The European Society for Engineering Education an organisation for engineering education in Europe. Commonly known as SEFI, an acronym for its French name, Société Européenne pour la Formation des Ingénieurs, it is also known in German as the Europäische Gesellschaft für Ingenieur-Ausbildung. SEFI was founded in Brussels in 1973 and has more than 300 members in 40 countries. It promotes information exchange about current developments in the field of engineering education, between teachers, researchers and students in the various European countries. Additionally, it develops the cooperation between higher engineering education institutions and promotes cooperation with industry, acting as a link between its members and other scientific and international bodies, in collaboration with other international organisations like its European sister organisation IGIP, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the Board of European Students of Technology.

Members

SEFI is primarily a network of universities however, it offers four types of membership: individual, institutional (list), associate (list), and industrial (list) Institutional - Educational institutions and other teaching establishments involved in the education and training of engineers. Industrial - Enterprises, companies and administrations employing engineers or interested in the education and training of engineers. Associate - Professional organizations involved in engineering education or improvement of engineering profession, or institutions not fulfilling the criteria of the institutional membership Individual - Persons involved in the engineering education and the improvement of the engineering profession, and individuals interested in joining our Working groups or EEDC

Organisation

SEFI is governed by a board of directors composed of 21 elected members and members’ representatives, two Vice-Presidents and is presently chaired by President Hannu-Matti Järvinen of Tampere University.

SEFI Special Interest Groups

SEFI Special Interest Groups connect the educators, students and industrial stakeholders with interests in similar aspects of the engineering education and they are open to SEFI members. These groups organize meetings, workshops, write on position papers and EU projects.

Events

Workshops and are regularly organized by the working groups and committees on specific themes of engineering education and in the context of SEFI's priorities. Participation in the working groups is reserved to the members of SEFI.

Annual Conferences

The SEFI Annual Conferences represent an opportunity for the members and all those involved in Engineering Education to meet colleagues, exchange views and opinions and to establish new contacts. The themes of the Conferences reflect the interests of SEFI members. Previous conferences were organised by Twente University in the Netherlands, and Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary.

European Convention for Engineering Deans (ECED)

The general objective of the Conventions is to bring together Deans from whole over Europe to meet and to discuss in depth common topics, share experiences, identify solutions for problems and build up a network with peers in different European countries. SEFI launched the conventions in 2005, under the Presidency of Prof. Borri, University of Florence. Since 2011, ECEDs are organised annually by SEFI occasionally partnering with other organisations.

SEFI @ Work - online webinars

In 2021, SEFI started to offer regular online seminars for the engineering education community. These are dedicated to specific topics in engineering education.

Publications

The European Journal of Engineering Education published by Taylor and Francis is the official scientific journal of SEFI. SEFI also publishes a monthly electronic Newsletter and a weekly Press review as a benefit to SEFI membership. Among regular publications are also SEFI Annual Report] and the Proceedings of SEFI Annual Conferences, indexed in Scopus. Other publications consist of Ad Hoc Documents presenting the outcomes of seminars organised by the Working Groups/Committees/Projects as well as reference documents.

Ongoing EU Projects

ENHANCE – European universities alliance CiSTEM² Cooperative InterdiSciplinary Teacher Education Model for Coaching Integrated STEM - Erasmus + EuroTeQ Engineering Campus - European Universities Initiative

Awards

Cooperation

SEFI cooperates with other major European and international associations (ASEE, GEDC, IFEES, WFEO, IGIP, BEST, LACCEI, EDEN and JSEE) and international bodies (European Commission, UNESCO, Council of Europe, OECD). SEFI also participated in the creation of numerous international organisations such as ENAEE, IFEES, EuroPace, IACEE, IIDEA, or EEDC.