Projects for the Internationalisation of Curricula
From October 2016 to September 2021, the project "Göttingen Model of Internationalisation of Curricula" was funded by central study quality funds (SQM). A total of 36 teaching development projects have been carried out in different faculties. The project focused on purposefully linking the internationalisation of curricula and digitisation.
Academics were supported by the central project team, the Digital Learning and Teaching unit, and the SUB video team in developing blended learning or online units that could be used flexibly and sustainably, and in testing their initial use in teaching. Before the pandemic, around 70 guest lecturers from various nations (including, for example, Australia, China, India, South Africa, USA, Great Britain, Italy, Slovenia or Sweden) were invited, who were involved in curriculum development and were available for video impulses, for example in the form of short lectures, expert discussions and learning videos. As experts on the respective topic, the guest teachers provided insights into local conditions, explained socio-cultural, economic, political or religious phenomena from their perspective or facilitated comparative approaches to a research question. After post-production, these audiovisual learning materials were supplemented with additional materials, tasks and (self-)assessments as well as interaction possibilities. These units are now - depending on the teaching project - linked to specific, regularly offered elective or compulsory courses or can be used flexibly, in part also across disciplines and faculties, in the contexts of different courses to support teaching and promote "Internationalisation at Home". In total, more than 130 learning units with approximately 300 learning videos have been created.
In the context of the project, eight
The following externally funded projects build on the experiences of the SQM-funded project "Göttingen Model of Internationalisation of Curricula" and support teachers in integrating an intercultural and international perspective into teaching content as well as learning and examination scenarios. They enable the further development of existing teaching-learning offers as well as the development of new formats:
IVAC (International Virtual Academic Collaboration)Within the framework of the DAAD call IVAC (International Virtual Academic Collaboration), the University of Göttingen has been awarded funding for the project "Changing Perspectives - Global Learning: Intercultural Experiences and Interdisciplinary Diversity" from September 2020 to September 2021. "Perspectives Change" built on the experiences gained in the project "Internationalisation of Curricula" and has contributed to strengthening international partnerships. Digital cooperation formats were developed together with academics from partner universities in Italy, Serbia, Hungary, Canada, China and India and integrated into the curriculum. In addition, the IVAC Festival was held in this context and a digital badge was piloted.
As one of nine universities, the University of Göttingen has successfully applied with ENLIGHT to the European Universities Initiative. The central idea of the European University ENLIGHT is a transformation of higher education as well as innovation in research to promote sustainability, global engagement and a quality of life based on fair distribution. Members of the network include the University of Göttingen, the Universities of Bordeaux, Galway, Ghent, Groningen, Tartu and Uppsala, the University of the Basque Country and the Comenius University in Bratislava. Like hardly any other network, ENLIGHT reflects the geographical, economic, social, cultural and linguistic diversity of Europe, which is reflected in flexible, inclusive, international study opportunities with a high degree of mobility. An essential part of the project is the cooperation across national borders while focusing on the local environment. Five priority areas are at the forefront: climate change, health and well-being, social inequality, the digital revolution, and energy and circularity.
Rethinking international cooperation and seeing digitisation as an opportunity has become especially important, because of the current situation with the COVID-19 crisis. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) intends to support the universities in this process with the programme "International Mobility and Cooperation through Digitalisation" (IMKD). The project "liveSciences³ - Transnational and Digital Linked Life Sciences" is one of six projects nationwide that were selected from a total of more than 70 applications and will receive DAAD IMKD funding totalling around 2.2 million euros for a period of three years starting in April 2020. For the liveSciences³ project, the University of Göttingen, together with its international partner universities in Chile, Costa Rica, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, has designed a comprehensive set of interlinked digital measures in order to simplify the Student International Journey through digital services and to enrich it through digitally supported transnational teaching and learning opportunities..