European Doctoral Training Support in Micro/Nano electronics Grant Agreement Number 257051 Eligibility criteria for the courses modules & Accreditation Rules in the EURO DOTS Platform Page 1 of 11
1 Introduction and Summary The field of Micro/nanoelectronics has reached today a high level of complexity and is entering in a period of major moves. In the framework of the basic engineering curriculum (Bachelor and Master degrees), it is nearly impossible to cover all these fields in detail up to the state of the art level. For this reason, doctoral training programs (doctoral schools) have been created for allowing PhD students to select a set of advanced courses that fit their needs for their PhD thesis. The courses selected in the EURO DOTS portfolio must fulfill strict requirements on the overall quality, scientific level, organization, exams and attribution of ECTS credits. These eligibility criteria have been discussed and approved by the steering Committee, and will be applied by the Academic Committee in the course accreditation process. The set of criteria can be summarized as follows: Modular, intensive course (by preference of one week duration) Timely announcement of the course with all details on program and organization. Quality and scientific level Expertise in the field of the group responsible for the scientific program lecture notes or other support, infrastructure and organization, etc Course in the domain of micro nano electronics and associated fields. Accessibility to both PhD students and professionals. Registration fee of PhD students within an imposed limit Course fitting the rules for the proposed number of ECTS credits (hours, level) Course accredited by the Doctoral School of at least one major European university and to be progressively accredited by other major European universities, based on accreditation by the Academic Committee of EURO DOTS. Exam/evaluation organized at the completion of the course. Certificate of course attendance, successful presentation of an exam, & related credits. Mandatory evaluation of each course by all participants. While several of these criteria are already fulfilled today by the courses offered in the framework of the Doctoral School of major European universities, some other courses may request an adaptation in the organization for being accepted in the EURO DOTS portfolio. Page 2 of 11
The Academic Committee will review the courses against all the criteria (eligibility and accreditation) and the selected courses will be given the EURO DOTS label. The following paragraphs of this report are respectively dedicated to each of these criteria, providing the related details and justifications. 2. Details of the Course Eligibility Criteria 2.1 Modular, intensive courses (by preference of one week duration) Today, Engineering Schools or Universities are confronted with the problem of organizing high level doctoral programs covering several engineering fields at the state of the art level, i.e. in direct connection with research. Especially in view of the increasing multidisciplinary nature and content of the emerging research domains, a broad but in depth coverage of related problems has become indispensable. Though major European universities are at the top level in some specific research fields, they can however hardly cover the whole domain of microelectronics and microsystems, both for scientific and financial reasons. The doctoral program they can offer is therefore restricted to some fields, and can hardly cover all the special topics that could be requested by innovative PhD work. On the other hand, for PhD students, the choice of doctoral level courses is mainly restricted today to local courses for various reasons, but mostly because such courses are spread over a full semester at a rate of 2 to 4 hours per week. For making doctoral courses accessible to foreign students, it is therefore mandatory to organize these courses on a full time, intensive basis. One week, modular modules are the most standard scheme. On each day, typically 6 hours of lectures and/or exercises and practical training can be organized in this formula. 2.2 Timely announcement of the course w. all details on program and organization. For PhD students as well as for engineers from industry, the registration to a course is the result of a process that involves many parameters, such as: Fit of the course content with the training need (content, level, etc.) Compatibility of the course calendar with other duties Search for a scholarship or other financing Traveling and lodging arrangements An announcement of 3 months before the course start therefore appears to be a minimum, while 6 months is highly recommended. Page 3 of 11
The following information should be provided by the course organizer: Course program with details on the calendar, content, teachers, training target Course support provided Target audience Venue and travel info Lodging arrangements and costs Registration fee, and what is included in this fee Form of exam/evaluation organized at the completion of the course. 2.3 Quality and scientific level: content, expertise in the field of the group responsible for the scientific program, lecture notes or other support, infrastructure and organization, etc The information requested here above in 2.2 should allow the assessment of the overall quality of the proposed course, both at the scientific and organization levels. A careful assessment is particularly important for new comers, while it can be relaxed for course providers with a well established experience and quality record. The fact that courses are accredited by one or several renowned Doctoral Schools is a good indicator of scientific quality. 2.4 Course in the domain of micro nano electronics and associated fields The EURO DOTS portfolio is open to courses in the whole domain of micro nano electronics and beyond CMOS electronics. Topics range from basic fields such as materials, device physics and technology up to circuit and system level design. Associated fields such as RF MEMS, 3 D integration, SoC (System on Chip) and SiP (System in a Package) are also welcome. Matching the technology push from the science and engineering community with the market pull from the industrial partners and end users is essential to ensure that the research is industrially and economically relevant and maximally beneficial to society. This engages academia and industry alike. For this purpose, EURO DOTS has organized a survey of the Education and Training in nanoelectronics at the PhD level in European Universities, complemented with an identification of the near and long term needs of industry (D1.2), and recommendation for new specific course modules (D2.4). Essential in all of this is that the selection, preparation and adaptation of relevant course modules must be very dynamic and able to respond quickly to identified needs and adequate to address also professionals. Courses fitting the identified needs and/or filling a gap in the existing offer are particularly appreciated in the EURO DOTS portfolio. Page 4 of 11
