The Hungarian EHEA team closes both this year and its second project (2016-2018) with a very “colorful’ event.

In the framework of the project „Continuing EHEA Reforms in Hungary” Tempus Public Foundation (Hungarian Erasmus+ National Agency) in partnership with the Ministry of Human Capacities organized a Peer Learning Activity focusing on Credit Recognition with Erasmus+ Partner countries. The event that took place in Budapest on 27-28 November 2018 was the last major event of the present EHEA project in Hungary.

As the number of mobilities to and from partner countries is growing and will grow in the future, there is a strong need to discuss questions related to credit recognition within the International Credit Mobility action and possibly in other scholarship programmes concerning mobilities to and from non-European countries, as well.

The one-and-a-half day event hosted around 35 participants from 18 different Erasmus+ Programme and Partner countries (such as Kazakhstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Colombia or Palestine), including colleagues from National Agencies, National Erasmus+ Offices, experts active in the field of Higher Education, Higher Education Institutions staff and other stakeholders.

         

The high number of different attending countries’ representatives shows that E+ International credit mobility and credit recognition are key issues in today’s higher education.

Thanks to their extensive experiences and expertise, the participants exchanged ideas in small group discussions about the different aspects of international credit recognition. The various methods used during the workshop (e.g.: presentations, debate/Q&A, group works, using innovative tools, etc.) allowed the participants to have a deeper understanding of the discussed topics.

   

 

THE PLA’s FOCAL POINTS were:

Topics, questions, suggestions for discussion

  • need of a platform for continuous communication; networking,
  • maximization of mobility (students, staff, experts),
  • resistance to mobility and internationalization,
  • main problem sources, obstacles of CR,
  • international directives, policies,
  • implementation of good practices,
  • elaboration of good quality assurance mechanisms,
  • ways to simplify/automatize CR processes,
  • ECTS and other existing systems: a comparative approach,
  • national specificities,
  • types of credit recognition,
  • non-formal and informal ways of learning,
  • key role of national offices, teachers and students,
  • student’s perspective,
  • the importance of good quality and close partnerships, efficient cooperation between HEIs,
  • the criteria of content matches of different subjects
  • mobility window, as a tool of CR.

The success of the event confirmed that there is a high demand for networking and the participants welcomed the idea of a platform for continuous communication.

Based on the positive feedback of the first workshop, similar professional events are likely to be organized in the future.

Programme of the event and photo gallery are available here.

Presentations

Credit recognition in a partner country, Kazakhstan
Shaizada Tasbulatova - Coordinator, National Erasmus+ Office Kazakhstan &
Darkhan Akhmed-Zaki – President, University of International Business

Credit recognition with partner countries. Could the intra-European experience serve as a model?
Markus Symmank - Head of Unit Erasmus+ Mobility, DAAD, Germany

Recognition issues in ICM projects in Uzbekistan
Kudratkhon Bakhadirov – Expert, National Erasmus+ Office in Uzbekistan

Erasmus+ and HE in Azerbaijan. Possibilities for cooperation in the view of successes and challenges of credit recognition
Parviz Baghirov – Director, National Erasmus+ Office Azerbaijan

How to tame the winds of international seas? - Challenges of credit recognition between Europe and Latin America
Samuel Medina Luna - Academic Mobility Coordinator, Universidad CES, Colombia;
Gábor Réthi - Senior lecturer, Faculty Erasmus academic coordinator, Budapest Business School

International Credit Mobility from Program Country Perspective (Skype)
Inge Broekman, Institutional Erasmus Coordinator; Bologna Expert, University of Twente

Crucial elements of credit recognition – Institutional Perspective of FH Joanneum
Birgit Hernády, Head of International Relations, FH JOANNEUM - University of Applied Sciences

Results of a Hungarian Institutional Survey on ICM
Krisztina Winkler-Antal, Erasmus+ KA107 programme coordinator, Tempus Public Foundation

Credit Recognition with partner countries – the case of Óbuda University, Hungary 
Ildikó Marosi, International Vice-director, Óbuda University, Hungary

“Bologna with Student’s eyes, 2018" - Armenian students perception of Bologna, Focus on recognition
Lana Karlova – Coordinator, National Erasmus+ Office Armenia
Vard Ghukasyan - Head of Foreign Relations Division, Armenian State University of Economics

Academic Mobility in Republic of Moldova in the context of building the European High Education Area
Daniela Pojar - Head of Department, Technical University of Moldova

Mobility between the two shores of the Mediterranean: The case of Palestine
Nedal Aljayousi - Director, National Erasmus Office in Palestine

An olive-tree planting and a Palestine room inauguration at Szent István University
Zsuzsanna Tarr - Head of International Relations Center, Szent István University

Credit Recognition Experience by Ukrainian Universities: Achievements & Challenges
Ivanna Atamanchuk - Monitoring and Mobility Manager, NEO-Ukraine

The main objective of the event is to raise awareness on mobility windows among key stakeholders and thus to eliminate the regulatory and possible institutional burdens of mobility windows and to involve regional partners in creating an ecosystem that is able to support the continuous flow of mobilities in the region.

