New impulses for international teaching Online Symposium on 18 and 19 November at TU Braunschweig
The internationalisation of teaching at universities has been transformed by the Corona pandemic. Mobility programmes had to be cancelled, but at the same time teaching staff and students have found new ways of international exchange through creative (digital) solutions. Now it is time to reflect on these experiences and rethink internationalisation for future university teaching. To this end, the Project House of Technische Universität Braunschweig is organising an online symposium on 18 and 19 November 2021.
The event aims to create space for the exchange and discussion of ideas, experiences and best practices in the field of international teaching and to contribute to the networking of teaching staff, students and employees from the fields of didactics and internationalisation within TU Braunschweig and with other universities.
The focus is particularly on aspects of the internationalisation of university teaching beyond physical mobility, which can be found at the intersection of digitalisation and internationalisation. During the pandemic, some students participated in online lectures in their host country from their home country. Students from TU Braunschweig, for example, worked on the topics of digitalisation and social inequality together with students from Mumbai in an online lecture in the summer semester of 2021.
While virtual mobility has many advantages, it is not a complete replacement for physical mobility and is understood as a complementary offer. Mixed forms are also conceivable, which are summarised under the term “blended mobility”.
Photo credit: Saskia Andreas/TU Braunschweig
The programme
The symposium will open on Thursday, 18 November at 6 pm on the conference platform “trember” with a welcome address by TU President Prof. Angela Ittel and a keynote speech on “Rethinking internationalisation at home after the pandemic: moving beyond misconceptions” by Dr. Jos Beelen from The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS, Netherlands).
Dr Jos Beelen is Professor of Global Learning at THUAS and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Global Learning at Coventry University in England. He is also chair of the Internationalisation at Home expert community of the European Association for International Education (EAIE).
On Friday, 19 November, participants can look forward to a varied programme on the topic of international teaching from 9.00 a.m. onwards. After the workshop “Out of the Box: unpacking the international dimension” by Claudia Bulnes, Lecturer in Spanish and International Policy Advisor in the Global Citizenship and Internationalisation Team of The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS), a total of ten panels on the topics “International Teaching Cooperation”, “Methods & Tools”, “International Study Programmes” and “Internationalisation@home” are planned in three time slots from 12.15 to 5.30 pm.
The complete programme is available on the symposium website.
Presentation of new projects
A total of 30 projects from TU Braunschweig and other universities in Germany will introduce themselves. Among them are English-language degree programmes such as Computational Sciences in Engineering (CSE) and Data Science as well as already successfully implemented teaching cooperations and new projects planned for the coming semester. The project “MoonRide – Modern electrochemistry – From fundamentals and energy applications to interactive and virtual endeavours”, for example, adds another chapter to the long-standing strategic partnership between the University of Rhode Island (USA) and TU Braunschweig.
Prof. Daniel Schröder from the Institute of Energy and Process Systems Engineering and his partner Prof. Arijit Bose from the College of Engineering at the University of Rhode Island are jointly organising a purely virtual course on the basic principles and potential uses of electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems for Master’s students and doctoral students from the departments of Chemistry, Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering.
What does internationalisation (really) offer?
The symposium will conclude with the panel discussion, which will take place on Friday, 19 November, from 6 to 7.30 p.m. in the Haus der Wissenschaft and will be streamed for the audience on TU Braunschweig’s YouTube channel and via “trember”. It will be moderated by Dr. Angela Borgwardt, a political scientist and journalist from Berlin.
Together with TU President Prof. Angela Ittel and other guests, she will discuss the question: “What does internationalisation (really) offer? Potentials and challenges”. Invited are Dr Henriette Finsterbusch, Head of International University Relations at RWTH Aachen University (TU Braunschweig alumni), Daniela Gröschke, Professor of Intercultural Human Resources and Organisational Development at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Luca Kienel from the board of the AStA of TU Braunschweig and Alexander Knoth, Head of Digitalization at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Free participation
Participation in the online symposium is free of charge and open to everyone interested: The event is aimed at professors, teaching staff, students and university employees of TU Braunschweig and other universities. Registration is possible until Tuesday, 16 November. The link and further information on the event will be sent in advance by e-mail.