ECIU Award ‘Innovation in Teaching and Learning' for University of Twente

The European Consortium of Innovative Universities(ECIU) awards the University of Twente (UT) module‘Smart ways to make smart cities smarter’ with the ECIU Team Award forInnovation in Teaching and Learning. The ECIU Team Award is presented annually to recognize ​teaching andlearning innovations of teams from the ECIU member institutions. The UT minor‘Smart ways to make smart cities smarter’ is selected as the winner out ofseven candidates. The jury especially appreciates the high level of interdisciplinaryapproach of the module and its connection to external stakeholders.

Interdisciplinary module for bachelor students

Smart Ways to get Smart Cities Smarter is a High Tech, Human Touch minor module led by Léon Olde Scholtenhuis from the faculty ofEngineering Technology and is offered to third-year bachelor students of the UT.It introduces students to the field of civil engineering and management andsociety’s transition towards smart cities. The module addresses the challengesof maintaining urban space and infrastructure, and also provides hands-onexperience during an industry-based design project. It is open to all technicalstudents and students EPA and IBA. The module has been developed the faculties EngineeringTechnology, Electronical Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics and theITC Faculty of Geo-information science and earth observation.

The module team isparticularly pleased with the interdisciplinary character of the module.Necessary for teachers, but also fascinating for participating students. Itshows that Smart Cities is a typical subject that can not be tackled (andtaught) in one faculty. The chosen approach via interfaculty collaboration hastherefore contributed to the success.

Special Highly Commended Award

The Student Success Toolbox Project of Dublin CityUniversity (DCU) receives the Special Highly Commended Award. This important,nationally funded research and technology development project is designed toaddress the effective flexible learner transition into higher education. Ittargets adults engaged in undergraduate, part-time or online/distance-learningduring the initial stages of the study-lifecycle. Enhancing retention andcompletion rates of this group of learners, in order to facilitate successfulwidening of access, is a significant global challenge. This project team hasproduced both a guide for the sector on how to improve flexible learnerreadiness, and a suite of digital readiness tools for the initial stages of thestudy lifecycle that will aid program teams/institutions in facilitatingundergraduate flexible learner transition.

ECIUThe European Consortium ofInnovative Universities (ECIU) is an international consortium of researchintensive universities, with collective emphasis on innovation, creativity andsocietal impact. The consortium consists of twelve members, including theUniversity of Twente. Currently, the President of the UT’s Executive Board,Victor van der Chijs, is the ECIU President. 

For furtherinformation about the ECIU Team Award please contact MarcBrown of Dublin CityUniversity.

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