Developing a Mutually-Recognized Cross-Domain Study Program in Cyber-Physical Systems Anatolijs Zabasta, Senior Researcher Institute of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, EEF Riga Technical University Riga, Latvia Anatolijs.Zabasta@rtu.lv Oksana Nikiforova, Professor, Senior Researcher Institute of Applied Computer Systems FCSIT Riga Technical University Riga, Latvia Oksana.Nikiforova@rtu.lv Nadezda Kunicina, Professor, Senior Researcher Institute of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, EEF Riga Technical University Riga, Latvia Nadezda.Kunicina@rtu.lv Uldis Sukovskis, Vice-Rector, Professor Institute of Applied Computer Systems FCSIT Riga Technical University Riga, Latvia Uldis.Sukovskis@rtu.lv Paulo Carreira, Professor, Senior Rearcher INESC-ID and Instituto Superior Técnico Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal pjc@inesc-id.pt Vasco Amaral, Professor, Senior Researcher NOVA LINCS, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia Universidade Nova de Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal vasco.amaral@fct.unl.pt Miguel Goulão, Professor, Senior Researcher NOVA LINCS, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia Universidade Nova de Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal mgoul@fct.unl.pt Leonids Ribickis, Rector, Academician, Professor Institute of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, EEF Riga Technical University Riga, Latvia Leonids.Ribickis@rtu.lv Abstract — The primary scientific targets of the European COST Action Multi-Paradigm Modelling for Cyber-Physical Systems (MPM4CPS) are: i) the conceptualization of techniques and tools for improving interoperability; ii) the development of new ontologies and formalisms (and the links between them) to deal with the heterogeneity; and, iii) to perform the integration of the problems resulting from several application domains, under a common MPM4CPS umbrella. The action also aims at crystallizing MPM4CPS contents into a suitable format for educational purposes. This entails to create the base for a European Master and PhD program in MPM4CPS involving several European leading Universities and setting up the respective discipline roadmap facing the challenge of development mutually recognized cross-domain expertise based study program in CPS. This paper offers a methodology for the creation of CPS expert profile for educational purposes, provides an analysis of results of an initial survey of experts in the field and sets up a discussion about the next steps of the research. The paper depicts the work in a progress. Keywords — Multi-Paradigm Modelling, Cyber-Physical Systems, design and simulation, software engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, student master program development. I. INTRODUCTION Recent technological advances on the Internet of Things along with industry interests open new opportunities for the collaboration and development of Cyber-Physical Systems products and applications on an international level. These new market opportunities need to be covered by a new generation of engineers with a multi-disciplinary background in mechanical, electrical and computer science engineering, capable of delivering market-oriented products from the idea till the end product alone or in the researchers’ groups. Another key competence of this new generation of engineers is the ability to employ multi-paradigm modeling to overcome engineering complexity. The competencies offered by standard educational approach are not flexible enough to support market-oriented developers’ preparation. The new programs and tools supporting both technological and business skills educational approach should be opened to the students. The integration of physics-based and complex digital world models based on Big Data provides learning and predictive capabilities for decision support (e.g., diagnostics, prognostics) and autonomous operation. Systems engineering-based open architectures and standards 978-1-5090-5467-1/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 25-28 April 2017, Athens, Greece 2017 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) Page 791