Advanced Curriculum on Intelligent Transport System (ITS) by Means of ICT (TransITS)

Transcription

1 Advanced Curriculum on Intelligent Transport System (ITS) by Means of ICT (TransITS) Aim The aim of this project is to solve or overcome the following main inherent problems the ITS higher education and expertise in Syria has been facing since its foundation: Title Advanced Curriculum on Intelligent Transport System (ITS) by Means of ICT Project Type Joint Projects Curricular Reform The lack of clear curricula and guidelines in ITS. The lack of an advanced up-to-date curriculum in ITS. Coordinator Partner Universität Klagenfurt SE AT The lack of a curriculum in ITS which is adapted to the nature, problems, needs and characteristics of transport in Syria. The lack of collaboration between the politics (i.e. ministries), municipalities and universities, leading to a large gap between practice and research. The lack of systematic teaching methods which could encourage students to acquire knowledge independently (or in an autonomous way) from libraries or Internet and help them as well to stimulate creative thinking. ICT tools for education and communication, encompassing electronic library in ITS are not efficiently used. There is no IT centralized admission system (at national level) for master s programs in Syria. Due to the large gap between the ITS curricula in Syria and the European ITS curricula it was not possible to see joint master s degree programs between Universities and external universities (e.g. with EU Universities) Technological Education Institute of Piraeus GR Gdansk University of Technology PL SE Al-Baath University Aleppo University Damascus University Mamoun Private University for Science and Technology MUST Ministry of Transportation Syrian Engineering Association The Municipality of Aleppo The Municipality of Homs Tishreen University Project Number TEMPUS SE TEMPUS - JPCR EU Grant Euro - 36 months Contact Prof. Kyandoghere Kyamakya University of Klagenfurt/ Smart System Technologies Universitätsstraße / 9020 Klagenfurt 1

2 With regard to the above mentioned problems, the overall aim of the project is to develop and offer a new full-time master s program in Intelligent Transport System (ITS) at Aleppo University in Syria, besides single subject courses in ITS at other Syrian partner universities. The ongoing project exploits the successful course materials, knowledge, and teaching methods and faculty expertise available at EU Universities. The courses offered in the frame of this project are refined and adapted to teaching practices and traffic situation. Finally the target of the new master s program in ITS in Syria is on newly graduated students at Syrian universities as well as professionals in transport authorities and companies in Syria and regionally. Description of the Project The ongoing project can be summarized around the following nine key objectives: 1. Developing a Curriculum: This aims at elaborating new courses and updating the available ones at Aleppo University towards the new full master s program in ITS. Additionally, the achievements of the ongoing project must be able to modernize and restructure the existing courses in ITS at other universities. 2. Developing a centralized web-based application and admission system. 3. Incorporating different information and communication technologies (ICT) in the new curriculum. The course materials (lectures, demonstrations and scenarios) must be made available over the master program website. 4. Developing new teaching methods (e.g. problem-based learning (PBL)) to be applied in the new curriculum. The PBL method is based on understanding rather than memorization. The PBL scenarios must be developed on the basis of real transport and traffic data and problems in Syria that can be taken from the non-academic partners in the project e.g. MoT and municipalities. 5. Exploring the possibility of having joint Master s degree in ITS between the participants universities. 6. Providing necessary basic knowledge in ITS in order to offer the possibility to students from universities who completed courses in ITS to pursue their postgraduate at EU based on performance and availability. 7. Establishing an advanced ITS Lab in Aleppo University equipped with advanced hardwares, softwares and ICT tools. 8. Organizing a concluding project scientific conference in ITS in Syria (year 2011) at national and regional levels. 9. Training and re-training of teachers /administrative staff skills from each Partner University regarding the new curriculum, ICT and teaching methods. Project Partners The consortium consists of four universities in EU and five universities in Syria. The European universities are (Sweden), Klagenfurt University (Austria), Gdansk University of Technology (Poland), and The Technological Institute (TEI) of Piraeus (Greece). The Syrian universities are the four largest public universities plus one major IT- Engineering private university, which are: University of Damascus (Syria), University of Aleppo (Syria), Tishreen University (Syria), Al- Baath University (Syria) and Mamoun Private University. Apart from the universities in Syria, the Ministry of Transport (MoT), the Municipalities in Aleppo and Homs, and the Syrian Engineering Association will strengthen the project as being executive partner bodies. In addition, the project will get support from both the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) and the Syrian Student Association. Two external Individual experts and one local expert will be engaged in the project especially 2