We intend to bring together stakeholders of key professional organisations from Central and Eastern Europe and from the Baltic to deepen cooperation and share experiences especially concerning the long-term benefits of this tool.

As an ultimate goal a regional platform could be created for further cooperation in this field by exchanging information on new developments, raising actual issues and gathering and sharing relevant data.

Participants

We expect active participants from professional and governmental organisations such as education authorities, ministries, quality assurance and accreditation agencies, student organisations, mobility agencies, experts of the topic and involved practitioners from higher education institutions who are either ready to share their experiences in the field or seek up-to-date knowledge on mobility windows.

Costs

Travel and accommodation costs of a limited number of participants might be covered by Tempus Public Foundation upon request, but we hope that participants can cover their costs related to the event. There is no registration fee, travel and accommodation costs may arise. 

For accommodation options please see the registration form below. In case you would ask for travel arrangements by the organisers, please write to ehea@tpf.hu.

Date

24-25 April, 2018 (starting with a working dinner late afternoon on the 24th and ending around 4 P. M. on the 25th)

Programme

24 April

17:00 – 21:00 Working / networking dinner
Introduction of the PLA and of the participants
First round of table discussions
Dinner (19:00)


25 April

9:00 – 9:30 Registration and coffee
9:30 - 9:45 Welcome words by TPF (and Ministry of Human Capacities)
9:45 - 10:05 Presentation by Irina Ferencz - Academic Cooperation Association (ACA)
10:05 - 10:30 TPF presents the Hungarian activities on mobility windows
10:30 - 10:50 Presentation of an invited National Agency
10:50 - 11:15 Coffee break
11:15 - 11:45 Plenary discussion
11:45 - 12:45 Second round of table discussions
12:45 - 13:30 Lunch
13:30 - 14:30 Third round of table discussions
14:30 - 15:30 Fourth round of table discussions
15:30 - 16:00 Wrap-up, further actions
16:00 - Farewell

Registration and practical information

Registration deadline: 10 April, 2018.

Travel and accommodation costs of a limited number of participants might be covered by Tempus Public Foundation upon request. In such cases, please register by 5 April, the latest. 

For further information please contact ehea@tpf.hu or contact our colleague Miss Krisztina Tamás at +36 1 2371300 / 235.

Organised by Tempus Public Foundation, the first workshop on international student mentoring programs for university staff members who work in the field of international student services was held on 4th October 2017. The workshop’s main objective was to support the recently launched and already running mentor programmes that facilitate the integration of international students in Hungarian higher education institutions. The event focused on the introduction of the two handbooks published within the frameworks of the Campus Mundi project in 2017; the overview of the related internationalization processes and the exchange of experience and knowledge between the universities.


The two handbooks presented at the workshop deal with two key topics related to international student mentoring. The first book (Mentor Programme Handbook) advises the strategic stakeholders of universities on how to plan, launch and run a successful mentor programme that supports the integration of international students into the Hungarian higher education system. The other booklet (Mentor Handbook) helps the day-to-day work of mentor students with hands-on advice and good practices. Both handbooks aim to support the quality development of the services provided by universities to international students.

    


Hungarian higher education institutions vary in size and profile, and they operate different mentoring systems, in line with their specific needs and possibilities. The existing student support services also show a diverse picture, in terms of facilities, demands, and their development level. There are universities where the mentoring network has been working for more than a decade now, while in others, the system is just about to be launched. Depending on their level of experience, the universities have to face different challenges: while those who are just starting to implement mentoring services most importantly need to access a wide range of information about the upcoming tasks, pitfalls, and possibilities ahead, the more experienced institutions need to cope with the changing environment (e.g.: difficulties in credit transfer or the increasing number of international students).


The fact that 32 colleagues from 23 universities attended the event clearly show that the quality development of international student support services is a key issue in today’s higher education. Thanks to their diverse institutional background and experience, the partakers exchanged ideas and engaged in inspiring discussions about the different aspects of international mentoring. The various methods used during the workshop (e.g.: reviews, debate, presentations, group works, etc.) enabled the participants to gain a deeper understanding of the discussed topics.

    


During the mixed group work, the representatives of the universities shared their knowledge and experience with each other. The success of the event confirmed that there is a high demand for networking and collaborative learning opportunities among the university staff members who work in the field of international student services. Based on the positive feedback of the first workshop, similar professional events are likely to be organised in the future.


