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EUROPEAN COMMON TECHNICAL SEMESTER
FOR DEFENCE AND SECURITY 

 ERASMUS+ PROJECT KA2 NO. 2020-1-RO01-KA203-080375

EuCTSDS INTELLECTUAL OUTPUTS

O1. Design and Development of the EuCTSDS Curriculum 
 
The offer of classes taught in English for future officer engineers is quite limited at the European Union level, so for the students coming from military-technical academies or technical faculties of the military academies, it is tough to find options to improve their competencies and to have an international experience in a fully recognised environment. Sometimes, they can participate in international semesters organised in civilian universities (but without military components) or take part in internships to prepare their final project diploma. This project intended to fill a gap in this field, preparing an international technical semester for military students but also making it accessible to civilian students interested in formation in defence and security technical systems. One of the objectives of the internationalisation strategy and the strategy of the higher education development in the MTA Bucharest is to develop a new curriculum for a military international technical semester common at EU level. The new curriculum also has to meet the national MoDs requirements. The main target groups of the intellectual output are the teachers who will be implied
in the teaching activities in the new international technical semester and the students who will take part in this international technical semester.
The project consortium evaluated the higher education systems at EU level for officer engineers from different branches and different countries. Then, they identified the common subjects and common competencies organised in the following parts: Basic engineering (BE01-Applied Informatics, BE-02Applied Automation for
Engineering Systems), Military Science for engineers (MS01 – Integrated Weapon Systems, MS02- Common Security and Defence Policy for Technical Systems ), Mechanical and aerospace engineering (MA01- Mechanics and Material Science, MA02- Dynamic of Flight, MA03 – Propulsion Systems, MA04- Computer-Aided-Design and Numerical Analysis), Electronic and computer science engineering (EI01- Signal Processing, EI02- Programming Languages, EI03- Computer Networks, EI04- Microcontrollers).
The international technical semester consists of a modular curriculum having subjects specific to engineering programmes of study but with applications in defence and security, including military subjects. The new international technical semester will also include an interdisciplinary scientific project solved using a new innovative pedagogical method (project-based learning), which will put the students in an intercultural and interdisciplinary team. In this kind of project, the host university could imply the private and public companies from the national defence system. The EuCTS_DS project prepared an international semester that provides in the same time, engineering competencies with application in technical systems for defence and security and also military competencies, assuring the full recognition
for the cadets from technical military academies following this international semester. Another important issue was the fact that in the military-technical academies, there are a lot of engineering branches: weapon systems engineering, auto-vehicle engineering, aerospace engineering, military engineering, civil engineering, geodesy and topo geodetic engineering, computer science engineering, cyber-security, electronic engineering, communication engineering etc. So, the innovative idea of the EuCTS_DS curriculum was to create only one international semester for students from any engineering branch. The content of the curriculum realised this, having three main parts and an interdisciplinary scientific project: a core part (common for any engineer), an optional part (considering just 2 main branches of engineers: mechanical engineers, electronic and IT engineers), military part (subjects requested by MoD for obtaining the officer rank). The interdisciplinary scientific project ensures the competencies in the different engineering branches,
the students working in teams, and each team member’s task is in accord with his/her engineering branch. 
 
O3. Subjects Description and Education materials for EuCTSDS
To prepare the future accreditation of the new curriculum developed in the frame of the EuCTS_DS project for the common international technical semester, we need to have prepared the subject description and the education materials, the course support and application for all the subjects included in the curriculum. So, during the project, the consortium project elaborated the syllabus of each subject proposed to be part of the new international technical semester, in total, 12 syllabus: Basic engineering (BE01-Applied Informatics, BE-02 Applied Automation for Engineering
Systems), Military science for engineers (MS01 – Integrated Weapon Systems, MS02- Common Security and Defence Policy for Technical Systems), Mechanical and aerospace engineering (MA01- Mechanics and Material Science, MA02- Dynamic of Flight, MA03 – Propulsion Systems, MA04- Computer-Aided-Design and Numerical Analysis), Electronic and computer science engineering (EI01- Signal Processing, EI02- Programming Languages, EI03- Computer Networks, EI04- Microcontrollers).
 
