On the 6th February 2025 the very important event "Empowering Engineers - Bridging Competency and Lifelong Learning for Professional Excellence for introducing the E4E Learning Platform took place.

The Engineers4Europe (E4E) Erasmus+ Project aims to better equip engineers for the future by offering free courses in entrepreneurial, digital, green and life skills, designed in cooperation with leading universities and institutions (KU Leuven, UPorto, TU Dublin, Newport Group). Part of the project are workpackages and important events .

After the introduction of the University of Leuven and it’s faculties (humanities & social sciences, science, engineering & technology and biomedical sciences) the focus was on the education at the Faculty of Engineering Technology and the possibilities of research.

Prof. Greet Langie: Our mission is to contribute to the advancement of engineering education with R&D and consultancy activities, to establish a network of cooperation and the exchange of experiences in collaboration.

Dirk G. Bochar, the E4E Project Coordinator, gave an overview of the major objectives of the E4E-project – European Engineering Professional Skills Council, the new trends in Engineering Education, the development of innovative training and the key areas in the E4E-Skills Strategy.

Dr. Sofie Craps spoke about the support for engineers in making informed career choices: One of five engineers change job before the age of 26 – more than half of them within the first year. Therefore the skills mismatch in engineering have to be reduced by equipping engineering graduates with more adequate tools to get a grip on the complex engineering reality.

The development of the E4E Training Suite was presented by Dr. Ing. Kurt Coppens. The strategic shift of an professional development for the engineers of the future are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) with self reflection, feedback literacy and self regulation for puzzling together a professional portfolio, which can be found on the Engineers4Europe Learning Platform .

Dr. Ing. Lynn Van den Broeck‘s main topic was the definition and goals of lifelong learning: Identify in self-assessment the professional competencies, gather peer feedback, choose one competency and decline concrete action, execute the action, monitor the learning process in using logs, reflect again on peer feedback.  

Lifelong learning as a chance and showing competences - Klaus Thürriedl (chartered Engineering Consultant for environmental engineering and water management in Austria, ECEC Secretary General) mentioned:  Lifelong learning should be rated equally high as the academic education itself. Every 5 to 7 years our basic requirements, regulations and laws and even the (sustainable) materials change completely and therefore we all have the obligation staying up to date – especially for the Green and Blue Deal. Our chambers guarantee the public trust by law and it’s our mission to provide knowledge and lifelong learning. As liberal professionals or with an industrial background we all need professional skills – even in business development or public relations.

Never stop learning – that’s life! - Prof. Livio Mazzarella (Full Professor of Building Physics and HVAC Systems at Politecnico di Milano, Italy) spoke about the universities as bridges to the economy:  Our study contents have academic and practical orientation. In the working life we are forced to switch from one field to another. We have to deal with market changes, which are faster than ever. And with this speed we have to train our students, how somethings works or how they get in touch with new innovations – in being openminded. Engineers are registered in chambers or associations and this is the first point for getting news, legal information and new courses. So stay connected with them!

Mission life-long learning - Bram Dehaene (P&O Country head, Siemens, Belgium) also spoke about openmindness and even every- day-learning.  Technology and research are fast tracks.  Upskilling is absolutely necessary. The trend is implementing hard and soft skills in a company framework with cloudbased training documents or trainings on current processes – like AI. The challenge is to find the balance between uncomfortable things, the needs for a better future and creating comfort zones.

Open for the world and learning from feedback - Natalie Dewulf (General Manager Smart Buildings, Equans, Belgium): New things and technologies need special expertise and so we are pushed to learn new things for a long career. Granting education for the employees is an obligation for companies and  competiveness. Young graduates are our future – therefore we should teach them everything for a robust business life with continuous processes of feedback to improve the growth of knowledge.

Lifelong learning not only for business although for yourself - Margot Vander Elst (Process engineer at Total Energies, Belgium): Getting new information is part of our daily routines. We are forced in being online. After the study you land in the real world and so trainings and seminars help you going on.  Everything you do, should be for yourself, your future and the next steps in perfecting the own workspace. Important is the direct cooperation between universities, industries and companies because all courses should be nearer to the companies’ needs.

DOWNLOAD - Summary of EVENT with images of the interessting presentations