ISPS Structure and Methodology

The International Study and Project Semester (ISPS) defines a study period fully integrated into a Bachelor or Master's study program during which students will spend a study-abroad semester at a selected partner institution. The participating students will be actively involved in a team-oriented project strongly related to university or industry-based research and development. The international team will have a multidisciplinary composition, allowing students from different academic backgrounds to jointly work on a realistic (often real) problem (project), in which the co-operation of different disciplines might be vital for the total success. Examples could be engineering type projects, that need support from the design area as well as from marketing and even from the social sciences to study the impact that a new product will have in the market.
As part of their preparatory work the students will prepare a project plan which may have the function and quality of a detailed business plan. Obviously project management has to be an intrinsic component of the overall ISPS activity.
This activity typically covers a period of half a semester of group-related work. Additionally the ISPS students will study a predefined number of subjects related to their study focus, covering the other half of the semester. Project work and courseware activities will normally run simultaneously.
The emphasis of ISPS is on high-quality and preferentially multidisciplinary project work carried out in international teams, accompanied by a specialized study program from the host university's standard repertoire. The last aspect is considered important in the ISPS methodology. To guarantee a quality assured courseware program (equivalent to half a semester of credit) the course unit should come from the host university degree programs, accredited by national accreditation boards as required by the local legislation (e.g. ministries of education). Only through this procedure, explicitly avoiding dedicated programs offered only for ISPS students, can full recognition of earned credit be justified at the participating home institutions.