Campus Europae Newsletter, October 2008

Hook up into language learning with Campus Europae
Fast Facts

Eurostudent 2008 main conclusions
Outcomes of the Law subject committee in Joensuu

Bologna Meets Lisbon... in Joensuu
Upcoming events

Humanities Subject Committee meeting
Foreign Language Teaching Experts meeting
Natural Sciences Subject Committee meeting
Engineering Subject Committee meeting
Student Council plenary meeting
Teacher Training Subject Committee meeting

Hook up into language learning with Campus Europae

Campus Europae continues to strengthen its language policy activity, firstly through the participation in the Lanqua project and, perhaps more importantly, through its own project to facilitate language learning for the exchange students in the network.

Campus Europae, who is present both directly and indirectly (via the Universities of Luxembourg, Aveiro, Latvia and Trento) in LANQUA, was at the meeting of the Subgroup on Language Learning held in Leiden on 4-5 July. The Language Network for Quality Assurance (LANQUA) project, co-financed by the European Commission through its LLProgramme, requested from its 64 partners working in 5 different subgroups to identify cases studies susceptible to illustrate quality assurance topics relevant to the area of languages.

At the meeting, six case studies proposed by the Subgroup at the launching meeting in Riga last April were described. The University of Ulster briefed participants on the quality assurance system put into place for higher education in England and Northern Ireland entailing the identification of learning outcomes and a periodic evaluation of modules and language programmes according to a set of national and institutional standards (QAA). The University of Latvia put forward the use of ELP (European Language Passport) as a systematic way of continuous formative assessment integrated in the curriculum. The University of Warsaw spoke about quality assurance mechanisms for language courses. The University of Leiden recounted experiences from the INTUIT project in the use of technology to enhance the quality of language courses. Two other presentations touched upon practices where universities interact with stakeholders outside the academic world: i) the University of Sevilla related its participation as provider of language testing in Universia - a foundation financed by Banco de Santander, and (ii) the Sacro Cuore University of Milan spoke of its ministry-commissioned English assessment module aimed at teachers in primary education (definition of competences, development test).

These six presentations led to a discussion on different components of language learning affecting the academic world today which the group considered worthy of further consideration with a view to identifying benchmarks and providing recommendations to enhance quality. Once these areas for concern are well defined in relation to other Subgroups, the retained case studies will be developed jointly by members of the Subgroup.

Campus Europea expects to make its contribution within the topic of “Effective Language Delivery through the integration of study abroad into the language programme and by using CMC (computer mediated communication) tools, both asynchronous and synchronous”. These two innovative tools which potentially increase the effectiveness of language programmes are addressed because they add value to the language learning experience. The task of the group will be to identify those processes which guarantee their quality and enhance their effectiveness. It is hoped that the lessons learnt will be rapidly put into practice with the implementation of Hook up!, a foreign languages learning gateway to be developed by Campus Europae with EU support.

Language professors and teachers, foreign language teaching experts and CE movers involved in Campus Europae are warmly encouraged to take part in Lanqua. Please contact maria.gonzalez@campuseuropae.org if you wish to be actively involved in this project.

Fast Facts

Eurostudent 2008 main conclusions

Only Finnish students reached the goal of the European Union, to bring more than 10 percent of the students to an enrolment in a foreign higher education institution at some stage of their study career. In the vast majority of European universities less than 6 % participate in the so-called “credit mobility”. These are two of the main conclusions of the third EUROSTUDENT report, published last August. This report presents data from 23 European countries and represents an impressive development over earlier reports which were confined to eight and eleven countries respectively. It was initiated by the Bologna follow-up Conference in London 2007 to provide comparative data on the so-called “social dimension” of higher education in Europe.

The study, which is published under the title “Social and Economic Conditions of Student Life in Europe. Synopses of Indicators”, covers a broad range of data on the demographic characteristics of the student body; modes of access and attendance and types of higher education; social make-up of the student body; types of accommodation; funding and state assistance; living expenses and student spending; student employment and time budgets; and internationalisation and mobility.

The most striking feature of the results brought together in this report is the demonstration of the heterogeneity of the student population. This is evident within each individual country and more especially between countries. The answer on this heterogeneity cannot be found in a homogenous support system, but has to respond on the inequality of local and regional situations. But to accept inequality in support-systems is an enormous political challenge, even if it will lead to more social fairness.

Outcomes of the Law subject committee in Joensuu

In The Subject Committee Law convened in Finland for its second annual meeting enjoying the hospitality of the University of Joensuu. Having condensed from the national curricula certain study fields, the Committee was ready to compare the national curricula and isolated a number of legal specifications offered at the member universities. During the next months leading to the spring meeting in Luxembourg, recommended exchange routes will be identified via the specializations and the general courses offered.

Bologna Meets Lisbon... in Joensuu

The Bologna Meets Lisbon programme is launching this academic year, enabling CE exchange students to opt for a part-time study related internship. The programme is aimed at providing exchange students with a useful network of professional contacts that will later enhance their employability while providing for the cultural, linguistic and social immersion that often is lacking in student exchanges.

During the next months we will interview some of the students which are pioneering the programme as well as their mentor companies/organizations. We are opening this cycle of interviews with a short talk with Olesya Ryabykh, a student at the University of Hamburg who is also the first CE mover visiting the Finnish University of Joensuu.

Campus Europae: Can you describe to us what your internship consists of and tell us a few words about the mentor company?

Olesya Ryabykh: Since I speak Russian, German and English and also have finished my studies in education in Russia, I am responsible for establishing international contacts with Russia, the Baltic countries, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark in the context of the SciFest 2009 (http://www.scifest.fi/). My internship takes place at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Joensuu under the mentorship of Prof. Erkki Sutinen who is the SciFest main promoter and with whom I’m thrilled to work with.

How is it to work in a different country from a language viewpoint?
The language I speak at work is English. It is normal for me, since I have been living in Germany for 4 years and my mother tongue is Russian.

cenews_october_01

Picture 1: CE Mover Olesya Ryabykh

And what about conciliating the university workload with your projects at the mentor company?
It is not so easy, since I really have to do much work for the University and I’m committed to reach 60 ECTS points during this year but I’m trying to manage everything.

What do you expect the outcomes of your internship to be, both for you, your studies and the mentor company?
I am really glad that I can work for the SciFest project. I get to know new people, establish new contacts both for me and the project I am working on, use the languages which I can speak and it also has a lot to do with children - this last aspect is also important for me because I am going to be a primary school teacher. I hope I can help the project so that more people know about it and come to Joensuu to take part in it.

Upcoming events

Humanities Subject Committee meeting

University of Novi Sad, 7th November

Foreign Language Teaching Experts meeting

University of Vienna, 14th November

Natural Sciences Subject Committee meeting

University of Novi Sad, 21st and 22nd November

Engineering Subject Committee meeting