1. Working Group 4 PRESENTATION ON WG4 : DISCUSSION ON NEXT WG4 ACTIVITIES Giacomo Scarascia Mugnozza University of Bari, Italy Education and Research in Biosystems or Agricultural and Biological Engineering in Europe; a Thematic Network ERABEE TN

2. Allocation of tasks 8 Workpackages are allocated to 5 specific WGs SCWG 1WG 2WG 3WG 4WG 5 WP 1WP 2WP 3WP 4WP 5WP 6WP 7WP 8

3. 1)Giacomo Scarascia (WG leader) 2)Francisco Ayuga 3)Frederic Cointault 4)Christer Nillson 5)Bill Rowley 6)Turkey Representative 7)Pierluigi Febo (link of EurAgEng to ERABEE) 8)Panos Panagakis (link of POMSEBES to ERABEE) 9)Antonio Comparetti (WG co-leader) Members of WG 4

4. WG4 plans The WG4 of ERABEE-TN can achieve the operational objectives of Work package PROM “International recognition and attractiveness”, through the related planned activities :  to enhance the international attractiveness of European study programs in Biosystems Engineering, exploiting also the EU/USA POMSEBES project outcomes;  to bring together public sector, scientific and professional stakeholders, contributing to the European innovation capacity, supported by the TUNING lines, aiming at implementing the TUNING Template, in order to promote the international image of these European studies;  to develop further the web database about European study programs in Biosystems Engineering, established in the framework of USAEE-TN, so that it will be continuously updated, in order to provide reliable data;  to promote the multi-linguism in Biosystems Engineering University study programs.

5. Outcome P6 “Proceedings of the 6 th Workshop” : progress made The outcome P6 “Proceedings of the 6 th Workshop” on enhancing the attractiveness of European study programs in Biosystems Engineering within Europe and outside Europe and on implementing the TUNING Template, to promote the international image of these European studies, was partially obtained in France. In fact, in order to enhance the attractiveness of Agricultural and Biological Engineering studies and make them more visible within and outside Europe, the French Ministry of Agriculture has constituted 7 “pôles de compétences” and promotes Technological Mixt Networks (RMT).

6.  Universities (e.g. academic staff, students, managers/administrators);  academic associations (e.g. national associations of Agricultural Engineering) and professional associations (e.g. national associations of agronomists and of engineers);  related thematic networks and projects;  Ministries of Education;  public sector;  policy makers;  researchers;  companies involved in agricultural production and processing. Outcome P6 “Proceedings of the 6 th Workshop” (deadline : 10.2010) : next progress Further the outcome P6 “Proceedings of the 6 th Workshop” will be addressed all over EU to the following target groups :

7. Outcome P13 “Implementation of TUNING Template” : progress made The outcome P13 “Implementation of TUNING Template” was partially obtained in France. In fact, some international companies make some interventions in the studies offered by Enesad and allow to 1 or 2 students per year to carry out practical training.

8.  European and international academic (e.g. EurAgEng, ASABE, CIGR) and professional associations (e.g. CEDIA);  related thematic networks and projects;  public sector;  policy makers;  companies involved in agricultural production and processing;  etc. Outcome P13 “Implementation of TUNING Template”(deadline : 09.2010) : next progress Further the outcome P13 “Implementation of TUNING Template” will be addressed all over EU to the following target groups :

9. Outcome P14 “Enhancement scheme of student and staff mobility” : progress made The outcome P14 “Enhancement scheme of student and staff mobility” between EU Universities and, hence, improvement of inter-university communications and knowledge transfer was partially obtained in France. During the 3 rd year of studies offered by Enesad, students join together into a student association called Tecagro, which allows to federate all the old students in a specific network. This network is so attractive that a lot of big firm managers are graduated at Enesad.

10.  Universities (e.g. academic staff, students, managers/administrators);  academic associations;  Ministries of Education. Outcome P14 “Enhancement scheme of student and staff mobility” (deadline : 09.2010) : next progress Following the experience and results of POMSEBES an ATLANTIS student and staff mobility network on Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering studies was recently (July 2009) approved and funded. 4 EU (Athens, Dublin, Madrid, Bari) and 2 US (Illinois, Virginia Tech) Universities will participate to ATLANTIS, starting in 2010. The outcome P14 “Enhancement scheme of student and staff mobility” between EU Universities and, hence, improvement of inter-university communications and knowledge transfer will be addressed all over EU to the following target groups :

11. Outcome P15 “Preparation of an updated guide / platform” : progress made The outcome P15 “Preparation of a Biosystems Engineering European institutions electronic, continuously updated, guide / platform”, so as to make them known to applicants and students from all over the world, was not accomplished by all the ERABEE partners. The outcome P15 will be addressed all over EU to the following target groups :  Universities (e.g. academic staff, students, managers/administrators);  European and international academic and professional associations;  related thematic networks and projects;  Ministries of Education;  policy makers;  companies involved in agricultural production and processing.

12. Progress made in Italy - 1/2 In order to improve the international attractiveness of Biosystems Engineering area, in Italy the Agricultural Engineering scientific and teaching sector is being re-modulated and updated thanks to USAEE and ERABEE results: it was changed into the new sector “Agricultural, Forestry and Biosystems Engineering”, including the research and teaching subjects regarding aspects related to Biosystems Engineering. The new University scientific and teaching sector “Agricultural, Forestry and Biosystems Engineering”, both in the form and the contents, is the result of a process promoted by the Italian representatives of ERABEE, Giacomo Scarascia and Pierluigi Febo, and started during the 9 th National Conference of the Italian Association of Agricultural Engineering,September 2009. This new definition was approved by all the delegates participating to the Conference and, then, sent to the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, in order to be evaluated and approved.

13. Other next relevant outcomes  to develop a list of domains, learning outcomes and core competencies for students in Biosystems Engineering;  to compare 3 rd cycle study programs in US and EU;  to encourage the relationships between quality assurance issues of study programs and learning outcomes or core competences, using EUR-ACE accreditation framework as evaluation scheme;  to prepare a database including the most recent Biosystems Engineering research projects and the publication of competences and conversion tables of University institutions offering study programs in this area, In order to enhance the visibility and the recognition of future graduates and, therefore, to satisfy the needs of the international industry. Using the results of the 2 year EU - US project POMSEBES (Policy Oriented Measures in Support of the Evolving Biosystems Engineering Studies in USA - EU) other next relevant outcomes should be :

14. Organisation of synergies with other WGs Within the activity “to enhance the international attractiveness of European study programs in Biosystems Engineering”, in order to develop the interaction of WG4 with WG1, WG2 and WG3 for developing the above outcomes P6, P13, P14 and P15, all WG4 members have to provide the leader with the information and feedback in support of the operational objectives of Work package PR OM. In order to develop the interaction of WG4 with WG1, WG2 and WG3 in support of WG5 for organising and carrying out dissemination and exploitation activities, all WG4 members have to provide the leader with the information and feedback in support of the operational objectives of Work package DISS-EXP.

15.  to contact EU Faculties of Engineering and Agriculture and send to them the information about the most relevant 3 rd cycle study programs in Biosystems Engineering;  to send the links with USAEE-TN and ERABEE-TN web sites to EU Faculties of Engineering and Agriculture;  to disseminate to EU Universities the information about the job positions of US graduates in Biosystems Engineering;  to promote the mobility of graduates and PhD students among EU countries;  to promote the practical training of graduates and PhD students at enterprises involved in Biosystems Engineering, following the example of French education system. Conclusions The planned activities, which will be presented during the next workshops, will be the following :

16. Thank you for your attention ! Bari University, Ateneo Palace