2.5 Accessibility to both PhD students and professionals. The courses accredited in EURO DOTS must be open to both PhD students and industrial participants (continuing education). The modular, intensive schedule adopted for EURO DOTS courses also fits the best the constraints of industrial participants. 2.6 Registration fee of PhD students within an imposed limit. The effective cost for the organization of a course may widely vary according to the type of course and the affiliation of teachers. Courses involving local teacher(s) only (teachers from home university) are probably at the lower end of the scale, while very specialized courses involving the invitation of key foreign experts and/or costly experiments are at the higher end. While the registration fee is totally under the responsibility and freedom of the course organizer for industrial participants, an upper limit is imposed for the registration fee of PhD students participating in the framework of EURO DOTS. For a one week course, it has therefore been decided to fix the upper limit of the registration fee of PhD students at 1 000 EUR. 2.7 Course fitting the rules for the proposed number of ECTS credits (hours, level) ECTS is a European learner centered system for credit accumulation and transfer based on the transparency of learning outcomes and learning processes. It aims to facilitate planning, delivery, evaluation, recognition and validation of qualifications and units of learning as well as student mobility. ECTS is widely used in formal higher education and can be applied to other lifelong learning activities. ECTS credits are based on the workload students need in order to achieve expected learning outcomes. Learning outcomes describe what a learner is expected to know, understand and be able to do after successful completion of a process of learning. They relate to level descriptors in national and European qualification frameworks. Workload indicates the time students typically need to complete all learning activities (such as lectures, seminars, projects, practical work, self study and examinations) required to achieve the expected learning outcomes. Page 5 of 11
60 ECTS credits are attached to the workload of a full time year (Academic year) of formal learning and the associated learning outcomes. One academic year corresponds to 30 weeks of activities. One week of total workload therefore corresponds to 2 ECTS credits Therefore, for intensive, modular courses such as the courses considered in this doctoral program, a one week course + half a week of personal work (including preparation of the evaluation) corresponds to 3 ECTS credits. The duration of some intensive courses may eventually vary from the one week standard. The following rules will therefore be applied for EURO DOTS courses: 2 day courses 1 ECTS credit 3 and 4 day courses 2 ECTS credits 5 day courses 3 ECTS credits For all courses accepted in the EURO DOTS portfolio, the number of ECTS credits offered to students who fulfill the requirements must fit with these standards. 2.8 Course accredited by the Doctoral School of at least one major European university, to be progressively accredited by other major European universities. As a result of D3.1, it appears that the accreditation procedures for PhD level courses offered by Doctoral Schools are quite similar in most European universities. The accreditation obtained by a course is a first guarantee of quality, scientific level and target audience. It significantly eases its accreditation by other European universities. The accreditation (or formal acceptance as a PhD course) of a proposed course by at least one major European university is therefore a necessary condition for being accepted in the EURO DOTS portfolio. The further accreditation of a course by the Academic Committee of EURO DOTS is a supplementary guarantee of its high quality, and the proof that it satisfies the severe EURO DOTS criteria. The ultimate goal is therefore to achieve a global accreditation of the EURO DOTS portfolio by several European universities. These accreditation rules will be described in Deliverable D3.3 (Rules for accreditation of the courses in EURO DOTS). 2.9 Exam/evaluation organized at the completion of the course Credits are awarded to individual students after completion of the learning activities required by a formal program of and the successful assessment of the achieved learning outcomes. Page 6 of 11
This assessment must be organized as an exam. The format of this exam, which must be specified for all the courses submitted to EURO DOTS, is rather flexible. It can be either an oral or a written exam. A certificate is issued after its successful completion by a student. As an example for the EURO DOTS Courses organized by imec the following examination format will be used. 1. The student will produce a report within 3 weeks after the completion of the course that must be sent in an electronic version to the course organizer. This report consists of 2 parts as explained hereafter. 2. The student will write a 1 page (max) personal evaluation of a. The highlights (strong parts) and lowlights (weaker parts) of the course and personal suggestions for improvement of future sessions. b. How will having attended this course benefit the student s PhD work. What was the student looking for, what was learned and what parts does the student expect to be of practical use in his case? 3. The student will submit a 4 5 page report with a critical analysis of 1 out of the 2 topics proposed by the course organizer at the end of the course. These topics will be announced at the end of the course to the students who want to apply for an ECTScertificate and credits. Per topic also 3 specific questions will be formulated that need to be answered by the student is his report. The student should select that topic that is most removed from his/her actual main PhD topic, in order to avoid reusing existing parts of his/her PhD thesis. The report will consist of : a. A response by the student the 3 specific questions. b. A critical and personal analysis by the student of the selected topic that includes an overview of the state of the art, the expected evolution and a review of the most important related and recent publications. 