Campus Europae Newsletter, September 2010

Table of contents

  • 2010/11 equivalences database – reviewed and expanded

  • Fast Facts

    • Legally binding ex-ante recognition for CE Movers

    • Staff exchange in Business and Economics

    • Hook Up! news

    • European citizenship essay winners

  • Turning the spotlight on... Hannover
  • Upcoming events
    • Student Council plenary meeting
    • Hook Up! final evaluation and exploitation meeting
    • Humanities Subject Committee meeting
    • Engineering and Natural Sciences Subject Committee meeting
    • Seminar on Student Mobility and European Citizenship

2010/11 equivalences database – reviewed and expanded

For the academic year 2010/2011 Campus Europae database of academic equivalences has been considerably reviewed and expanded. This database is designed to enable mobile students finding courses abroad which are equivalent to their own, which should reflect in the preparation of more accurate and reliable academic agreements.

For 2010/2011 the database covers the subject areas of Biology, Biochemistry, Computer Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Education and Teacher Training, History of Art and Physics, and in the course of the next weeks the database will be expanded further as information about courses in History, Law and Tourism will be added.

Such a project is only possible thanks to the involvement of the CE subject committees, for the process to establish the ex-ante recognition equivalences is truly immersive. The professors start by sharing detailed information about the curricula of the courses at their home university and proceed by carefully comparing the educational offer in multilateral fashion. Such work can involve up to 12 partner universities, as it is the case in Teacher Training and Education. The average number of universities involved in developing equivalences for any given subject area is four, and most groups remain open to welcome colleagues from CE universities that would like to cooperate.

The information compiled in the databases can accessed at online at matrices.campuseuropae.org.

Fast facts

Legally binding ex-ante recognition for CE Movers

This morning the Law faculties and departments of the Universities of Eastern Finland, Lodz, Luxembourg, Gazi, Vytautas Magnus and European Humanities University signed a cooperation agreement that sets out the future development of the subject committee activities and enshrines the right of CE Movers to be granted recognition  for courses completed at the host university.

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The Law subject committee members signing the cooperation agreement

The diversity of legal education in Europe has led the subject committee through complex discussions on how to best foster student exchanges. Law being a subject area that historically does not lend itself to student mobility the signatory universities agreed on the establishment of a reciprocal system for the recognition of courses in the form of compatibility matrices, based on mutual trust for the quality standards of the faculties of the Member Universities.

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Luxembourg University and European Humanities University sealing the deal

The signature ceremony was also attended by Prof. Antonio Ferrari (President of the European University Foundation – Campus Europae), Prof. Vaidotas Viliūnas (Vice-President of EUF-CE), Prof. André Prüm, (Dean of the Faculty of Law, Economy and Finance of the University of Luxembourg) and Prof. Germain Dondelinger (Luxembourg Ministry of Culture, Higher Education and Research).

Staff exchange in Business and Economics

The Business and Economics subject committee is spearheading academic staff mobility within Campus Europae, having announced during its last meeting that four of its ten members have visited CE partner universities in the context of courses, conferences and seminars during the 2009/10 academic year.

Subject committees in Campus Europae are primarily responsible for overseeing student exchange and the development of the ex-ante recognition pathways, but are also strongly encouraged to diversify their activities in whatever ways may contribute for stringing cooperation within the network. Academic staff mobility has been singled out has an excellent instrument for enhancing mutual knowledge and trust, and it is expected that 2010/11 may bring about an increase of academic exchange amongst all Campus Europae universities.

Hook Up! news

Hook up!, the Campus Europae Language Learning Gateway funded under the 2008 call for proposals of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme, will end its pilot phase in October 2010,. The foreign language teaching experts and the language module coordinators will meet near Milan on the 15th of October to discuss the results of the evaluation which has accompanied the project and to discuss how to exploit the platform in the future.

Although victim of the 2 year duration rule now revised by the EACE Agency realising that a 2 year implementation period is too short for transnational implementation, Hook up! has managed to meet most of its objectives: Level A1 of the CEFR in all 12 languages is available online and level A2 will also be online by the end of the pilot phase. Many languages are also offering a course at B1 level. In addition to this self-study offer, there have been interactive synchronous distance sessions in most languages and the material created has also been used for presential courses. Some 500 users are enrolled in the platform, 60 of which were contributors to its development in one way or another. Not all users are active some remain uninterested in this type of learning. Nonetheless, those who have surmounted the initial obstacles linked to learning how to employ technology for learning purposes, generally appreciate the combination of self-study and virtual classroom offered in Hook Up!

