International intensive week for engineering students in Vaasa

VAMK’s Erasmus+ BIP program in engineering brought together engineering students from across Europe for an intensive week focused on sustainable business in Vaasa. The week offered inspiring encounters and gave students the opportunity to solve practical case tasks related to topics such as the circular economy and energy efficiency.

Twelve mechanical and energy technology students from Vaasa University of Applied Sciences participated during autumn 2024 to an EU funded Erasmus+ Blended Intensiv Program (BIP) collaboration together with Spanish and Dutch universities. A total of 32 engineering students and teachers participated in the program, working on the theme of sustainable business. In addition to VAMK, the program included EUSS Fundació Privada Rinaldi (Barcelona, Spain) and Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Groningen, Netherlands).

This year VAMK hosted the Blended Intensive Programme in Vaasa with Principal Lecturers Adebayo Agbejule and Lotta Saarikoski as key organisers. From partners school the teachers Dick de Vries and Maryvonne Nieboer from Hanze UAS as well as Roberto Arjones Rodríguez and Keivan Amirbagheri from EUSS contributed significantly to the program and participated actively in designing the BIP.

The course held now was already the second collaborative course organised with the same group.

“Last year we worked with mechanical engineering students in Groningen. Next year, we are excited to take the program to Barcelona and hope to attract many enthusiastic engineering students to join. We are extremely grateful to the EU for making this initiative possible through their funding,” says Saarikoski.

Interesting real-life company case studies

The BIP program began already in October with three online sessions where students received preparatory materials and tasks designed to equip them for the intensive week and the real-life company case studies they would tackle.

The intensive week in Vaasa 9.-13.12.2024 included lectures, teamwork sessions, industry visits, and a cultural program, such as a visit to Ostrobothnian Museum.

During the week in Vaasa, three companies—ABB Motors, Stormossen, and Westenergy—presented students with practical and thought-provoking cases related to topics such as the circular economy, packaging, energy efficiency, wastewater reuse, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) or carbon capture and utilization (CCU).

“We are deeply grateful to the participating companies for allowing us to visit their facilities and for their staff’s commitment to developing these case studies for educational purposes,” says Agbejule.