The Digital DECATHLON is an architectural competition for students to teach digital design and planning skills. Through the cross-national collaboration of students and teachers in internationally mixed teams, the Digital DECATHLON helps to promote understanding and cooperation between different cultures and nations, thus strengthening intercultural skills that are of invaluable value in today's globalized working world and making an important contribution to international understanding and peace. The project, led by the Department of Architecture at Jade University of Applied Sciences, is a joint project of five European universities in Europe, and is co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ program. The project was launched in early December 2022 and has a duration of 28 months.

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Global Online Collaborative Learning: Design Thinking PBL (GOCL-DT-PBL) is a multicultural PBL in Design Thinking framework developed for engineering students in four Asian universities. The purpose of this paper is to share the results of the discussion after analyzing the questionnaire descriptions of the difficulties encountered by the students while participating in the unique program of complex elements of "multicultural PBL," "non-native language communication," "design thinking framework," and "online implementation." The structure of the paper consists of a description of the background and contents of the program followed by a discussion on the most frequently appeared words after analyzing a questionnaire survey using text mining techniques. The analysis results showed that the three common goals that the authors specifically focused on -collaboration skills, communication skills (in English), and cross-cultural understanding- were precisely in line with the difficulties the participating students experienced while participating in the program.

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Niigata University restarted a 10-day outbound student mobility program in Thailand like before the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2023. Two students selected from an open call, Student A and Student B, tackled experiential learning on science and technology contributing to solving social issues related to the SDGs in Thailand through off-campus activities such as visits to JICA and a company involved in global business in addition to on-campus activities like laboratory experience at Chulalongkorn University. While Student A completed all activities as planned, Student B was not able to engage in the laboratory experience enough due to COVID-19 infection. This paper aims to outline the result of the 10-day program including the response to the COVID-19 infection of the participating student, then discuss findings that can be useful for further programs, by eliciting factors of learnings that the participants gained through the program.

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Engineering university faculty are tasked with educating students who will become engineers that work in industry and educate doctoral students who, in some cases, will be become future engineering faculty. In Japan, overall, at engineering universities, doctoral students have relatively limited opportunity to learn about engineering education in an international setting. To bridge this gap, the UK Japan Engineering Education League was formed in 2014, bringing together both Japanese and UK doctoral students and engineering faculty to advance engineering education through faculty development and to share best practice in teaching and learning. Since 2014, a total of nine workshops were held alternately in Japan and the UK as in-person events or as online events due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Here, we report the rationale, goals, and the lessons that we learned over the course of the workshop series.

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This paper explores the integration of augmented reality (AR) technology in the education of architecture students. It demonstrates how AR changes and enhances learning and teaching. The paper presents this through three recent design-build projects that included the use of AR and highlights the requirements necessary for this in terms of learning materials and technology, implementation. The learning outcomes are described. In summary, AR technology is a suitable medium to design and build complex structures. The teamwork and interaction required for this motivates students and promotes interdisciplinary and also intercultural skills.

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A questionnaire survey was administered to 215 high school students nationwide to examine the career decision-making process of high school students. As a result, female students were found to be more likely to choose vocational schools and medical-allied fields such as nursing, health, and hygiene fields; while male students were more likely to choose science, engineering, and agriculture fields. Regarding people and things that influence career decisions, boys were more influenced by their fathers and newspapers, while girls were more influenced by TV programs, SNS, and family financial situation. For some girls, adults in family leadership positions were a disincentive to make career decisions.

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Materials used in an engineering English class at a college of technology were selected to address the four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English. The majority of these were used effectively with help of a PC, a projector, and an Internet access in classroom. Learning pronunciation, which is the basis of the four skills, used not only texts and sounds, but also software available on the Internet. To improve speaking skills, students demonstrated scientific magic tricks and narrated manufacturing process videos. For understanding English through listening, students were supplemented visually by watching videos on the Internet. For reading, essays in which Japanese sentences are juxtaposed with English sentences were used to focus on increasing the amount of processing. Orthodox textbooks for native Japanese students were used for writing. As a report assignment, students were asked to extract and translate English sentences from videos suitable for engineering English.

