The need for generic skills (also called soft skills, transversal skills or 21st-century skills) increases today. More attention should (on the curriculum level) be paid to teaching entrepreneurial, foreign language and digital skills to foster employability, socio-educational and professional development through an innovative and creative solution and transdisciplinary approach. Universities are then seeking solutions involving students in international experiences and letting them acquire the skills required to work in international and virtual (remote) teams, especially communication in virtual and multicultural environments [Kolm 2021, Zuofa 2017]. Besides, participating students are expected to show increased motivation in fields like intercultural awareness, language and social skills, project management, or online communication. For that purpose, the MUPIC (MUltidisciplinary Project in an International Context) project has been developed by joining four European universities: the University of West Bohemia (CZ), Turku University of Applied Sciences (FI), University of Mons (BE) and Florida Universitaria (SP). During the project, teams composed of students with different nationalities and backgrounds (mechanical engineering, design engineering, business/marketing, and project management) worked on a real-life engineering project submitted by a company. They had to work together online as well as in a face-to-face environment. Such a real-life experiment allows students to develop competencies such as understanding cultures, virtual communication in English as a lingua franca, choice of media, collaborating in virtual teams, and managing virtual projects.
The project addresses the following topics:
- New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training
courses - International cooperation, international relations, development
cooperation - Cooperation between educational institutions and business
Project results:
- MUPIC DICTIONARY
- GUIDE FOR TEACHERS
- ASSESSMENT GRID
- MUPIC COURSE PLAN/ CURRICULA
- MUPIC ONLINE COURSE
- RESEARCH and CASE STUDIES