2.10 Certificate of course attendance, successful presentation of an exam, & related credits. A certificate must be issued by the organizing university (the university responsible for the scientific program/content of the course) to the students that followed a course and successfully presented the related exam. This certificate, which should be based on the approved template here under, should contain the following items: 3 logos (EU FP7, EURO DOTS, and the University that organizes and/or accredits the course in its doctoral school The name of the PhD student and his affiliation (university of origin) The name of the course Page 7 of 11
The recommended number of ECTS credits, according to the rules defined in 2.7 here above The signature of 2 representatives of local academic authorities (typically 2 professors) The date of issue It is important to note that the university to which the PhD student is affiliated (university of origin) remains the sole responsible for the final attribution of the proposed credits. Each university therefore remains free to impose some supplementary requirements to its students (such as a short report on the course or other) for the effective attribution of the proposed credits Template of the Certificate, as approved by the Steering Committee of EURO DOTS 2.11 Mandatory evaluation of each course by all participants In order to assess and to improve the quality of the courses proposed in the EURO DOTS portfolio, each course organizer takes the engagement to organize an evaluation at the Page 8 of 11
completion of each course. The evaluation form, to be completed by each participant, should address at least the following items: Status of the participant (PhD students, industry, etc.) and level of expertise of the participant in the area of the course Adequation of the course with the participant s needs and expectations Rating of each instructor on a 1 to 5 scale (1 very poor, 5 excellent) + comments Rating of the course on a 1 to 5 scale for 3 aspects: scientific content organization social events (if applicable) Suggested improvements How was the participant informed about the existence of the course Any additional remark A summary of the result must be provided to EURO DOTS. 3. Accreditation Process in general The accreditation of university curricula (study programs) is well organized in most European countries at the Bachelor and Master levels. Moreover, several transnational and European level initiatives demonstrate a trend to adopt uniform or comparable criteria as a consequence of the Bologna agreements and the increased student s mobility. At the PhD or Doctoral level, there are no such formal regulations. This can be explained by two factors: Doctoral Schools, doctoral programs, and the requirements for PhD students to acquire ECTS credits during the course of their PhD are relatively recent. Even more, this is not yet formally implemented in several European universities. In most cases, a doctoral program is not a fixed study program. It is usually a coherent set of courses among which a PhD student can select those that are the most appropriate for his PhD. Even more, some ECTS credits can be collected outside of this program, for instance in another university. As a consequence, the accreditation of PhD courses is more performed on an individual (course to course) basis, and is mainly organized by each university according to local rules or practices. An interesting approach for according the qualification standards through Europe is given by the European Qualification Framework (EQF) described here above. Eight reference levels are defined, the doctoral level being defined as level 8. A class is defined by its learning Page 9 of 11
outcomes (which is rather a potential learning outcome ), based on the teachers qualifications (knowledge, skills, competence). Starting from this definition, some accreditation agencies such as the NVAO have proposed a set of criteria upon which the courses are to be judged by the evaluation panel. These are: Intended or potential learning outcomes (courses and teachers levels) Teaching learning environment (facilities, organization) Achieved learning outcomes (assessment after the course delivery) These criteria are already included in the EURO DOTS Eligibility Criteria defined above. They can however be more precisely defined based on the EQF and NVAO definitions and recommendations. 4. Accreditation Process for EURO DOTS courses The accreditation of courses that are candidate for the EURO DOTS portfolio is the duty of the Academic Committee. The Academic Committee is responsible for its own organization. For each course submitted to EURO DOTS for accreditation, the application should address each of the Eligibility Criteria detailed above. Moreover, based on the analysis of national and European initiatives for accreditation of courses at the PhD level, the criterion on Quality and Scientific level will be analyzed according to the following items: Intended or potential learning outcomes Course quality: state of the art level, coherence Teachers qualifications (knowledge, skills, competences) Sound evaluation questionnaire Exam/test after course completion Teaching/learning environment Facilities, staff, overall organization quality, enabling students to achieve the intended learning outcome Achieved learning of courses based on student s assessment This point can only be addressed after the first edition of a course. It is based both on the student s evaluation/assessment and on the result of their exam/test. After completing the assessment of a proposed course, the Academic Committee delivers its recommendation to the EURO DOTS Steering Committee, including the related comments. A negative decision should particularly be commented and justified, in order to return to the Page 10 of 11
course provider with a feedback on the weaknesses of the application and the items to be improved. The motivated decision is officially forwarded to the course provider by the Steering Committee. A positive decision qualifies the course to wear the EURO DOTS Quality Label. Page 11 of 11