U!REKA European University is launching the Staff Training Programme, a set of training sessions for and by partner institutions. The training sessions focus on three competence clusters: digital, green and inclusive competences. They are open to all staff at the U!REKA universities of applied sciences: teachers, researchers, administrative and support staff, etc.
The choice for a training programme focusing on digital, green and inclusive skills is closely linked to U!REKA’s vision and values. But at the same time the topics are broadly interpreted and thus allow to tackle a wide range of subjects in terms of content, ensures Liesbet Gevaert, educational developer at HOGENT:
‘For example, in the digital skills theme, you can focus on the opportunities and risks of AI, which is rather content- and knowledge-oriented, but there are just as many courses with a more practical angle: e.g. how can you efficiently make use of multimedia to make your lessons more interactive and dynamic?’
Added value
The current U!REKA Staff Training Programme is a collection of workshops and formation already available within the various partner institutions, but often in the country’s language and not in English (which is the case for most U!REKA Staff Trainings).
This raises the question of what the added value would be of offering these courses under the U!REKA banner. For Liesbet Gevaert, however, this is clear: ‘Simply the participation of partners from outside your own institution, is very enriching: they bring their own knowledge and experiences, which makes the input and insights grow. Don’t forget that there are cultural differences between partners too, and this sometimes manifests itself in the way they deal with in-service training.’
Ecosystem
Eva Haug, who contributed to the setting up of the Staff Training Programme on behalf of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, agrees: ‘It’s not just about the training in itself. It’s about creating an ecosystem. For example, a workshop on how to organise a COIL – Collaborative Online International Learning – is much more than a teacher’s matter: it also requires IT-professionals, colleagues who are familiar with international partnerships, etc. A similar example is the Teaching in International Classrooms workshop: obviously it covers pedagogical and didactic topics that are primarily of interest to the teacher, but there is much more involved that requires the input of many other colleagues besides the teacher.’
Eva points out that training is about much more than knowledge transfer: ‘Course participants generally feel the need to exchange ideas and experiences, definitely in an international context. This creates a network. As a result, the training courses do not stand alone, but are an impetus to learn from each other, to detect needs and respond to them with our training programme. In that respect, the Staff Training Programme is actually the foundation for a learning community. At least, that’s what I dream of,’ she says laughingly.
To check the Staff Training Programme, press the button on this webpage. This programme will be constantly supplemented and updated based on feedback and new needs.
