About the Project Partners
The project partners involved in VERSATILE are members of The Hague Network, a European network of universities that share the same commitment to internationalisation, established in 2017.
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Our Story
The VERSATILE project was born from the cooperation within the Hague Network. The goal of The Hague Network is to share capabilities and best practices and jointly develop new initiatives in higher education internationalisation. Network partners have, with the use of ERASMUS KA103 funds, increased the volume of student exchange as well as teaching and staff exchange. Regular meetings are held at a strategic level between members of the respective executive boards, between academic staff and internationalisation professionals. The efforts of the network have also resulted in joint conferences on internationalisation, joint curriculum development, as well as an online news and communication platform and newsletter.
The VERSATILE project extends existing practices initiated by the partners to immediately meet the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic – “The Hague Virtual Exchange Semester” – an online teaching project which started in the Spring Semester 2021. Within The Hague Virtual Exchange Semester, each university offers a single online course that students may take and transfer ECTS to their home university.
The goal of VERSATILE is to develop the building blocks necessary to develop a full online study semester focusing on ‘European Scenarios in Business, Politics and Societal Change for the Next decennium’ offered jointly by the four participating partners. Instead of offering single online courses, partners will develop a thematically coherent set of jointly taught modules. This will require both academics and administrators at the participating institutions to create a common toolbox of appropriate online teaching methods, a curriculum of jointly developed courses that reflect the academic expertise and specialisations of the partners, and to build a transnational administrative infrastructure to ensure the smooth delivery of the online semester abroad. The thematic focus of the semester allows the curriculum to be developed further, to incorporate recent developments and to trigger the interests of students in challenges that Europe is facing in different fields of study.
Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences
Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences stands for a modern, interdisciplinary, international and practical oriented education of young people. With 6700 students, half of whom are international students, Rhine-Waal is one of the most international universities in Germany.
Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences was founded in 2010 and offers 26 undergraduate degree programmes and eleven graduate programmes across four faculties and two campuses in Kleve and Kamp-Lintfort. The programmes cover a broad range of topics from the natural sciences, economics, engineering and technology, the humanities, social and health sciences.
As a university of applied sciences, the focus of the degree programmes lies on practical applications.
Over 70 percent of the degree programmes are taught exclusively in English and is of course one important aspect of the university’s successful internationalisation efforts. International collaboration is a strength of Rhine-Waal, reflected in our partnerships with over 90 universities in 38 countries.
Tampere University of Applied Sciences
Tampere University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest and most popular universities of applied sciences in Finland. Our strengths are multidisciplinary education, creativity, and a strong international dimension.
TAMK is a professional higher education institution oriented towards working life and RDI co-operation. We place special emphasis on technology, wellbeing services, business administration, and culture. TAMK’s quality system has been audited by the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre.
TAMK offers a wide repertoire of studies in English: from bachelor’s and master’s degrees to exchange studies and continuing education. TAMK’s professional expertise, students’ fresh ideas and partners’ development needs meet in our research, development and innovation activities. We collaborate both with private companies and with public organisations to apply research. We use Living Labs, real life test environments in our projects.
Masaryk University
Masaryk University is one of the most prestigious and respected higher education institutions in Central Europe. With over 35,000 students, it is also the second largest university in the Czech Republic.
Masaryk University, bearing the name of the first Czechoslovak president T. G. Masaryk, was founded in the 2nd largest city of the Czech Republic, Brno, in 1919. In nearly 100 years of its existence, Masaryk University has succeeded in educating over 170,000 graduates, who have excelled in many fields and in many countries around the world. According to regular surveys, 98% of Masaryk University graduates find employment in their field.
In 2010 Masaryk University became the first Czech institution to hold the European Credit Transfer System Label, a certificate issued by the European Commission as proof of the university’s high educational standards and a guarantee of the correct implementation of the credit system in all Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes. Adoption of this system helped support the internationalisation efforts, which resulted in an increase in the number of international students, who now make up about 20 % of all students.
University of Derby
Located in the heart of England with roots dating back to 1851, the University of Derby has built on the region’s heritage of innovation to provide industry-relevant, expert teaching.
The University’s academic strength is backed up by industry experience to ensure students are ready for a successful career. Many of its academic staff are practicing professionals who combine academic knowledge with a wealth of industry experience to ensure students gain the practical skills and experience employers are looking for. The University’s strong industry links, expert academics and real-world classroom facilities equip and prepare students to fulfil their potential, whatever their background. They University was named University of the Year at the UK Social Mobility Awards 2020 and Higher Education Institution of the Year at the 2020 NEON (National Education Opportunities Network) Awards.
The University is home to more than 2,000 international students from over 100 countries studying at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. It is proud to be the UK’s best modern university for multi-cultural learning and top 10 in the world for international student learning experience, (ISB 2018), as well as number 11 for postgraduate student experience (Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey 2021).
The University is part of a thriving multicultural Derbyshire region that is renowned for technology and innovation, and is home to a wide range of industries, with many global companies based here, including Rolls-Royce, Toyota and Bombardier. It’s an exciting place to learn and experience university life, providing students with many opportunities to gain real world experience through placements and internships.