The first KEC session of 2023 took place on January 25th on the topic of opportunities and challenges of teaching mobility. Three academics from three different countries shared their experiences and solutions to overcome issues, such as the imbalance between East-West and North-South of Europe, administrative and financial hurdles, or the ever growing publication pressure, that render the organisation and participation in teaching mobility challenging.
Chairing the discussion, Dr Gabor Szalkai, from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, shared both positive and some rather disappointing experiences from his many journeys within the programme, as well as presented best practices for establishing long-term cooperation and quality teaching mobility activity. Ana Dudek, from the University of Warsaw in Poland, discussed the benefits of participation in teaching mobility and interdisciplinary teaching, such as improving teaching methods, addressing difficult topics more effectively and creatively, and finding new research topics. She also mentioned some of the difficulties, such as finding classes for incoming academics, strict rules when signing Inter-institutional Agreements for Erasmus+, small number of motivated academics to take part in the programme and limitations in combining mobility with other activities (like research, or field trips). Kostyantyn Mezentsev, from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in Ukraine, addressed three relevant questions: the asymmetry between Western and Eastern institutions and between incoming and outgoing mobility; the importance of research-based teaching mobility; and the emphasis on quality over quantity, with the goal to establish a knowledge base.
During the discussion, participants from member universities shared their own practices, motivations, as well as recurring barriers, including lack of appropriate funding, language competency, heavy and slow bureaucracy, and limited availability of places due to high demand, especially for partner countries.
The second part of the Knowledge Exchange session spotlighting teaching mobility will take place on the 9th February, where we will discuss further challenges in teaching mobility and focus on the new blended formats. For more information and registration, please click here.
Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash