It will act as a pilot case to identify good practices in the development of this &lsquoKnowledge triangle&rsquo between public and private actors, and will therefore have a society-wide impact.

The expected short-term outcomes of the project are:

1) Improving existing curricula for Master level study on Solar Energy at the partnering HEIs in Morocco and Egypt

2) Capacity building of partnering HEI staff in Morocco and Egypt via a mobility scheme, including training in latest technologies, research findings and teaching methodologies

3) Updating training facilities at partnering HEIs in Morocco and Egypt to fulfil the requirements of improved curricula

4) Providing opportunities for international mobility for students in form of study periods at the involved HEIs and trainee periods at the partnering research institutions, enterprises and SMEs in the EU,Morocco and Egypt

5) Disseminating project results and best practices in form of workshops and online/offline publications

6) Promoting continued long-term collaboration, e.g. developing Double Master Degrees between the partners

Partners

Université de Strasbourg, France

Universidade de Lisboam Portgual

Universidad Publica de Navarra, Spain

Arab Academy For Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Egypt

HELWAN UNIVERSITY, Egypt

Al Akhawayn University, Morocco

University Mohammed V of Rabat, Morocco

Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, France

MASEN (Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy), Morocco

FUNDACION CENER-CIEMAT, Spain

COOPÉRNICO, Protgual

OneraSystems, Egypt

AASTMT Contact person

Professor Yasser Gaber Dessouky,
Dean of Scientific Research and Innovation
Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT)  
Abu Kir Campus, POBox: 1029 Miami,  
Alexandria, EGYPT 
Mobile:     +2 01006030790  
E-mail:     ygdessouky@yahoo.com