Multinational Project-Based Education: An Alliance for Integration of Research, Education, and Service

该项目的重点是发展多国学生/教师基于项目的方法，以整合研究和教育。大多数重大的实际问题，如环境、公共卫生和获得技术，本质上是跨学科的，是跨越国界的。在国际上，我们也面临着改变高等教育本身的挑战，使其更容易获得，更能满足我们社区的需求。华盛顿大学的教师们一直在研究将跨国合作研究与我们机构改革中的互助相结合的模式，以解决共同的科学和工程挑战。这种方法的本质是利用丰富而充满活力的国际研究和服务活动，这是教师兴趣和热情的核心，同时创造可以嵌入本科课程核心的机会。目前的项目建立在这个充满希望的竞技场迄今为止的工作基础上，通过在美国和世界范围内建立一个小型的大学联盟，这将合作进一步完善，扩大规模和制度化这种方法，以整合国际研究，教育和服务。这一基于跨国项目的战略有几个设计特点。 优先项目：1）是嵌入在各方面真正的教师研究兴趣; 2）可以发生在课程结构，影响大量的本科生在各方面，而不是少数幸运的; 3）有助于解决实际的区域问题，和4）与其他盟友，包括行业，州和地方政府，以及非营利组织的深厚伙伴关系。与日本仙台东北大学合作进行第一年的工程设计，目前已进入第三年。 与中国成都的四川大学共同发起了一个为期四年的关于两个区域面临的环境挑战的合作项目。 为了进一步促进国际教育和研究的根本性重新制定，该项目支持两项主要活动。首先是帮助建立一个小型的机构联盟，每个机构都有一个共同的愿景，即战略性地将本科教育改革与解决复杂的地区问题结合起来。这对于增加能够参与的机构的多样性尤为重要。第二，传播核心小组在结合教育和研究的多国合作的实用性方面所吸取的经验教训。华盛顿大学对该项目的成功做出了重大承诺，包括教师的释放时间，工作人员的支持和现金，总计约为国家科学基金会要求的金额的50%。

The focus of this project is on the development of multinational student/faculty project-based approaches to integrating research and education. Most major practical problems, such as environment, public health and the access to technology, are inherently interdisciplinary and are shared across national boundaries. Internationally, we also face the challenge of transforming higher education itself to become more accessible and more responsive to the needs of our communities. Faculty at the University of Washington have been working on models for coupling collaborative multinational research addressing common scientific and engineering challenges to mutual assistance in the reform of our institutions. The essence of this approach is to tap into the rich and vibrant spectrum of international research and service activities, which are at the very heart of faculty interests and enthusiasms, while simultaneously creating opportunities that can be embedded in the core of undergraduate curricula. The current project builds on work to date in this promising arena by creating a small alliance of universities, both within the US and worldwide, which will collaborate on further refining, scaling-up, and institutionalizing this approach to integrating international research, education and service. There are several design features to this multinational project-based strategy. Prioritized projects : 1) Are embedded in genuine faculty research interests on all sides; 2) Can take place within curricular structures that affect large numbers of undergraduate students on all sides, rather than the fortunate few; 3) Contribute to the solution of practical regional problems, and 4) Invoke deep partnerships with other allies, including industry, state and local government, and non-profit organizations. A collaboration on first-year engineering design with Tohoku University, in Sendai, Japan, has been created and is currently in its third year. A four-year collaborative project on environmental challenges facing two regions with Sichuan University, in Chengdu, China has been launched. To further catalyze a fundamental re-formulation of international education and research, this project is supporting two major activities. The first is to help seed the creation of a small alliance of institutions, each of which shares the vision of strategically coupling undergraduate education reform to the solution of complex regional problems. This is particularly important in increasing the range of diversity of institutions that are able to participate. The second is to disseminate the lessons learned by the core group concerning the pragmatics of multinational collaborations that integrate education and research. The University of Washington has made a major commitment to the success of this project, including faculty release time, staff support and cash, totalling approximately 50% of the amount requested from the National Science Foundation.