Interlace PODCAST

This is the second part of an interview with the international expert Uwe Brandenburg about Internationalization of Higher Education for Society. Uwe Brandenburg is the Managing Director of the Global Impact Institute and Associate Professor at Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Uwe has contributed to more than 30 publications in the field of internationalisation, He is also the Founding President of the German Association for International Exchange (DAIA).

Internationalization of Higher Education for Society is a concept which relevance has been growing enormously in the past decade. Today is a crucial aspect of internationalization of higher education, also in the light of the importance given to societal impact, inclusiveness, and environmental sustainability by the European Commission in the recently launched new generation of EU funded programmes. In this interview in two parts we discuss with the international expert Uwe Brandenburg about the state of the art of this concept, its implications, and a number of concrete examples on how this is brought to life through different initiatives and international projects. Uwe Brandenburg is the Managing Director of the Global Impact Institute and Associate Professor at Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Uwe has contributed to more than 30 publications in the field of internationalisation, He is also the Founding President of the German Association for International Exchange (DAIA). Uwe earned a PhD in Globalisation Studies from the University of Bristol, UK, a Master of Science in Economic and Social Studies from the University of Wales at Swansea, and a Master of Arts from the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Germany. Uwe was elected as Steering group member of the EAIE Expert Community Strategy and Management for the 2020–2022 term.

Welcome to Part 2 about higher education in India and the interview with Dr. Shashikala Gurpur, distinguished academician and orator, Director of Symbiosis Law School, Pune, and and Dean of the Faculty of Law, Symbiosis International University. She is a member of 19th Law Commission of India and National Judicial Academic Council.

India’s higher education system is the world’s third largest in terms of students, next to China and the United States. Over the past five years, internationalization of higher education and research has become one of the key policy priorities for the government of India with a number of initiatives in this sense such as the Global Initiative of Academic Networks and Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration which were aimed at tapping the talent pool of foreign academics to improve the competitiveness of the Indian system. These are some of the topics that we discussed in our two episodes with Dr. Shashikala Gurpur, distinguished academician and orator, Director of Symbiosis Law School, Pune, and and Dean of the Faculty of Law, Symbiosis International University.

Ingo Vetter presents in this interview his work as a visual artist and his engagement of internationalization of artistic higher education. Ingo Vetter is a visual artist working with sculpture, photography and installations. He teaches sculpture at the University of the Arts Bremen with a specific focus on artistic materials and production in globalization. Since 2018, he is the Dean of the Faculty of Art and Design.

Welcome to Part 2 of the interview with Suzanna Shamakhyan, VP/Director on Partnerships and Programs at the The Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology(FAST), former Head of Department of International Cooperation at the Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan, and Founding President at the European Youth Parliament Armenia.

The Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST) is one of the most prominent organizations committed in building an ecosystem of innovation to lead scientists, technologists, and innovators in Armenia and beyond to success on the global stage. In Part 1 we meet Suzanna Shamakhyan, VP/Director on Partnerships and Programs at FAST, former Head of Department of International Cooperation at the Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan, and Founding President at the European Youth Parliament Armenia.

The EU-funded Erasmus Mundus joint programme was launched in 2004 and facilitated over time the creation of 535 Joint Master Programmes across Europe with the participation of 610 different HEIs from 33 Programme countries and 24,500 students worldwide. In Episode #23 we interview Katharina Heil who is the current President of the Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association which offers an international professional and personal network for Erasmus Mundus students and graduates.

The internationalization of Higher Education is a key priority for the Mexican government. The objective is to support innovative joint programs, joint degrees, joint supervision of theses, set up of academic networks and scholar exchanges. This orientation is mainly supported by institutions like the Tecnologico de Monterrey with its vibrant 26 campus, its innovative approaches and its several representative offices worldwide. In this episode we meet Jose Manuel Paez, the Vice-Rector for Internationalization at the Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Welcome to the first episode of Interlace PODCAST Season 2! In this episode we continue with the country specials but from a different perspective, which is in the spirit of this new season: broaden the picture and address new fields and new countries from different angles and in a more interactive, more analytical and less descriptive and pedagogical way. Albania is an old and fascinating country, which nevertheless remains unknown to the most. Isolated from the rest of Europe for most of its recent history, the country has opened up in the past decades and made extraordinary progress towards its dream of joining the European Union. Together with the Swedish Ambassador in Tirana, we go through this process and by tackling different aspects of the Albanian society from culture to education and beyond. Elsa Håstad, expert in human rights, has been serving as Swedish Ambassador in Albania since September 2019. She has previously worked in Belarus and Ukraine, which allows her to compare the progress of Albania with the one of other countries with similar European aspirations.

