Newsletter 5

Message from the Dissemination Coordinator

Welcome to the fifth newsletter of the European project EOLES

We are very happy to announce that the first edition of the EOLES course started 22nd September, 2015. Furthermore, the course was recognized by the education authorities of France, Morocco and Tunisia. As a result, all successful students will receive a diploma recognized in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Additionally, students from Morocco and Tunisia receive a diploma issued by one of the accredited universities of their home countries. This makes EOLES program the first accredited on-line degree course in Electronics and Optics for Embedded Systems.

This is why we are so happy right now and strongly motivated to successfully run this course until June.

In this newsletter you will find all the information about this first edition of the course, the number and origin of the applicants, and the course accreditation process.

In the end, a brief note about the 3rd EOLES Steering and Pedagogical committee meetings held in the beautiful city of Porto, Portugal, in the middle of October.

Happy reading,

Manuel Gericota, Dissemination Coordinator of the EOLES project

Start of the EOLES Course

The first edition of the EOLES course started 22nd September, 2015

All people involved in the course - partners, teachers, technicians, and, of course, the enrolled students - were invited to participate in the first meeting.

The course runs for 31 weeks, plus 3 weeks reserved for examinations - one by the end of the first period, another by the end of the second period, and a final one for make-up exams.

There are always two TUs running in parallel with an indicative schedule of 4 hours a week of lectures, 2 hours of tutorial classes and 4 hours of lab work each.

Currently, the running TUs are TU02 - Mathematical and Analysis tools for Physics - coordinated by the University of Limoges, France, and TU03 - Communication Techniques in English - coordinated by the University of Sfax, Tunisia.

Happy work and good luck to all students.

EOLES Student Applications

The number of applicants for the first edition of the course, albeit highly concentrated in one of the EOLES participant countries, largely exceeded initial expectations with a total of 660 candidates from Morocco, 15 from Tunisia, 10 from Algeria, one from Senegal and one from France.

After a careful selection there are currently enrolled and attending the course 20 students from Morocco and 10 students from Tunisia. Students are simultaneously enrolled in the University of Limoges and in one of the accredited Universities of their choice from their countries of origin. Students will therefore receive a Joint Diploma recognized by their countries and by any country part of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

EOLES Accreditation

The EOLES program was accredited by the national education authorities of France, Morocco and Tunisia.

All students from Morocco and Tunisia will receive a Joint Diploma issued by the University where they are enrolled in their own country and by the University of Limoges.

The Moroccan universities offering the EOLES diploma are the University Cadi Ayyad of Marrakech (giving a Professional Bachelor degree entitled "Licence Professionnelle d´Electronique et Optique pour les Systèmes Embarqués" - EOSE) and the University Abdelmalek Essâadi of Tétouan (giving a Professional Bachelor degree entitled "Licence Professionnelle Electronic and Optic for Embedded Systems" - EOES).

The Tunisian university offering the EOLES diploma is the University of Kairouan (giving a Bachelor degree entitled "Diplôme de Licence Appliquée d´Electronique et Optique pour les Systèmes Embarqués").

In addition, all sucessful students will also receive a Bachelor degree entitled "Diplôme de Licence Sciences Pour l´Ingénieur (SPI)" issued by the University of Limoges and recognised by all members of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

3rd EOLES Steering and Pedagogical committees meetings

The 3rd EOLES (Electronics and Optics e-Learning for Embedded Systems) Steering and Pedagogical committee meetings were held in Porto, Portugal, in the middle of October.

With the course already running, the discussions were mainly centered around the experience collected during the first TUs.

Some pedagogical issues were addressed during the meeting, namely the assessment methodology, the different evaluation moments, and the different requirements imposed by the national authorities concerning the assessment control.

Some practical aspects related to the use of the platform Moodle (the Learning Management System chose to manage all the EOLES content and the synchronous classes) have also been discussed.

It was also decided that the 4th and final EOLES Steering and Pedagogical committee meetings and the final workshop will take place at the University Cadi Ayyad of Marrakesh, Morocco, in September 15-17, 2015.