Subject descriptions:
The project consortium elaborated and proposed the recommended didactic materials for each subject.
 
The subject content and the didactic materials were tested during the intensive study 
programs organised in Shumen in September 2022, in Salon de Provence in October 2022, in Bucharest in April 2023, but also supplementary, by the Military Technical Academy “Ferdinand I”  during the Pilot Edition of the European Common Technical Semester for Defence and Security organised in Bucharest in the period February 2023-June 2023, having 15 participants, 6 from the project partners (3 from National Military University Vasil Levski from Bulgaria and 3 from Military University of Technology, Warsaw) and 9 from other institutions (4 from France, University Paul Sabatier Toulouse, 2 from Austria, Theresan Military Academy, Wienner Neustadt, 1 from Bulgarian Air Force Academy Dolna Mitropolia, 2 from Naval Military Academy from Varna Bulgaria).

O4. Methodology and Guide for the Interdisciplinary Scientific Project

For the interdisciplinary scientific project included in the new common international technical semester developed in the frame of EuCTS_DS project, it was necessary to have a methodology and a guide for all the teaching activities and assessment activities organised during the teaching phase. The innovative solution is given by the pedagogical method of teaching, Project Based Learning, and to produce a good impact, we have to provide to students and teachers (the main target groups of the intellectual output) a methodology and a guide specific to the interdisciplinary scientific project having application in the defence and security systems. Including this interdisciplinary scientific project in the common international semester for defence and security will solve the main issue: too many engineering branches. The students with different engineering backgrounds could collaborate by working in an interdisciplinary and intercultural team, each member having attributed specific tasks to his/her competencies.
 
Didactic materials are available on the EuCTSds e-learning platform.
Access to the didactic materials is free to any interested person on request using the EuCTSds E-learning platform. 
 
 Steps to access the EuCTSds didactic materials:
  • First step: Access EuCTSds E-learning Platform 
  • Create an account using Login via Eu Login (former ECAS Account) or use your existing Eu Login (former ECAS account)
  • Communicate your username (email used for registration) to the E-learning administrator by email (erasmus@mta.ro)
  • Access the E-learning platform of the project European Common Technical Semester for Security and Defence
 
The methodology and the guide developed for the interdisciplinary scientific project
could be used by any teacher willing to improve his/her teaching method by using the Project Based Learning method. The interdisciplinary scientific project results were tested during the intensive study program organised by the Hellenic Air Force Academy in Athens in February 2023, but also, supplementary by the Military Technical Academy “Ferdinand I” during the Pilot Edition of the European Common Technical Semester for Defence and Security organised in Bucharest in the period February 2023-June 2023, having 15 participants, 6 from the project partners (3 from National Military University Vasil Levski from Bulgaria and 3 from Military University of Technology, Warsaw) and 9 from other institutions (4 from France, University Paul Sabatier Toulouse, 2 from Austria, Theresan Military Academy, Wienner Neustadt, 1 from Bulgarian Air Force Academy Dolna Mitropolia, 2 from Naval Military Academy from Varna Bulgaria).

O5. E-learning Platform

The other priorities identified are the lack of a common digital platform useful for collaborating to prepare classes and teach and the use of new digital technology tools to improve the quality of teaching and scientific research activities. So, the project supported the development of a common digital platform used to support the teaching/learning activities (to share the educational resources prepared during the project) and the development of the network of teachers and their future collaboration. The innovation of the intellectual output consists of the content of the new e-learning platform developed. The initial platform of the project was a Google Drive account, then the Microsoft Teams platform was used. Finally, the project consortium elaborated an e-learning platform using the ILIAS system. The target
groups of the intellectual output are students and teachers. The introduction of the e-learning platform will contribute to the future development of a new pedagogical teaching method: blended learning.
 
 
 Steps to access the EuCTSds e-learning platform:
  • First step: Access EuCTSds E-learning Platform 
  • Create an account using Login via Eu Login (former ECAS Account) or use your existing Eu Login (former ECAS account)
  • Communicate your username (email used for registration) to the E-learning administrator by email (erasmus@mta.ro)
  • Access the E-learning platform of the project European Common Technical Semester for Security and Defence