Global Capstone Design at the Silesian University of Technology
The Silesian University of Technology carries out joint projects with students and scientists from South Korea and the Czech Republic as part of Global Capstone Design. Since November 20th, delegations of these countries have been visiting the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice.
The Silesian University of Technology has been providing project-oriented education for years. The latest initiative in this area is Global Capstone Design, under which 10 technical PBL (Project Based Learning) projects are implemented in international teams.
- For us, this is the next stage of project-oriented education. Let me remind you that this story began with a small number of students, about twenty. Over time, thanks to the POWER 3.5 project and later as part of the Research University Excellence Initiative, we have greatly developed this form of education. Currently, we implement over 200 projects a year. Both students and scientists benefit from this - said prof. dr Eng. Marek Pawełczyk, vice-rector for science and development of the Silesian University of Technology, who welcomed foreign delegations.
PBL work takes place in small groups, and the topics are related to large grants or orders from industry. This is an excellent opportunity for young people to gain experience. The Silesian University of Technology, seeing this as an opportunity for development, goes internationally with PBL projects.
- We want the projects to enter the international cooperation phase. Two years ago, we entered into an agreement with Stanford University. Under this agreement, students carry out PBL projects in a hybrid form and, after learning the topic, work remotely. Then they meet to summarize these activities, and we adopted the same formula when planning a joint project with Korean partners - explained prof. Pawełczyk.
Nearly 90 students from 3 countries - South Korea, the Czech Republic and Poland - participate in the work of Global Capstone Design. The Silesian University of Technology is represented in this project by students of three faculties - Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science.
Working together online started at the beginning of September. The workshops taking place at the Silesian University of Technology on November 20th -23rd are the culmination of the competition. On Thursday, November 23rd, the developed solutions will be presented, after which the jury will select the winners.
- We think this is a very good opportunity for our students to come to Poland, meet your students and establish contact with them. And this is a very good chance, because maybe in 20 or 30 years, when they develop professionally and gain experience, they will be good engineers and will play an important role in society, said Professor Joo-hoo Lee from Sun Moon University.
The main organizers of Global Capstone Design are the Silesian University of Technology and Sun Moon University. Other universities from Korea and VSB Ostrava are also involved in the project.
