Campus Europae Newsletter, December 2010

Table of contents

  • Student Mobility and European Citizenship conference report

  • Fast Facts

    • Making Business and Economics students mobile
    • Hook Up: the end of an era
    • ACA's student mobility seminar - report
  • Upcoming events
    • Education and Teacher Training Subject Committee meeting
      •
    • Join Coordinators and Student Council meeting
    • Luxembourg Forum of Higher Education and Board of Directors meeting

Student Mobility and European Citizenship conference report

Campus Europae and the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, in the person of MEP Prof. Leonidas Donskis, organized a conference at the European Parliament about “Student Mobility and European Citizenship”.

The first panel focused on “the importance of student mobility”. Prof. Donskis gave a illuminating speech on how, throughout history, scholars and students whose careers and interests do not stop at borders have been instrumental in building bridges across cultures and political regimes, which in turn paved the way for acomplishmenta that range from conflict resolution to the establishment of the European project.

 cenews_dez1

Prof. Leonidas Donskis and Lesley Wilson

Prof. Hans de Wit, a leading expert in internationalization policy, went on to discuss the do’s and don’t’s of “fostering European Citizenship through student mobility”, remarking that the objective of rendering students inclined to be active citizens must be pursued from the earliest stages of schooling, rather than only at University - his vision being that of mobility as a concept that is more comprehensive and far more pervasive than the strict Erasmus mobility we know today. The speech of Prof. Hans de Wit was also a plea to broaden the support to different types of mobility, both with respects length and purpose.

cenews_dez2

Prof. de Wit on how to foster European Citizenship through student mobility

The second panel focused on “the contribution of Universities”, and was opened by Prof. Anatoly Mikhailov, Rector of the exiled European Humanities University. Prof  Mikhailov spoke passionately about how universities mustn’t shy away from fostering their student’s critical spirit, which would enable them to be active and conscious citizens. However the increasing demand for training, rather than bildung, threatens the institutional capacity and responsibility to do so, and debating this slippery slope should go hand in hand with a reflection about how quality standards in Higher Education can be maintained and improved. 

The fourth contribution was by Lesley Wilson, EUA’s Secretary General, who provided extraordinary insight on how universities feel the need – and pressure – to rethink their strategies and priorities, and how internationalization features amongst them. According to EUA’s studies student mobility has not became more central of an issue over the last 20 years, a situation that reflects the intensely competing agendas that institutions are confronted with.

 cenews_dez3

The conference room at the European Parliament

The conference finished with a round table debate. Lesley Wilson, Achim Meyer auf der Heyde (General Secretary of the European Council for Student Affairs), Prof. Christoph Ehmann (Secretary General of the EUF – Campus Europae), Joachim Wyssing (Vice-President of the Erasmus Student Network) and Julian Walkowiak (President of the Campus Europae Student Council) spearheaded a rather lively debate which touched upon question such as whether the trend to decrease the length of  studies abroad was a race to the bottom that compromised the civic ramification of studying abroad, the rigidity that the Bologna process has brought about in the organization of said exchanges and how students could be best encouraged to look at studying abroad as a normal part of their curricula. The European Student Union was also in attendance and noted how financing and recognition difficulties entail that studying abroad remains a privilege that only a small group of students can afford.

cenews_dez4

The CE Alumni in attendance

In retrospective the conference served two main purposes: to enable key stakeholders in Higher Education to reflect how mobility is and must remain a matter of paramount importance vis-à-vis the universities internationalization agenda, as well as to render members of the European Parliament aware that the design and implementation of student mobility can be vastly improved.

Fast facts

Making Business and Economics students mobile

The Business and Economics Subject Committee met in Brussels on the 19th of November. The meeting was attended by Professors from the Universities of Aveiro, Eastern Finland, Gazi, Lodz, Luxembourg, Saint Petersburg and Vytautas Magnus.

cenews_dez5 

The committee members from the Universities of Aveiro, St Petersburg and Luxembourg

During the first half of the meeting the Committee analysed student’s flows in the previous and current year. None of the parts reported any problems with academic recognition amongst the students who had been abroad in 2009/10, an excellent performance which was corroborated by the Student Council. As far as 2010/11 is concerned there are 32 exchange students under the aegis of the Committee, making it one of the three most active in Campus Europae.

cenews_dez6

The representatives from the Universities of Lodz, Eatern Finland and Vytautas Magnus

During the second half of the meeting the members discussed the extent to which CE is visible within the participating universities and whether the programme is being duly promoted, notably in cooperation with the international offices. The setting up of more cooperation agreements was also on the agenda, as well as the finalization of the ex-ante recognition matrices, which have already been completed by the Universities of Aveiro, Eastern Finland, Lodz and Trento.

Hook Up: the end of an era

Hook Up! finished its development phase, following the Bergamo meeting last October and the end of the EU financed project. Over the last two years some 300 students have been enrolled on the online language learning platform, which at present holds courses in 12 languages in A1 and A2, 10 languages at B1 level and 3 languages at B2 level.

In 2010/11 online languages courses started in April and continued until August. Students could engage in self study only or follow the online interactive sessions to enable quicker progress. During the face to face courses at the host universities, the teachers underlined the difference between students having engaged in Hook up! and those who had not used it; the former showing a higher level, quicker progress and being more confident in engaging in oral production.

The language experts gathered in Bergamo unanimously agreed to keep on using Hook Up! to further language learning amongst CE Movers, albeit with some modifications. The Hook Up! Language Learning Moodle platform will be open to all students from the EUF member universities as well as the staff to engage in self learning. The interactive language sessions which will start  at the beginning of February 2011 will be prioritised to enable potential 2011/12 CE movers to start learning the language of the host university at A1 level, providing them with an edge over other candidates as they would already be learning the language, and 2010/11 CE movers to reach the B1 level before the end of the academic year. 

Anyone else wishing to engage in interactive language learning or anyone wishing to contribute to the learning experience of someone else in tandems, should write to hookup@campuseuropae.org.

ACA's student mobility seminar - report

ACA’s latest European Policy Seminar took place in Brussels on the last 3rd of December and focused on the mobility of higher education students and staff. In one hand, and according to some of the researchers in attendance, the number of sojourns abroad has not increased over the last forty years; on the other their length leaves to be desired, with Ulrich Teichler (INCHER-Kassel) remarking that over 90% of all staff mobility financed by Erasmus last less than two weeks.

Another aspect that raised some concern is the way mobility is being advertised, with some speakers remarking that mobility per se does not necessarily equate with economic or professional success. Emphasizing the opportunities for personal development, on the other hand, is not only accurate as it is just as pertinent.

Upcoming events

Education and Teacher Training Subject Committee meeting

Kaunas, 7 February

Joint Coordinators and Student Council meeting

Luxembourg, 18 February

Luxembourg Forum of Higher Education and Board of Directors meeting

Luxembourg, 10-11 March

To unsubscribe please visit this link.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!