The 7th Mediterranean Seminar on Engineering and Technology Education, under the overarching theme Challenges and Opportunitiescommenced at the University if West Attica (UNIWA), formerly Technological Education Institute Piraeus (TEI-Piraeus), Piraeus-Athens, Greece on 9 September and continued until 13 September 2019, with the WIETE joining forces with the UNIWA’s Mediterranean Centre for Engineering and Technology Education (MCETE) in the organisation and conduct of this Seminar. The paramount objective of the Seminar was to further raise the profile of engineering and technology education and provide an international forum for the exchange of information on research and development achievements in technology and engineering education.

The Seminar experienced the highest number of participants so far, with close to 40 participants registering and presenting their papers. Designated high-quality papers presented at the Seminar will be published in two consecutive issues of the World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education (WTE&TE) Vol.17, No.3 and No.4, with most of the papers presented at the Seminar being included in this issue. The Seminar’s formal deliberations were preceded by a special presentation for academic staff delivered by Mrs Dorota I. Pudlowski, WIETE Managing Director and Professor Zenon J. Pudlowski WIETE Director, entitled: Publishing in WIETE International Journals, covering such important issues as: the research cycle; how to write a journal article; how to become a published and cited author; the mechanism of citation impact; and many other matters relevant to academics. The top picture shows Mrs D.I. Pudlowski leading the presentation.

Four highly enlightening papers were presented at the Seminar Opening Addresses Session including one authored by Professor George Metaxas, Ms Georgia Cheirchanteri and Ms Eleftheria Metaxa of the University of West Attica, entitled New university from the merger of two technological educational institutes - a major step in higher education reforms. This was followed by a paper authored by Professor Andrzej Białkiewicz, Vice-Rector at Cracow University of Technology, Kraków, Poland, entitled Propaedeutics of teaching drawing to architects. Next was Teaching and learning for technology in South African rural high schools, presented by Mr Donald M. Makhubele, Dr Sibongile Simelane-Mnisi and Professor Moses Makgato of Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa. The final paper in the Opening Addresses Session was by Professor Lucyna Nyka, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland, entitled Designing for the future: interaction between academic and non-academic institutions for the advancement of architectural education. These presentations set the stage for a useful and revealing discussion. The middle picture shows Professor George Metaxas (l) MCETE Director and Co-Chairman of the Seminar at the Opening Ceremony.

There were also four special sessions staged to provide the opportunity for multi-member university delegations to present their institution’s research and development activities and achievements, which were leading to further discussion, and this format was particularly well received by the audience. The first such session was given by a group of participants from Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa, presenting their research and development activities. The other three special sessions, supervised by Professor Lucyna Nyka, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland, featured in ten interesting presentations research and development activities in architecture education in the Faculty. The bottom picture shows Professor Z.J. Pudlowski thanking the African colleagues for their presentations.