The Eastern European University Association (EEUA) was founded in 2010 by Russian and Ukrainian State Universities as non-profit organization. The main goal of the association  is to develop international education at Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian universities. Every year EEUA attends the main international conferences on education, global meetings, workshops and fairs around the World to promote its associated universities from Eastern European countries. EEUA organizes also own educational exhibition/seminars abroad which helps associate universities to set up cooperation with foreign universities. Moreover, EEUA sets up cooperation between foreign and associate universities, organizes seminars on International students recruitment for associate universities, and recruits and coordinates agencies which promote education is associate universities. Bogdan Voronovskiy is the founder and Executive Director of the Eastern European University Association.

The Systemic University Change Towards Internationalisation (SUCTI) project aims to empower administrative university staff by providing them with knowledge and skills related to their university’s internationalisation process. Administrative staff represent the backbone of universities, and if they are convinced of the importance and added value of internationalisation they can become genuine agents of change. In this way, they can make a key contribution to transform the internal mindset of universities and enable these to become truly internationalised institutions. The three year project was coordinated by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain) and it was co-funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ – KA2 Strategic Partnerships for higher education. Marina Casals Sala coordinated the project on behalf of URV. Marina is the Director of International Relations at URV and has previously served at the same institution as head of the Internationalisation Strategic Unit at the Rector’s office. Her international work experience has taken her to Finland and Morocco (Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane). As an EAIE Board member, she was awarded the Rising Star Award by the EAIE in 2009 in recognition of her contribution to the Association, as well as the Bo Gregersen Award for Best Practice in 2014 as a member of the Green Cockatoo group. Marina was a member of the EAIE General Council.

SwedenEdu is a Swedish educational consultancy firm founded in 2016 to support Turkish students in reaching their education and life goals in Sweden. SwedenEdu is a good example of the key role that alumni play in promoting the education systems they come from and how they can be agents of change for many of their peers. SwedenEdu has a collaboration with a number of Swedish HEIs and supports students in: application process for the bachelor and master level programs, search for scholarship opportunities, visa applications, insight of the accommodation facilities and support during the accommodation application. Each student seeking support from SwedenEdu during the application process will also get free support during the whole study period. SwedenEdu was founded by Koç University graduate Gülşah Bilen in Gothenburg, thanks to her appreciation of Swedish education system, quality of life and the opportunities provided by the Swedish universities. Gülşah has also studied in USA, Canada and UK during her education life and she has chosen Sweden for her master studies.

The European Association of ERASMUS Coordinators (EAEC), is a membership network, which currently has more than 140 members. The Erasmus Congress and Exhibition (ERACON) is the main event organized by the network and in 2020 it will take place online on November 19 and 20. In this extensive interview, the President and founder of the Association, Prof. Gregoris Makrides, tells us more about the network. The first partlooks back to the origins of the association and the past of Erasmus while this second part looks forward to the future of EAEC, ERACON and the new Erasmus programme 2021/27 as well as to the post-COVID scenarios for the internationalization of education and training at large.

The European Association of ERASMUS Coordinators (EAEC), is a membership network, which currently has more than 140 members. It was founded in 2004 in Lodz, Poland, with an official kick off during the ERACON 2005 (ERASMUS Coordinators Conference and GO-Exchange Education Fair 2005) in Cyprus. The network represents the reference point for all the academics and practitioners involved in the Erasmus programme activities and beyond. Among the very extensive aims of the Network we can mention enable exchange of information and experience, promote mobility, circulate provisions on the Bologna Process, promote principles and participation in the ERASMUS+ European Commission Programme, support the process of raising education and quality standards, and organize seminars and conferences, just to mention a few. The Erasmus Congress and Exhibition (ERACON) is the main event organized by the network and in 2020 it will take place online on November 19 and 20. In this extensive interview in two parts, the President and founder of the Association, Prof. Gregoris Makrides, tells us more about the network, the present and future of the Erasmus Programme and provides us with his insights on the current state of the internationalization of education and training in Europe and beyond. The first part looks back to the origins of the association and the the past of Erasmus.

Capacity-building projects in the field of higher education are transnational cooperation projects, based on multilateral partnerships, primarily between higher education institutions from Programme and eligible Partner Countries. European studies is a field of study offered by many academic colleges and universities that focuses on current developments in European integration that often include a combination of political science, EU public policy, European history, European law, economics and sociology. TheEURASIA project addresses the challenges of establishing, updating and modernizing curricula in European studies in a globalized world. EURASIA is an opportunity for capacity building of all the partner institutions from Europe, China and India based on shared ideas, the exchange of educational know-how and the development of resources, so empowering all stakeholders. The project activities involve the joint elaboration of original modules and courses on European studies, the development of appropriate methodologies and the creation of teaching and learning resources, including online material. Maria Stoicheva is the Vice Rector for International Affairs at the Sofia University and EURASIA project coordinator.

