At the end of November, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt hosted the Erasmus+ Kick-Off-Meeting for the project BENEFIT. BENEFIT is a three-year long project coordinated by the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt (professor Tonello) that will focus on three main pillars:
1.) the cooperation between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and industry to modernize the study program in telecommunication engineering;
2.) the adoption of modern teaching methodologies and tools, the upgrade of the infrastructure, and the creation of several joint university-industry labs;
3.) the training of both teachers and students.
Furthermore, to increase level of cooperation, visibility and sustainable opportunities, the project will develop an integrated e-platform for class material for e-learning, available training/internships opportunities in the region, list of universities and companies from the consortium, employment opportunities, and events of technical content with society-at-large as target.
Therefore, BENEFIT will contribute to shape a modern profile for the graduates in the telecom/ICT engineering domain, bridging effectively the gap with the job market needs, which is a concrete action in response to the recently announced programmatic goals by WB countries.
The modernization of the Telecommunications study program into an ICT Engineering program fosters transversal skills, breaks the barriers that traditionally exist in the computer and the electrical engineering curricula and promotes the concrete application of ICT HW and SW skills in horizontal domains: smart systems, IoT, energy, e-health, transportation. The cooperation with industry promotes professional development of both teachers and staff involved in training with ICT methodologies.