3 in evaluating the progress of the project from an outside perspective, namely MSc. Eng. Mohammed, the general director of the ITS- Arab organisation in UK; and Dr. Bachar Al- Hakim, Associate Director of the Scott Wilson Engineering Group Ltd in UK; in addition to IT/ICT local expert and lectuere in informatic Jehan Hajeh. (LiU) is the grant applicant. It was first founded as an independent college in 1970 and became in 1975 the sixth university in Sweden. Today LiU is organised in four faculties: Institute of Technology (LiTH), Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, and Educational Sciences. Since its foundation in the 1960 s, the university has established itself as an innovative and modern institution in both education and research. The university offers postgraduate studies and research in more than 100 scientific areas within 23 multidisciplinary departments. The University of Klagenfurt was founded in The initial thinking behind its foundation was prompted by need to establish a sound base for an up-to-date and forward-looking educational system in Austria. The University of Klagenfurt expanded also into other fields by opening of the faculties of Business Administration and Informatics in Today the Faculty of Informatics covers scientific, technical and intelligent transport system. The Transportation Informatics Group is part of the Institute of Smart Systems Technologies, and is engaged in teaching within the bachelor and master programs Information Technology at Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt. Gdansk University of Technology (GUT) is the oldest (founded in 1904) and the largest scientific and technological academic institution in the north of Poland. There are 9 faculties covering almost all fields of science and technology. Gdansk University of Technology provides broad-based education and research within engineering science, natural science and architecture. Education and cooperation with industry are an increasingly important part of university existence and have now become a life-long process. GUT has a very important competence and experience of the field of transportation. The Technological Institute (TEI) of Piraeus The Intelligent Systems Laboratory (ISL) is part of the Department of Automation of the Technological Institute of Piraeus - a higher education establishment based in Athens, Greece. It was established in 1999 with the mission to provide advanced educational and technological services and solutions in two main areas: Applications and systems that use micro-controller IT technology to provide new or enhanced functions and features and Applications that bring together the conventional optimisation approaches and the modern "intelligent" computer-based optimisation methods that can be used in different fields of science includes transportation. Damascus University is the largest and oldest university in Syria with more than 120,000 students. The university was founded in 1923 from merging the School of Medicine (established 1909) and the Institute of Law (established 1913) under the name of the Syrian University. The university 3

4 name changed into Damascus University in Other faculties were added later to the university. The Faculty of Civil Engineering was established in The Faculty consists of eight departments: Basic Sciences, Engineering Management and Construction, Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, Topographic Engineering, Transportation Engineering, and Water Engineering. The University of Aleppo was founded in 1946 as University for Civil Engineering and was originally part of the university in Damascus. It is the second eldest university in Syria. Since 1958 the University of Aleppo is independent. University of Aleppo is a public university located in Aleppo, Syria. It is the second largest university in Syria after Damascus University with some students. There are different faculties such as the faculty of humanities, medical sciences, arts, natural sciences, and engineering and today these 14 faculties offer a variety of studies to students. The University of Tishreen was founded under the name of the University of Latakia on It is the third largest university in Syria with more than 45,000 students. The Faculty of Civil Engineering opened in 1972 Dept, which has 7 departments and among them is the department of Transportation and Telecommunications. The M. Sc. in Civil Engineering in Transportation Engineering takes at least two years, includes one year thesis work. There is no separated advanced courses in ITS at the university. The Al-Baath University was founded in 1979 and is the forth biggest university in Syria, with approximately 35,000 students. Al-Baath University has 20 faculties and the Faculty of Civil Engineering was established from the beginning. Al-Baath is very keen on setting up new postgraduate diploma courses, Master and PhD degrees. First Achievements The results obtained so far in the frame of the ongoing project can be summarized as follows: A new ITS Curriculum has been designed to be applied to all Universities. The new curriculum designed has already been validated by the Syrian Government through the Syrian Ministry of High Education and Research. The application of this new curriculum by all Universities will be starting in September A centralized web-based application and admission system has been designed and is now being experienced by the projectpartners. An advanced ITS Laboratory for Master studies has been created within the Aleppo University. This laboratory has been equipped with advanced software and ICT tools. The practical training of Syrian Teachers has been insured by the scientific staff of the Transportation Informatics Group of the University of Klagenfurt. The first phase of this training was organized in December 2010 at the University of Aleppo in Syria. This training phase was based on the use of the traffic simulation software VISSIM for the microscopic modeling and simulation of real World traffic scenarios. The second phase took place in February 2011 at the University of Klagenfurt in Austria. This second training phase was based on the use of the traffic simulation software VISUM for the macroscopic 4

5 modeling and simulation of real World traffic scenarios. Courses or Lectures (Theoretical and Practical) have already been prepared according to the new curriculum by all EUpartners. These courses will be taught in April 2011 at the Aleppo University of Syria in the frame of the theoretical training of Syrian- teachers regarding the new curriculum, ICT and teaching methods. We obtained from the EU- commission a letter of congratulation which has been addressed to Prof. Kenneth of the Linkoping University of Sweden (see below the contact address) as he is the formal project manager and contact person. The EU- commission has already been informed concerning the successful results obtained so far in the frame of this project. 5