1 Competence based joint study program on advanced networking technologies for blended learning Joze Rugelj University of Ljubljana Ljubljana, Slovenia joze.rugelj@pef.uni-lj.si Jose L Marzo University of Girona Girona, Spain joseluis.marzo@udg.edu Sven Knockaert, Roel Van Steenberghe, Luk Schoofs Catholic Un. Co. KaHo St-Lieven Gent, Belgium {sven.knockaer; roel.vansteenberghe; luk.schoofs}@kahosl.be Janne Salonen, Kari Björn Helsinki Metropolia UAS Helsinki, Finland {janne.salonen; kari.bjorn} @metropolia.fi Carlos Vaz de Carvalho Instituto Politécnico do Porto Porto, Portugal cmc@isep.ipp.pt Abstract— European Study Program for Advanced Networking Technologies (ESPANT) is a two semester study program, jointly developed by higher education institutions from Belgium, Finland, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia. It will support students in developing competences to cope with difficulties which are encountered in real world networking configurations. As this study program is designed for students from all over Europe and is run by partners from five European countries, it has to be implemented by means of blended learning activities, i.e. as a combination of traditional face-to-face instruction with student and staff mobility as well as independent learning in virtual learning environment, implemented by means of information and communication technology. Keywords—blended learning, competence based syllabus, study program on advanced networking I. INTRODUCTION European Study Program for Advanced Networking Technologies (ESPANT) is a two semester study program, jointly developed by higher education institutions from Belgium, Finland, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia [1]. All the activities are carried out in the framework of a curriculum development project funded by the European Union's Lifelong Learning Program. The main goal of the project is to develop an international curriculum which is as flexible and dynamic as possible [6]. The latter is necessary to make it possible for students and teaching staff from different countries around Europe to participate in the ESPANT program and to develop the necessary competences for the labor market, which enhances their employability. This is guaranteed by joint efforts of five European higher education institutions working together with experts from large industrial partners who help defining the competences which should be addressed during the study program. The program is implemented as student centered and is based on blended learning activities, which by definition involve multiple instructional methods and multiple delivery media combined with face-to-face and on-line activities. Students are supposed to move for several months to one of the project partners to spend there a period of their studies. They will be supported by the EU's education and training program Erasmus in the framework of vertical student mobility initiative. It refers to a study period taken mainly abroad and returning home afterwards. Erasmus is open not only to EU citizens, but also to citizens of EU candidate countries and countries of the European Economic Area. At the same time we also plan mobility of staff from one partner institution to other partner institution to improve quality and to reduce the cost of face-to face selected activities in ESPANT. II. COURSE DESCRIPTION The ESPANT program is built around six units: system management, implementing real-time media, integrated security, mobile and wireless communication techniques, integrated network storage, and networking infrastructure. The topics of these units represent the core of up-to-date advanced networking field. Each unit consists of two courses. Each course has 5 ECTS credit points which is an equivalent of 125 to 150 hours of activities, i.e. around 3 weeks of studies in which students get practical training about the subject of the unit. Each institution in the consortium implements one, two or three units, which implies that students have to travel around to finish the complete study program, as selected courses will be run as traditional face-to-face instruction. This enhances the international and intercultural competences of the participants and represents additional value of the study program. As it is not practically feasible for students to travel to five different institutions in five different countries, it is supposed that part of the program will be implemented as distance or blended learning activities. Partly this problem can also be solved by teaching staff migration, so that at least part of activities for units of particular partner institution is run at the other partner where ESPANT program students are gathered at certain period of time.