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This paper proposes an innovative approach to designing an international program in engineering that incorporates a differentiation framework and fosters a growth mindset in students. Co-creation of an engineering product being applied in real life (e.g., the design and construction of a glider that can be merchandized as a toy for kids) in international and transdisciplinary teams incorporates teamwork, collaboration, a strong competitive element, self-assessment in combination with peers’ and instructors’ feedback, as well as a reflection session. We argue that the implementation of a differentiation framework will not only provide students with high-quality, specialized knowledge and experiences but will also foster the shift from a fixed to a growth mindset by focusing on motivation and reflection.

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Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is a pedagogical method useful for improving students' global competence. A similar effect has been shown in industry-academia project-based learning (PBL) type COIL programs; however, little is known about the effectiveness of the COIL programs in developing the global competence of company employees involved. Through semi-structured interviews with host manufacturing companies of the industry-academia PBL-type COIL program conducted by Niigata University in August 2022, this study indicated that the program could be particularly effective in improving the global competencies, such as exhibiting a global mindset and communicating cross-culturally, especially of junior employees as re-skilling, in particular with the blended online and onsite. This result implies that the program can enhance the international management of companies such as developing highly globally competent junior employees and developing new overseas businesses by the junior employees.

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The rapid global developments as well as the challenges and demands of a dynamically evolving global economy, the landscape of engineering education calls for a profound reimagining of engineering education in South Korea. The presentation will give an introduction to the dedicated efforts of South Korea’s Ministry of Education and KSEE in educating and nurturing the next generation of engineers, steering them towards a sustainable and innovative future.
As it is well known, the manufacturing sector of South Korea accounts for 27.5% of total GDP in Korea and will continue to depend much on the cutting edge of innovative technologies from different fields of engineering. With innovation as a driving force, engineering education in South Korea will continue its emphasis in fostering an environment that encourages curiosity and experimentation. By actively integrating emerging technologies and industries with cutting-edge research into the curriculum of education, students are inspired to explore new frontiers and develop groundbreaking solutions to address the societal needs and demands.
With a strong emphasis on creativity, critical thinking, and problem –solving, engineering programs have embraced a holistic approach to education that encourages students to think beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries. This way, students will be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, and mindset to thrive in an ever-changing global context. In order to nurture Korean engineering students as global citizens, international collaboration is also an integral component of South Korea’s engineering education vision. There are exchange programs to send and to receive students, through which, students well gain global perspective that will prepare them to be more adaptable and culturally competent engineers in a highly interconnected world.
By integrating sustainability, fostering innovation, emphasizing practical experience, nurturing global awareness, and promoting continuous learning, South Korea is poised to produce a new generation of socially responsible, skilled, and forward-thinking engineers who can drive positive change on a global scale. This presentation aims to inspire dialogue and collaboration among international peers to collectively shape the future of engineering education.

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This presentation outlines the challenges that are common to engineering educators in Japan, the United States, and across the globe. One of these challenges is working with students who have missed out on a significant part of their preparation for college due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how we can help those students to fill the gaps in their education in order to be succeed in college.
The presentation will also discuss the transition from a “Weeding Out” culture to a “Weaving In” culture, as promoted by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). In a weed-out culture, many students are admitted into an engineering program, with the expectation that a large number of them will fail out of the program, most likely in calculus and physics courses. This is disproportionately damaging to students from weaker backgrounds, who have had weaker pre-college educational opportunities than their classmates. Rather, we seek to build a weave-in culture in which every student who is admitted into the program has the opportunity to succeed, and we provide every student with the support necessary to develop the skills needed for a successful college experience.
Students also need to be prepared to be creative and innovative, to consider the societal impact of their work, and to have an entrepreneurial mindset, whether they start their own business or work for a large company. They must be prepared to enter a complex work environment in which they will be expected not only to be technically skilled but also strong communicators and excellent team members. These skills can be developed by either integrating real-world problems into the classroom, or by providing the students with a high-quality mentoring experience, or both.
We must also prepare our students to use the full set of tools that are available to them, including Artificial Intelligence. Rather than banning it in the classroom, we must modify our assignments so that students are operating at a higher level and are using AI tools to help solve the problems, just as they currently use CAD, circuit simulators, and even calculators.
By working together as a global community of engineering educators, we can overcome these challenges and build a more promising future for everyone.

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