HydroEurope—WaterEurope: 20 years of Practice in Collaborative Engineering for Hydroinformatics

Abstract

Since 2000 and under the various Erasmus and Erasmus + frameworks of the European Commission, 6 European universities have initiated an ve innovatiintensive training program dedicated to hydroinformatics and supported by the data of the Var catchment, France. Over the two decades, the HydroEurope/WaterEurope course has welcome more than 2000 M.Sc students with the ambition to equip them with the competences and skills related to hydrological analyst, flood modeling, damage assessment and engineering design with the most advanced simulation tools. The concept of collaborative engineering associated to a project based pedagogic approach has been used to develop teamwork distributed over time—almost 3 months—and space with team members located in the different European participating institutions. The activities are built around the Var catchment that is regularly affected by Mediterranean flood events associated to major damages. The various teams have to elaborate within a holistic approach, mitigation actions. Since the origins, the program has been integrated within the master degree curriculum of each participating institution and academic recognition has been achieved through credits (ECTS). Industrial actors from the hydroinformatic field have been associated to the program since the early stage and have provided support with expert staff and simulation tools that are today offered through a modelling platform. The 20 years of development have underlined the efficiency of the pedagogic approach and have contributed to equip the new generation of water professionals with new concepts and methods for a better water management.