The first beneficiaries of this platform are Campus Europae students, who were registered, contacted via email and asked to complete various surveys. But they are not the only ones: ERASMUS students were also encouraged to use the platform before arriving at their host universities. Amongst the students, there are also students not going abroad, members of staff from the member universities and students from non member universities who took interest in this opportunity offered by Campus Europae. From the point of view of those involved in the delivery of the courses, in these 2 years, the project has functioned as an external drive for development of teacher skills with regard to e-learning and intercultural communication. Moodle, simple video production and conferencing and online transnational collaboration have become part of the life of the staff involved in the project and of the students who took the specific role to provide authentic audio visual material during their year abroad.

The results of the final evaluation which includes quantitative and qualitative data will be make known after October, but students and staff are convinced that it would be a pity to shelf this project and that efforts should be made so that it becomes part of the universities' language policy and provision, not only as an instrument to promote Campus Europae mobility, but also to bring language learning opportunities to non mobile students and staff, and to promote the lifelong learning skills necessary to 21st century students in a world where technology underlies learning.

European citizenship essay winners

The winners of the essay competition that challenged present and former CE Movers to enquire the relations between student mobility and European citizenship were announced by the Student Council, and they are Camillo Breiling (Vienna), Juan Fernandez Cantero (Alcalá), Zita Leleviciute (VMU), Sylwia Luszczek (Lodz), Andreas Pichler (Trento), Milica Rajkov (UNS), Olesya Ryabykh (Hamburg) and Maryia Rohava (EHU).

The winners will attend the “Student Mobility and European Citizenship: how to become a European Citizen?” seminar, which will be held at the European Parliament in Brussels, as well as the first edition of the Luxembourg Forum of Higher Education, and will convene in Munsbach this coming weekend to prepare their participation at both events.  

Turning the spotlight on... Hannover

Shaping Future with Knowledge

Founded in 1831 by the scholar Karl Karmarsch the Leibniz Universität Hannover is the second largest institution of higher education in Lower Saxony and one of the nine leading Institutes of Technology in Germany.

The University started as the “Higher Trade School of Hannover” with only 64 students at the beginning of the 19th century, while today there are around 21,000 students in the natural sciences, engineering, humanities and social sciences, as well in law and economics. With around 75 interdisciplinary and practice-orientated courses of study, Leibniz Universität Hannover provides degree and continuing education courses which are orientated towards demand and quality.

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The main building of the Leibniz Universität Hannover (source ICUWB 2008)  

International relations are one of the key priorities to Leibniz Universität Hannover. Cooperation agreements are signed with various countries in the world for research and teaching programs as well as for student exchanges. More than 4,000 students and a great amount of visiting scholars come from abroad in order to enrich the quality of the studies.

Leibniz Universität Hannover is a modern institution of higher education. One of the goals declared by the university is constantly to improve the quality of teaching and research ensuring that studying, teaching and researching in Hannover continue to be enjoyable.

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Hannover's town hall (source: IHS-Germany)

Hannover is a German state capital located at the heart of Europe. It stands around the River Leine and is close to the expansive Eilenreide.  Hannover is a modern city of trade fairs and events, full of delightful contrasts with groundbreaking architecture and infrastructure, surrounded by idyllic little towns and villages. The central part of town retains a true historic character, with many reconstructions of period buildings and renovated architecture. The fairground of Hannover is amongst the city's main attractions and hosts several enormous trade fairs and expos.

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Hannover offers its visitors a rich architecture, old and modern alike (photo credits: Jan Zimmermann)

The city is known for its universities and educational institutions as well as for its theatres, numerous museums, art galleries and a State Opera of worldwide repute. Moreover the Herrenhausen Gardens, the maritime atmosphere of the Maschsee Lake and a whole range of sport events, open-air concerts and popular festivities are equally exciting attractions which ensure a visit to Hannover is always memorable.

External links:

University of Hannover

Upcoming events

Student Council plenary meeting

Alcala, 1 October

Hook Up! final evaluation and exploitation meeting

Bergamo, 15 October

Humanities Subject Committee meeting

Ankara, 22-23 October

Engineering and Natural Sciences Subject Committee meetings

Nancy, 5-6 November

Seminar on Student Mobility and European Citizenship

European Parliament, Brussels, 18 November

The next Campus Europae newsletter is due for the 15th of October. To unsubscribe please visit this link.