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European Co-Laboratory for the Integration of Virtual Mobility in Higher Education Innovation and Modernisation Strategies
The "European Co-Laboratory for the Integration of Virtual Mobility in Higher Education Innovation and Modernisation Strategies " (VMCOLAB) project was selected in 2012, and funded from 1 October 2012 until 31 January 2015 by the European Commission, under the Lifelong Learning programme – Erasmus –Multilateral projects - Mobility strategies and removal of barriers to mobility in higher education.
The VMCOLAB web site is at http://vmcolab.eu
Summary
Virtual mobility stands for “a set of information and communication technology supported activities, organized at institutional level, that realize or facilitate international, collaborative experiences in a context of teaching and or learning”. The aim of the VMCOLAB project was to contribute to the innovation and internationalisation of European Higher Education Institutions by exploiting the full potential of ICT and Virtual Mobility and broadening the access to international learning experience to all European students.
Concrete objectives of the project were to:
(1) Develop a Quality Assurance approach for Virtual Mobility
(2) Develop institutional awareness of the potential of Virtual Mobility for academic institutional cooperation and students’ access to international and multicultural learning
(3) Develop students’ awareness on opportunities and concerns offered by ICT to develop intercultural study
(4) Develop and test a set of mutual support services for HEIs willing to develop, pilot and integrate Virtual Mobility programmes
(5) Integrate Virtual Mobility in institutional academic contexts and enlarge the initial partnership to involve a significant number of HEIs and relevant associations/networks representatives of higher education stakeholders
Outcomes
VMCOLAB partners have delivered following outputs for different target groups:
For higher education institutions
- A Quality Assurance handbook for Virtual Mobility
- A Virtual Mobility Integration Kit
- Institutional Dissemination and Awareness Seminars
- VMCOLAB Co-Laboratory & LinkedIn group
For students
- A Students‟ Guide to Virtual Mobility
For policy makers
Furthermore, within the project, three virtual mobility pilot courses were organised set up: (1) a pilot on Water Management, led by KU Leuven; (2) a pilot on Open Educational Resources, led by Vytautas Magnus University; and (3) a pilot on Career Service Staff Training, led by the University of Padova.
Main conclusions and outcomes of the project are summarized in a publication on Virtual Mobility which is available in all partner languages.
Partners
- Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Belgium
- University of Granada – Spain
- United Nations University – Germany
- University of Padova – Italy
- University of Porto – Portugal
- Vytautas Magnus University – Lithuania
- Coimbra Group – Belgium
- University Polytehnica of Bucharest - Romania
Former members of the consortium: