Luxembourg's Ministry of Higher Education and Research, together with the Ministry of National Education, Children and Youth, have announced that changes are afoot in relation to 3rd level education in the Grand Duchy.
The academic year 2017/2018 will mark a new key moment in the history of higher education in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with the setting up of two new professional bachelors at the University of Luxembourg in collaboration with the School of Commerce and Management (ECG) and the Lycée des Arts et Métiers (LAM).
Claude Meisch, Minister of National Education, Children and Youth, and Marc Hansen, Minister for Higher Education and Research, presented the new Model of Collaboration, which will start from the academic year 2017/2018 in the field of accounting and taxation and with a year of shift, in 2018/2019, in the field of animation drawing. The model foresees links and bridges favouring the passage of the corresponding training courses leading to the BTS diploma towards vocational bachelor programmes. At the end of their course, students who have joined the bachelor programmes will be awarded the diploma of a professional bachelor of the University of Luxembourg.
The new bachelors are a response to a real need of the respective professional sectors as well as a real demand on the part of graduates of the BTS.
In the area of accounting and taxation, the supply of posts largely exceeds the number of qualified candidates, given that the conditions for access to the sector's flagship profession - that of the accountant - are at the level of Of the bachelor's degree. So it is hardly surprising that more and more BTS students in Accounting and Tax Management at the ECG want to continue their studies in order to obtain a Bachelor's degree.
The field of animation drawing is expanding, the training programme leading to the related BTS, offered to the LAM, enjoys an undeniable success. The award of an Oscar to a former BTS student, Alexandre Espigares, for the best animated short film, Mr Hublot, gave an international visibility to the training course. However, it was also essential to equip the students with quality training in 3D animation. The new bachelor programme aims to complete the current programme by a third year of studies, in order to face the digital evolution of the profession of animator. This point of view is shared by the players in the professional sector representing some 1,000 employees, including 200 in the field of animation design.
Ministers Meisch and Hansen underlined the unprecedented nature of this project in Luxembourg. They also pointed out that the training courses mentioned above are in line with the overall vision of the Luxembourg education system, according to which the education system, ranging from early childhood education to higher education, should enable each pupil and student to gradually move forward in his / her individual path of training, while at the same time being awarded at each successfully completed step a relevant certification (diploma, certificate or degree), which contributes to the qualification of the person concerned. In this context, links and bridges should be provided to facilitate the transition from one type of training to another.
An external evaluation of the two bachelor programmes in question will be carried out by an accredited evaluation agency. On the basis of the results of this evaluation, the question of a possible extension of this training model will be studied.
Finally, the ministers and representatives of the University of Luxembourg and the lycées welcomed the constructive climate and the good collaboration between the partners involved in the implementation of the new courses.
Photo by MESR (L-R): Marc Hansen, Minister for Higher Education and Research; Claude Meisch, Minister of National Education, Children and Youth
