Emergency remote education and smart working at three European higher education institutions

Due to the threat posed by COVID-19, many colleges and universities around the world opted to switch to online courses and smart working to keep their students, professors, and staff safe during the pandemic emergency. Face-to-face classes, including labs and workshops, have been canceled and substituted with online activities. New administrative procedures have also been established to support the emergency remote education. This article analyzes these changes in light of the experiences of three higher education institutions in different countries, namely Latvia, Poland, and Italy. From this analysis, some aspects have emerged that have stimulated a deeper reflection on the use of digital technology in higher education. .

Reflections on service-learning in european higher education

Over the last two decades, there has been a growing emphasis on the transformation of higher education within Europe. The promotion of active and democratic citizenship through formal higher education is a primary concern. Service-learning (SL) has proven to be a powerful didactic methodology for achieving these ideals. The objective of this paper is to highlight some reflections that permeate SL european experiences, published in the European Observatory of Service-Learning in Higher Education, between January 2020 and September 2021. The counting and percentages of the valued attitudes of SL experiences were collected to explore the guiding philosophy, historical roots, purposes, and underpinning features of SL, contextual factors affecting the practice of SL in the partner institutions and countries, and future challenges and opportunities. Conclusions focus on SL growth and mainstreaming; SL as a core strategic pillar for developing deeper community-higher education partnerships and for strengthening civic engagement across higher education; the need to develop future research to explore these connections and the potential that SL can play in terms of increased civic, work-life and theoretical understandings and skills.

Gamification Assessment

University education is currently the object of numerous changes related to the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). One of them involves placing the student at the core of the teaching-learning process through the use of active methodologies. During the academic year 2018/2019, with this objective in mind, Gamification was introduced in the subject of Microeconomics as an innovative teaching experience. This was carried out through the use of Kahoot. At the end of the course, the experience was evaluated through an online questionnaire combined with the analysis of the academic results. In general, the innovative experience was positive for the students because it increased their motivation and participation in the classroom, and improved the learning process. The experience also positively affected final results of the participating students.

Internationalization Policies and Strategies From the Comparative Standpoint of Student Mobility in Slovenian and Turkish Higher Education

This chapter explores the development and implementation of internationalization policies, strategies, and practices from the standpoint of student mobility. It considers Slovenia and Turkey as the two countries forming the European Higher Education Area which have not received much attention from comparative researchers dealing with higher education. To this end, it initially investigates each country case individually by analyzing student mobility in national and institutional internationalization policies and strategies and its implementation in practice. On this basis, it provides the necessary background for the continuing debate, in which it evaluates the main similarities and differences in the field from the comparative perspective of both countries examined. Methodologically, the chapter is based on a thorough analysis of multiple documentary sources and most recent secondary data obtained from national and international statistical databases.

Internationalisation and Language Policy in European Higher Education

The internationalisation of higher education has received considerable attention over the last three decades, and the phenomenon has transformed into a strategic goal in its own right. Consequently, internationalisation has caused higher education institutions to tailor their language policies to better compete in the global market and promote progressive values such as collaboration and harmony. While macro-level European initiatives have encouraged institutions to foster societal and individual multilingualism, an increasing number of institutions seem to favour English-medium instruction (EMI) over other alternatives. Taking the links between internationalisation and language into account, the present chapter examines the meso-level language policy of two European countries, Austria, and the Czech Republic, which have developed formal and comprehensive frameworks of internationalisation strategy in higher education. The chapter particularly examines the language management component of language policy in these countries by considering internationalisation, EMI, and multilingualism.

Prometheus bound? European initiatives and trends on Higher Education and their association with economic competiveness, skills and employability.

Globalization and increasing internationalization of Higher Education has clearly resulted in a persistent demand for the further transformation of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs), towards competitiveness and contribution to development. What is actually in stake is the employability, while another key issue is the harmonization with the economy and the labor market. That raises, of course, a lot of issues concerning the gradual transformation of the Higher Education and the relation between Higher Education and Society at Large. Globalization has affected all the abovementioned, which is crystal clear in large scale initiatives, in Europe, such as the “Bologna Process” and the subsequent development of the European Higher Education Area, in the case of Europe. Given all the abovementioned, the present article mainly focuses on the European trends, transformations and initiatives in Higher Education, related to HEIs’ active and potential contribution to economic development and the enhancement of graduates’ employability and skills.

Embedding internationalization in European higher education institution´s strategies: easier said than done?

This paper portrays the findings of a joint mixed-method exploratory Survey (JIPS) carried out among 85 European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in 18 countries. Its aims are to identify common problematic issues in European internationalization Higher Education strategic designs and practices, through exploring the perceptions of international administrative and academic actors. The study reveals a contradiction between internationalization as an institutional vowed priority and what HEIs do in the practice. Three main weaknesses are detected: lack of planning, scarce internal quality review practices, and deficient bi-directional internal communication and participation of staff in decision-making processes.