This episode of Interlace PODCAST is the first one addressing the adult education field. We do this by introducing the RIOTE2 project – Rural Inclusive Outdoor Theatre Education: Street theatre education methodology and network cooperation model in rural environment. The project is of high relevance for the scope of this podcast since it addresses our two main objectives: international perspectives on education and culture. The project is based on a knowledge and skills exchange between performing arts- organisations, which provide adult education through outdoor theatre, physical theatre or other cultural and adult educational practices in rural settlements. The project tried to answer the question: ‘How do we develop the reach of our adult educational activity as arts organisation, so that we can connect with more of our target group?’ Outdoor performing adult education can revitalize culture in socially marginalized environments with proposing: dialogue approach; critical sociology by revealing social problems; interactive cultural exchange; collective education; development of multiple intelligence; trigger the visualization of social change; empowerment of the community; strong pedagogical aspect; collaborative process. Geza Pinter from Sinum Theatre and RIOTE project manager tells us more about it in the interview.

In a previous episode, we have interviewed Lika Glonti, director of the National Erasmus Office in Tbilisi who provided a general overview on the Georgian higher education institutions and their involvement in the Erasmus+ programme. The KNOWEU project; Enhancing Knowledge on Georgia’s EU Integration among Ethnic Minorities, is the topic of today’s programme. The project is co-funded by the European Union Erasmus+ Jean Monnet action which is designed to promote excellence in teaching and research in the field of European Union studies worldwide. The activities also foster the dialogue between the academic world and policy-makers, in particular with the aim of enhancing governance of EU policies. Diana Lezhava is an Administrative Director of the Center for Social Sciences (CSS) and a Research fellow at CSS Education and Development Program. She also works for the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC) as a resident director of its Georgia Branch. Diana has extensive experience in project development and management, financial administration, organizational management, and collaboration with local and international donors, including various EU grant programs.

International collaboration in Art education differs in many ways and for many reasons from other fields of studies and is too often neglected or marginalized from the big picture. What are the specificities of international university collaboration in this field, why was it affected more than others by the Covid-19 pandemic effects and what are the future perspectives? In this episode we discuss these topics with Payam Gul Susanni from Yasar University in Izmir, Turkey. Payam is a pianist with a long experience in international collaboration in the fields of art. She will tell us in particular about the concept of artistic entrepreneurship in an international perspective.

Today’s episode brings us to a new territory and will show us how the EU funding tools can be used in a creative way to cover very specific topics and address highly relevant social challenges in an inclusive manner. The “Visual Impairment Social Inclusion ON” project was an Erasmus+ Success story, a good practice on the School education level and this is the first episode of the podcast addressing this field. V.I.S.I.ON aimed at helping v.i. children to develop physical and vocal confidence of expression and to utilize this self-assurance in their everyday life. The project was focused on the creation of a method for “teaching self awareness, confidence and consciousness of the space around” to v.i. children and young people through the instruments of theatre. Zori Staneva from the Foundation for development of the cultural and business potential of civil society is a graduate of International economic relations and Business administration – but her interests in rather human and culture focused domains were strong enough to direct her towards looking for opportunities for working in spheres such as the one covered in this episode.

Strategic Partnerships are transnational projects designed to develop and share innovative practices and promote cooperation, peer learning, and exchanges of experiences in the fields of education, training, and youth. The EL-ART project (Entrepreneurial Learning in Art Education), focus of this episode, aims to help art schools give their students the necessary entrepreneurial skills needed before they enter the work field. This is the first episode covering vocational education and training. The majority of art schools in Europe are still focusing on skills based learning. The students become good at the skills they study but that doesn’t make them into successful artists. Many don’t know how to adapt their skills on the market as artists and having a successful business requires much more than good craft skills. Rebecca Simons, an independent photography curator, editor, educator and visual artist tells us how the EL-ART projects addressed this challenge.

International student recruitment is very high on the agenda of universities and it represents one of the most powerful tools for their internationalization strategies. Many private actors are present on the market as facilitators of this process. Often criticized but often needed to access specific markets or niches. But a number of these actors have decided to adopt a more empathic approach to the business than others with the interest of students, universities and upper secondary schools as their main focus. It’s our intention to find out how they operate and what differentiates them from the traditional and sometimes unscrupulous recruitment agencies. In this episode we interview Tzvetelina Ivova, founder and director of the Student Recruitment Tours who has in the past ten years developed and successfully run an innovative concept aiming to bringing together and matching the needs of students and universities around the world under the slogan: “Target. Meet. Recruit.”

