Education/International Exchange
From The Transportation Science & Logistics Society Wiki
A Follow-up from Stein Wallace, Molde University College, Regarding International Exchange in Transportation Science and Logistics Education TSL News, Fall 2007
In the previous newsletter I suggested we might set up a service at our web site with the following content
- Offers from institutions that can receive visiting students (master and PhD - maybe also bachelor) for a semester or more in transportation, logistics or related fields. - A possibility for students to ask for the same. - An overview over intensive PhD courses which accept outside participation. - Offers and requests for student placements
I have had only one direct reply. In addition there were comments made to me before I suggested the service. But this still makes me hesitate. Is this something we need? Again, I would like to invite comments and arguments, for and against. Feel free to send them to me, or use the newsletter for taking part in the discussions.
Stein W. Wallace International Liasson swallace@se.cuhk.edu.hk
A Note from Stein Wallace, Molde University College On International Exchange in Transportation Science and Logistics Education TSL News, Summer 2007
As International Liaison, I would like to present the following ideas to our membership to see if there is any interest. On the website we wish to make available:
1. Offers from institutions that can receive visiting students (master and Ph.D. - perhaps undergraduate as well) for a semester or more in transportation, logistics or related fields.
2. A possibility for students to ask for the same.
3. An overview over intensive Ph.D. courses which accept outside participation.
4. Offers and requests for student placements.
In all cases, we wish to be open for postings. We will not actively collect information. The question is simple: Is this a good idea, and are there related subjects that should be added to the list? As I am sure many of our members know, student exchange is more common in Europe than elsewhere. Simply stated, the reason is that the European Union sees exchange as a way to promote not just education and research, but also integration in Europe. Many institutions, like my own in Norway, require doctoral students to spend at least one semester abroad. Also, many programs at lower levels require students to go out. In some cases this exchange is done within a defined group of universities. But in many other cases, the variety resulting from not predefining where the students should go is given high value. It is within these settings the suggested postings will be useful. Within the Nordic countries (which I naturally know the best), intensive Ph.D. courses have existed on a large scale for at least 30 years. This promotes two important goals. First, universities can offer courses at what they are good at, and send their students to other universities if these are better. This means that students are given courses which on average are much better than what the fame of the home institution would indicate. Second, a side effect is that basically all university professors in the Nordic region know each other because they met at various PhD-courses as graduate students. This is useful for student exchange, research and joint funding much later in life. As more of these intensive courses become available around the world, we should make sure that those who wish to receive outside students have a place to post the courses. This posting will not be for normal courses “each Monday afternoon.”
I am looking forward to hear your views on these issues.
Stein Wallace is a Professor in Quantitative Logistics at Molde University College in Molde, Norway. Wallace is currently a visiting professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. You can contact him at Stein.W.Wallace@hiMolde.no.
