University of East London Homepage

UEL wins the European Commission's esteemed Leonardo programme for second time

Thursday 25 October 2012

Leonardo Programme Students

The University of East London’s School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering hosted 20 students from Germany earlier this month for the third time, through the European Commission’s esteemed Leonardo programme. The programme runs for two years each time, so this is the first visit of UEL’s second ‘good practice award’ win.

Funded by the Commission, the programme aims to enhance the competitiveness of the European labour market by helping European citizens to acquire new skills, knowledge and qualifications.

The students, who stayed with host families in East London and studied at UEL for three weeks, spent their first week developing their English language skills, specifically with reference to computing technology. In the subsequent two weeks, students studied computer fraud and cyber-crime countermeasures.

German project leader, Thomas Forster, said: “This is the third time we have come to UEL. In the beginning it was like a dream come true and sometimes I just can’t believe that we’re still lucky enough to be doing this, the people at UEL are always so helpful.”

Mandy Robeck, a student on the programme, currently studying at a vocational college in Landshut, near Munich, said: “People here have been so friendly, we’ve had sight-seeing tours as well as lectures, and it’s been fantastic to see the sights and also experience the culture.”

Professor Hassan Abdalla, Dean of UEL’s School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, said: “It’s an integral part of our global agenda to work in partnership with various institutions across the world and we are delighted to have this collaboration with Germany. It’s a great opportunity to give the students a flavour of what we have here at UEL not least in terms of our hands-on experience in cyber–security.”

The Leonardo programme is part of the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme.

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

Information for screenreader users:

For a general description of these pages and an explanation of how they should work with screenreading equipment please follow this link: Link to general description

For further information on this web site’s accessibility features please follow this link: Link to accessibility information