Through its win­ter and sum­mer Inter-semes­ter Edu­ca­tion­al Activ­i­ties (API), the Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­nol­o­gy of Com­piègne, in part­ner­ship with the Sor­bonne Uni­ver­si­ty clus­ter, offers UTC stu­dents and inter­na­tion­al stu­dents from part­ner uni­ver­si­ties the oppor­tu­ni­ty to engage in orig­i­nal and inno­v­a­tive pro­grammes that com­ple­ment their aca­d­e­m­ic cur­ric­u­la. Exam­ples include the “Hap­py Sound” work­shop held from Jan­u­ary 19 to 23 and the Inter­na­tion­al Win­ter School on Food Engi­neer­ing, which ran two weeks, Feb­ru­ary 2–13, 2026.

Inno­vat­ing in teach­ing meth­ods, deep­en­ing and acquir­ing skills and knowl­edge in spe­cif­ic fields or tech­nolo­gies: the Interse­mes­ter Edu­ca­tion­al Activ­i­ties (API) offer numer­ous ben­e­fits to the stu­dents who par­tic­i­pate. Com­bin­ing the­o­ry and prac­tice, these inter­na­tion­al win­ter (and sum­mer) schools, taught in Eng­lish, “enable stu­dents to crit­i­cal­ly exam­ine cur­rent prac­tices and sup­ple­ment their learn­ing,” says Nico­las Dauchez, a pro­fes­sor at UTC and researcher with the Acoustics and Vibra­tions team at the university’s Rober­val Lab­o­ra­to­ry. The ‘Hap­py Sound’ work­shop on “upcy­cling portable speak­ers,” which he led from Jan­u­ary 19 to 23, 2026 as part of the Eras­mus+ SUSEE (Small­er Uni­ver­si­ties for Sus­tain­abil­i­ty in Engi­neer­ing Edu­ca­tion), invit­ed about fif­teen stu­dents from the acoustics and design pro­grammes to “mod­ern­ize and design speak­ers using used and obso­lete desk­top speak­ers as part of an approach to sus­tain­able engi­neer­ing and the repur­pos­ing of tech­no­log­i­cal prod­ucts — an approach that is now an inte­gral part of our cur­ricu­lum.” For stu­dents in the acoustics  pro­gramme, work­ing on speak­ers was very inter­est­ing as it allowed them to under­stand the entire process — from design to man­u­fac­tur­ing — and to take an exist­ing con­cept and learn how to use it in a new way. ”Since the launch of the ‘Hap­py Sound’ API in 2018, the chal­lenges have mul­ti­plied: build­ing speak­ers with­out using wood, and con­verse­ly, wood­en speak­ers in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Saint-Quentin School of Applied Arts; design­ing and man­u­fac­tur­ing speak­ers made of cel­lu­lose-based mate­ri­als or tubes; design­ing sub­woofer enclo­sures… It fos­ters healthy com­pe­ti­tion. We’re often pleas­ant­ly sur­prised by the result­ing con­cept or design. In 2020, focus­ing on the sound of wood, we achieved some pret­ty amaz­ing results—clean and very ‘pol­ished’. The ulti­mate goal, with­in a rel­a­tive­ly short time­frame, is to ensure every­thing works and to con­duct com­par­a­tive lis­ten­ing tests to eval­u­ate the acoustic qual­i­ty. “Every year, we set new per­for­mance, tech­ni­cal, and bud­getary con­straints,” con­tin­ues Nico­las Dauchez. “This win­ter, the ques­tion arose regard­ing the portable drum set, which requires resources: Is the portable bat­tery sus­tain­able and long-last­ing? Do we real­ly need it? A vis­it to the Paprec fac­to­ry, which spe­cial­izes in recy­cling and waste treat­ment, helped us real­ize the con­se­quences of con­sump­tion and the prob­lem­at­ic future of bat­ter­ies.”

Gastronomy, a holistic science

The same objec­tives were set for the 3^rd edi­tion of the Food Engi­neer­ing Inter­na­tion­al Win­ter School, which took place at UTC’s Daniel-Thomas Inno­va­tion Cen­tre from Feb­ru­ary 2 to 13, 2026 “We offered projects com­bin­ing food sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy with French gas­tron­o­my,” explains Miri­an Kubo, a fac­ul­ty researcher and head of the Food and Agro-Resources Inno­va­tion (IAA)  pro­gramme at UTC. The 16 students—about half of whom were enrolled in the Master’s pro­gramme in Nutri­tion, Qual­i­ty and Health at Sor­bonne Uni­ver­si­ty, with the oth­er half from Euro­pean uni­ver­si­ties in the SUNRISE Alliance, were tasked with devel­op­ing inno­v­a­tive tech­no­log­i­cal solu­tions to cre­ate health­i­er and more nutri­tious ver­sions of world-famous culi­nary spe­cial­ties such as beef Bour­guignon, foie gras, tarte tropézi­enne, and gougères.”

Over the course of ten days, which includ­ed the­o­ret­i­cal class­es, prac­ti­cal work and project work­shops, the stu­dents devel­oped food pro­to­types com­plete with spec­i­fi­ca­tions, nutri­tion­al val­ue tables, ingre­di­ent lists, sen­so­ry pro­files, label designs, and pack­ag­ing pro­pos­als… “They study the nutri­tion­al pro­files and func­tion­al prop­er­ties of ingre­di­ents, tex­tur­iz­ing agents, the impact of addi­tives and flavour­ings… But also the lat­est inno­va­tions for replac­ing fats, sug­ar, and gluten,” explains Miri­an Kubo. “We aim to improve the nutri­tion­al qual­i­ty of prod­ucts by enrich­ing them with pro­tein and fibre. But we also seek to meet the needs of peo­ple with aller­gies, dia­bet­ics, or those with intolerances—such as those with celi­ac dis­ease. We’re also address­ing the needs of seniors and chil­dren, who require tai­lored nutri­tion as well.” In 2025, gluten-free gougères and veg­an beef bour­guignon were on the menu. The new prod­ucts had to taste pleas­ant and sim­i­lar, with the same tex­ture and flavour… “These work­shops always offer oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn, espe­cial­ly since inter­na­tion­al stu­dents bring cul­tur­al adap­ta­tions to the table,” adds the expert. “Last year, gnoc­chi made from stale bread were served with a tra­di­tion­al Por­tuguese sauce. It was a real culi­nary dis­cov­ery.” The cook­ing work­shop led by Ludovic Col­part, chef at the Auberge du Pont de Rethon­des near Com­piègne, the cul­tur­al tour of Pier­re­fonds and din­ner at a gourmet restau­rant, in addi­tion, allowed stu­dents to expand and enrich their skills and tech­niques, as well as refine their knowl­edge. They expe­ri­enced some true discoveries.

IL