The second day of the workshop is scheduled for 6th December 2017, with focus on good practices and the different aspects of the mentor programmes, both at national and international level. Although the professional content of the workshops were originally designed to create a series of back-to-back sessions, new participants will also be able to join the second event as well.

The second workshop was held on 6th December, 2017 from 10:00 to 16:00 aiming at giving support to new mentor programmes as well as to the already functioning ones. The focuses of the event were the tasks in connection with good administration of the international students, the provided services, the occurring problems and the presentation of the national mentor programme’s best practices; furthermore, the applied organizational and operational solutions were also discussed.


The second workshop, being the continuation of the first occasion’s theme, targeted the everyday operation of the mentor programmes. 41 colleagues registered for the event from 18 higher education institutes, and most of them take part in the workshop.


During the first part of the workshop, the participants formed small groups and collected the tasks and problems from the field of administration of international students - from both the administrators’ and the students’ point of view. The created problem areas were then divided into the four following sections: academic administration of international students, general office administration, everyday life problems, and tasks and issues regarding institutional integration.

The most important conclusion of the small group work was that these four unique areas are extremely connected to each other. The academic and general office administrations overlap each other, such as the general office administration and the everyday life issues, and the institutional integration and academic issues. A general problem, affecting all four areas, is the lack of language knowledge. Unfortunately the colleagues do not have suitable English knowledge for the administration in many offices, during everyday issues, or even in academic administration. The language knowledge of the incoming students is often not sufficient also.


The second part of the workshop concentrated on the presentation and discussion of the best national practices in the field. The invited presenters from the University of Veterinary Medicine, the Corvinus University of Budapest, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics shared their mentor programmes’s main elements, organisational structure and principles of operation.


This part of the day was followed by further consideration of the problem areas created in the first section. Small groups were formed again to collect possible solutions for the problems, tasks identified previously. The groups were created randomly, which made it possible for the participants to work together spontaneously with similar staff with similar duties in other institutions; on the other hand, this heterogeneity made the exchange of the experiences and knowledge possible.


The discussions after the group works as well as the presentation of best practices deepened the process of networking, strengthened the intensive contact and facilitated the channels of informal knowledge share that has already started on the first workshop day.

At the event titled „Universities in Crossroads of National and Global Rankings” university leaders from Romania, Serbia and Hungary, the representatives of the International Ranking Expert Group as well as Hungarian and international ranking-experts discussed the correspondence between national and global rankings. Around fifty participants disputed lectures on the incompetence of global rankings to measure the performance of universities as well as on the fact that the position of the very same universities on the national ranking scales and the international ones are hardly comparable due to indicator differences. Nevertheless, the best universities are at the top of any ranking scale.

According to György Fábri, associate professor of Eötvös Loránd University (ELU) and initiator of the event, one of the most important idea was that the methodological problems of rankings as well as the demand for rankings decreases the value of global rankings, therefore, rankings by discipline and regional comparisons of institutions become widespread.

The participants welcomed the idea of organizing an international ranking-conference at ELU aimed at examining the rankings based on the performance of individual disciplines, and discussing the launch of regional European rankings.

The next phase of the project would be to arrange professional trainings and online information services for university colleagues working on rankings.

The Peer Learning Activity report is available here.

A Pear Learning Activity (PLA) was organised by the Tempus Public Foundation in the framework of the Campus Mundi project on the 6 December 2016 to examine structural and interpersonal approaches of a foreign student mentoring programmes.

The 25 participants of the event represented various institutions and come from different positions such as institutional mentoring programme coordinators, young professionals, representatives of the Hungarian Rectors' Conference and that of student unions. The PLA used the "World Cafe" method along with "Open Space" workshop techniques.

The same participants took part in both sessions. The intercultural mentoring programme was investigated systematically during the morning session, while in the afternoon session, participants worked on the preparation of a guide for student mentors.

In the first part of the programme, the participants worked on exploring problems connected to an intercultural mentoring programme. After summarising individually the eventual problems, these ideas were discussed in groups of five. Each group chose a different issue to present, such as motivation (facilitation) or sustainability (financing).

 

In the second round, the participants worked on the preparation of a student mentor guide. They discussed the responsibilities, skills, duties and opportunities related to mentoring an international student in groups and placed them on a timeline wall. Afterwards, they collected the most important experiences related to cultural differences, competencies, intercultural differences and general, but necessary information to a foreign student.

 

The PLA were useful for the involved experts and organizers as well. The host team could gather many real-life examples about the unsolved problems of mentoring programme and about the difficulties of foreign students coming to Hungary. The methodology of the workshop was a guarantee for useful discussions among the participants. According to the feedback, the deliberative technique helped to get to know the systems of other higher educational institutions and share their best practices.