The European Programmes in the field of education are managed and monitored in non-EU countries by specific National Erasmus+ Office (NEO). What is the mandate and what are the activities of these units and who are the people responsible for this crucial and challenging task for the development of internationalization of higher education in their country with focus on collaboration with European partners? Georgia is one of the countries where a NEO was established and currently successfully operating under the direction of Lika Glonti who will tell us more about this fascinating country and why Georgia is to be considered a relevant partner country under the Erasmus+ programme and beyond.

The European Universities Initiative is one of the latest initiatives of the European Commission in the field of higher education. What is the rationale of this initiative and why should it be consider one of the most important ones in the recent years for European universities? The first selected alliances started their activities in November 2019 and it’s now time to hear from the voice of the actors about their direct experience, the genesis of their partnership, their plans and their concerns. Today we have with us the Secretary General of the alliance UNITE! Andreas Winkler from the Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany. Andreas has a PhD in Geography and has extensive experience in the field of internationalization of higher education and he has covered the position of CLUSTER Coordinator between 2018 and 2020.

The increase in virtual and blended mobility is a relevant recent development in the internationalization of higher education arena. There are many reasons for this, the two main ones being the Covid-19 pandemic that made physical mobility impossible in 2020 and the fact that the European Commission decided to introduce this concept as one of the main new features of the upcoming new Erasmus+ to be launched at the beginning of 2021. But how is virtual and blended mobility perceived by the practitioners, students and universities? What will be its impact on the internationalization of higher education in the coming years? What are the pros and what the cons? We will discuss this with Rui Branco Lopes from the Coimbra Health School of the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra from the perspective of his hands-on experience with the organization and management of international internships in the field of health education. Since 2009, Rui Branco Lopes has worked as International Relations Specialist at Coimbra Health School of the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra. In this role, he has been responsible for the management of exchange programmes and international cooperation, with emphasis on the Erasmus+ programme. He’s been actively engaged in international meetings, always eager to extend his network and knowledge within the higher education internationalization sector. He was recently elected to serve the European Association for International Education (EAIE) in 2020-2022 within the European Collaborative Programmes Expert Community.

Aziza Abdurakhmanova is Head of the National Erasmus+ Office in Uzbekistan and she has been active in the past two decades in the management of European Programmes involving higher education institutions from her country. Uzbekistan has undergone an impressive development in the past year in all fields including higher education which removed a number of problematic elements that in the past represented barriers to international collaboration. This new scenario makes today’s Uzbekistan an interesting counterpart for Erasmus+ Programme Countries looking for collaborations beyond the EU borders. Aziza tells us in this programme about her journey and the one of her country and provides us with a practical insight on how to develop a partnership with higher education institutions in Uzbekistan.

The Erasmus Mundus Programme was launched by the European Commission at the beginning of the 2000s as a revolutionary idea aiming to increase the attractiveness and quality of European universities by facilitating the creation of joint master programmes of excellence supported by very generous grants for top students from all over the world. The programme has become today a renowned label of excellence and has provided thousands of students with the opportunity of studying at European Higher Education Institutions over the past 15 years. But who are these students? What was their journey? What was the impact of this programme on their lives? Pavan Sriram, an Erasmus Mundus graduate and former president of the Erasmus Mundus Alumni Association tells us in this episode his inspiring story and his plans to get professionally involved in improving the international student recruitment through an exciting brand new initiative.

AEC – The Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen – is the leading voice for higher music education in Europe. A cultural and educational network with around 300 member institutions for professional music training in 57 countries. In this episode we make an interview with Sara Primiterra, Events and Project Manager at AEC Office in Brussels since 2009. Sara gives us a full insight in her work as well as the AEC different activities and project. She will also share music performed by her former band The Rolling Fork.

The International Association of Universities, created under the auspices of UNESCO in 1950, (and therefore celebration it’s 70th anniversary this year) is a membership-based organisation serving the global higher education community through: expertise & trends analysis, publications & portals, advisory services, peer-to-peer learning, events, global advocacy. It is therefore very broad and ambitious in scope if compared to most of the existing university alliances. Pam Fredman, the President of the International Association of Universities since 2016, is with us today to tell us more about the organization. Pam served as Rector of the University of Gothenburg from 2006 until 2017. She is a Professor of Neurochemistry and has held several leading positions within the University, for example as Dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Gothenburg. Over the years, she has been active in a large number of scientific and scholarly contexts. Pam Fredman has for example been Chair of the European Society of Neurochemistry and she is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, IVA.

Welcome to Interlace PODCAST! In this short introduction, your hosts – Mirko Varano and Christofer Fredriksson – give you a first hint on the background of the idea and what you should expect. In a few weeks, your hosts will publish a vlog with a deeper insight on their background, our plans for the future, our scope, and our target groups.