ATHENS is back!

ATHENS network was obliged to cancel the ATHENS weeks in 2020. But ATHENS network is back in 2021 and experiment from 16 to 19 March a blended week.

Created in 1997 and first funded by the Erasmus program through a TEMPUS project, the ATHENS network has always found the way to continue to work together since more than 20 years now. Strong of this long-time experience, the ATHENS network confirms today that we are solid enough to address the pandemic crisis. As the safety of all students and staff is  our first concern, both 2020 sessions were cancelled, but in 2020 we gave us the opportunity to think about our values (described in this nice video) and to explore and develop new projects such as IDEAL (European soft skills for PhD: enhancing transversal skills through innovative doctoral courses) which aim is to design and provide high-level doctoral training.

2021 is now synonym for a new start. We know that traveling and being immersed in other culture are an important part of the ATHENS experience, but these are not the only assets of the ATHENS weeks. The ATHENS weeks are a unique opportunity to learn in another language, to be confronted with new teaching methods, and to develop adaptive and communication skills by breaking out of a single way of thinking. 

Convinced of these assets, remaining deeply committed to the value and importance of international education, and waiting that the students will be able to travel in Europe again, the ATHENS network has decided to experiment a blended mobility week from 16 to 19 March.  3 ParisTech schools (Arts et Métiers, Chimie ParisTech – PSL, MINES ParisTech - PSL), and 5 European partners (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Politecnico di Milano,  Istanbul Technical University) are involved in this session.

More than 150 ParisTech students and 200 European ones will participate in one of the 20 courses offered by the participating institutions. The ParisTech students are allowed to attend the course in other ParisTech schools whereas they will attend the courses in other European universities online. The students will get the opportunity to exchange and work together at international level and to discuss with the teachers and representatives of the industry involved in the courses.

This first blended training experience will be a good experiment in the perspective of new Erasmus+ projects that the ATHENS partners could develop together in the framework of the new Erasmus + 2021-2027 program.

Resolutely turned towards Europe and international education, the network will have a role to play within the initiative of European universities. In fact, some of the ATHENS partners are members of different European Universities: Chimie ParisTech, MINES ParisTech, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest and Istanbul Technical University are members of EELISA. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is member of EPICUR. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Warsaw University of Technology and Politecnico di Milano of ENHANCE. CVUT Prague and TU Munich of EuroTEQ. KU Leuven of UnaEuropa. IST Lisboa of UNITE !.

The ATHENS network appears consequently as a forum where the European Universities’ partners dedicated to engineering can exchange good practices to be disseminated in the different consortia.