In the EU-BEGP project nine universities in Latin America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru) will collaborate with two universities in EU (France, Spain) towards modernisation of courses and programs in the energy sector, with emphasis upon circular economy towards energy sustainability. The collaboration is inspired by two earlier successful Erasmus+ CBHE projects. It will re-use both the framework and learning material developed from these projects while developing and implementing specific new courses and programs adapted for the local conditions in the partner countries. More specifically it will significantly enhance capacity building on an educator-to-educator basis towards a significant modernisation of energy curriculum in the partner countries. The project will contribute on the paradigm shift towards global-but-local student-centred education in a digital and online learning environment.The EU-BGEP project will allow collaborative creation of learning material to create/update programs and courses, which includes a baseline of 3 Master programs, 1 “Diplomado” program, 3 expert courses, 15 courses, and 7 short courses, with more than 1000 expected students to be trained at the end of the project in all the partner countries. Furthermore, 10 remote labs will be implemented, enabling real experimental experience to students in remote areas, and 10 entrepreneurial challenges will be run in collaboration with local industries, thus contributing to the employability of young professionals. A specific Quality Improvement Process, with transnational and global peer review, will be implemented throughout all the learning resources, ranging from individual modules through courses and full programs.A significant strength of the EU-BEGP project is that it is part of an intended global collaboration of online digital learning resources, courses, and programs in the energy sector (the “EXPLORE Energy Digital Academy”). All material developed will be included in this framework and the EU-BEGP consortium will have full access to all the already existing, and to be developed, high-quality material. Such global collaboration takes this Erasmus+ CBHE project to a higher level by projects building upon each other, strongly increasing the impact far beyond what an isolated CBHE project would reach.

The primary objective of the Latin-american Alliance for Capacity buildiNG in Advanced Physics (LA-CoNGA Physics) proposal is to modernize the educational platform in eight Latin-American higher education institutions (HEI) from the four countries in the Andean region (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela), using high-energy physics (HEP) as a model. The aimed modernization relies strongly on the development of an innovative e-learning platform based on low-cost open-access tools, installing connected instrumentation laboratories, a flexible problem-solving-oriented syllabus structured on modules for a one year master program and on the strengthening of cross-institutional relations among the target HEI's.We propose to build capacity in the Andean region by teaching advanced physics during a one year master/specialisation and creating a Virtual Research and Learning Community (VRLC), complemented by training opportunities at 3 leading European research centers, start-up and technology companies in the Andes and Europe, support to career development from the US. HEP is the science of understanding the smallest components of matter and the origin of the universe, looking for answers to key questions of our age. Impressive machines and detectors are needed to achieve the goals of HEP. They are based on breakthrough technologies with the potential to contribute in key areas like healthcare, big data, electronics, open-access collaborative tools, and solid ground for innovative entrepreneurs.In the past, voluntary crowdfunded efforts have been set up to have remote teaching of HEP in some of these HEI from researchers/professors at the beneficiary, i.e. the CEVALE2VE (Centro Virtual de Altos Estudios de Altas Energías in Spanish).This project proposes to create a VRLC by leveraging networks which already exist (CEVALE2VE, LatAm-EU-CERN, RedCLARA) and inexpensive, online teaching technologies. These will be made available to the country HEIs to be used in other fields.

A global discussion is taking place among Higher Education (HE) stakeholders to strive for HE that does better justice to the needs of the learner and of society. The relevance of study programs is probably the most pressing issue in HE today worldwide, including the countries in South America. In the public eye HE institutions should offer high quality programs that contribute significantly to the welfare of society by preparing graduates well for work and for civic and social engagement. To meet this need, a paradigm shift is required from traditional expert-oriented teaching to student-centred and active learning, based on competences and learning outcomes. Although there is full awareness that this shift is to be made, HE institutions and their academic staff in SA (and beyond) lack capacity, expertise and experience to make this happen. Building on work already done in Europe and in LA, ACE aims to develop effective mechanisms to give student-centred education a serious boost by acting as a catalyzer in 6 South-American countries, involving 13 key universities. ACE covers in each country 1-4 core academic fields, Nursing, Environmental Engineering, Education and History, representing as many HE sectors. At the heart of the project are 20 local working groups (WGs) consisting of 5 academics and of 5 student representatives each. The broad involvement of (local) staff and students is a unique feature. The WGs are all represented in transnational Subject Area Groups. Its members will be empowered to train their local WGs to reform their own programs. For this purpose, subject area qualifications frameworks will be made, based on (updated) meta-profiles developed in earlier LA projects. These will be complemented with in-depth training at 7 transnational meetings. As a result, ACE will result in 20 well informed learning communities that have reformed their programs and be equipped to assist other programs to make the reforms so urgently needed.