International project-oriented training of engineers based on the example of the European Engineering Team

The paper presents the first cohort of the innovative project “European Engineering Team”, which was conducted within the ERASMUS+ program. The innovativeness of the project lies in the cooperation of 4 European universities of technology and its project-based approach. Students participating in the EET project independently defined problem domains related to sustainability. The mobility attributed to regular ERASMUS+ initiatives was redefined. Students and supervisors had to travel frequently for short periods (4 week-long meetings), reflecting the actual needs and demands of a global labor market. Students cooperate virtually and attend classes in their regular courses at home universities between direct meetings. The goal of this project was to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach to transnational and inter-university initiatives, utilizing blended learning. The goal was to develop student competencies in terms of sustainability, cooperation in transnational and geographically dispersed teams, who worked on multi-disciplinary problems utilizing knowledge from different domains. The approach was effective and most of the student competences improved throughout the project. However, some areas of possible improvement were defined and supervisors are focused on them during the ongoing second cohort of the EET.