This open Forum for Professionals, Researchers and Professors has been organized jointly by THUAS and UFV, in Madrid. Following the motto “Making Sustainability possible from the University and the Industry to theSociety” our aim is to create a space of dialogue between professionals and research professors.The results of the Conference should contribute to a better design of our University programs in order to include sustainability in the best and more practical manner. That should occur not only in the specificsubject but as a key part in other areas as HR, Finance, Marketing, Humanities, etc.
UNICA and THUAS have signed a MoU to work together as strategic partners and the visit was to promote the partnership and further deepen engagement between the two institutions at programme/Department level. The party consisted of Paul Nixon, Strategic Partnerships; Thomas Lodder (OKC); PatrickKemble (HRM); Patrizia Ronchi, Team leader (BFM); Anneloes van Dijk, Faculty Support (BFM); Marie Jose Weijerman (M & O); Dominique Darmon (M& O); Titus Spek (M&O); Theo Bosma, International Financial Management and Control (IFCM); Casper Verschoor (IFMC); Cees van Eck (IFMC); and Philippe van Puymbroeck (IFMC). They were also joined by Tiina Koskiranta Proaketemia, Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Business from TAMK. This allowed for tri-partite talks on entrepreneurship education that was most valuable. Following a general introduction to Strategic Partnerships, each participant had their own schedule of meetings. Cooperation activities have already begun in a number of areas.
THUAS staff Dr. Susana Menéndez, Jackie van Marle, Watte Zijlstra and Paul Nixon visited TAMK to discuss research potential between the two institutions and to strengthen and deepen relationships as strategic partners. They had very fruitful discussions with Ms. Hanna-Greta Puurtinen, Development Manager; Kirsi Viskari, Vice President, R&D and Innovations; Perttu Heino,Research Director; Tiina Koskiranta Proaketemia, Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Business; Juha Lahtinen, Senior Lecturer in Pedagogical Development; Petri Murtomäki, Project Manager Tampere Region Safety and Security Cluster; and Tarja Heinonen, Development Manager, Well-being R&D and Innovation Services.
Dr. Susana Menéndez and Paul Nixon of THUAS visited Francisco de Vitoria University to discuss research potential between the two institutions. After a campus tour with the International team,meetings were arranged with several representatives of different research groups -including the Vice-Rector of Research- dealing with Quality of Life, Entrepreneurship and Circular Economy.
Farah Coppola of THUAS spent two “awesome weeks” in Brno, as a Communication Skills teacher. She worked with PhD students from all faculties, from Social Sciences to Medical to Econometricstudents. The topics of her workshops included: Pitch your PhD, Personal Branding, Networking and Public Speaking. F. Coppola said that it was a very challenging experience to be in an environment where it is not customary to have a lot of interaction in class, where students are used to lectures instead of workshops. However, students were eager to step out of their comfortzone and actively participate. It was a great experience which she would recommend to any lecturer at THUAS (or beyond)!
Jo Drummond Child,Barrister in Law (College of Business, Law & SocialScience, University of Derby) taught an updated version of the Criminal Practice & Law (EU Focus) elective course at the University of Masaryk (MUNI) (Brno, Czech Republic) under the Erasmus+ programme. https://is.muni.cz/predmet/law/jaro2019/MVV189K?lang=en (click for course information).
The course took place in the Department of Financial Law and Economics – Faculty of Law and involved eight interactive lectures. The students feedback was excellent and Jo delivered an additional session to discuss the impact of Brexit.
While in Brno, Jo had the opportunity to meet visiting Law Professors from other universities cooperating with MUNI and also met with wider staff from the university: Jan Pavlik, Director of the Centre for International Cooperation; Michal Radvan, Vice-dean for Foreign and External Affairs, E+ Dept. Coordinator. During Jo’s first visit to the University of Masaryk she was impressed by the facilities and all the lecturers, staff and students she had the opportunity to meet.
After finishing with success the first virtual project between IT academics and students from both universities, profs. Gerda In´t Veld and Loes Trump visited Madrid in order to evaluate results and prepare next intake with UFV profs. Ignacio García, Alberto Fernández and Olga Peñalba, Dean of the Polytechnic School.
A delegation of 13 staff from THUAS visited Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) to expand current links and widen international activity. TAMK and THUAS have signed a MoU to work together as strategic partners and the visit was to promote the partnership and further deeper engagement between the two institutions at programme/ Department level. There have already been a number of visits. Both institutions have a history of bilateral cooperation including staff/student exchange agreements and some curriculum development and joint teaching initiatives. THUAS academic staff represented 4 different Faculties. The party was made up of: Paul Nixon, European Platform Co-ordinator; Theo Bosma, International Financial Management and Control (BFM); Petra Zanders, Policy Advisor (HRM); Patricia Dijcks and Erika Rob, Policy Advisors (OKC); Susanne van der Staaij, PolicyAdvisor (BFM); Gerline Lacroes, Yvonne Pronk-Dijkhuizenand Stefanie van Thuijl, Faculty Support Workers (BFM and M&O); Martijn Verheus, Faculty Director (M&O); Rudy van Hoven, academic in SWEducation; Antti Jylhä, academic in Comm. and Multi Media Design (ITD); Robert Adriani, academic in Intnal. Financial Management and Control (BFM).
The day finished with a guided tour of The Moomin Museum and a leisurely dinner in a nice restaurant in City Hall, where they were joined by 10 colleagues from TAMK. At the end of the productive visit a wrap up session took place, which identified many aspects of international partnership work that will take place next including a visit to The Hague and further staff exchange
Beatriz Duarte and José Peláez, director of the degree in Business Administration, visited THUAS in order to strengthen cooperation and to develop new projects, as a result of the previous visit of a THUAS delegation to Madrid inJanuary.
The spring annual meeting was hosted this time by University of Derby and attended by: Paul Nixon, European Platform Co-ordinator and Chair ofNetwork (The Hague University of Applied Sciences); Dr.Belén Navajas, Director of Internationalisation, and Clara Gartner, Head of International Office (University Francisco de Vitoria); Prof. Christian Rossi (University of Cagliari); Jan Pavlik, Director of theCentre for International Cooperation (MasarykUniversity); Kirsi Jokipakka, Head of International Services, and Camilla Kalevo, International Co-ordinator (Tampere University of Applied Sciences); Richard Side, Head of International, International Recruitment & Collaborations, and Emma Lister, Partnership Liaison Manager, International Recruitment & Collaborations (University of Derby). Additional attendance via Skype: Anne-Carolin Ahrbeg, Head of International Partnerships and Exchange (Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences) and Clémentine Arpiainen, Project Manager, International Strategic Partnerships and Continuous Learning (Tampere University of Applied Sciences). In the morning there was a tour of Kedleston Road campus, followed by a series of short Presentations on different aspects of the University of Derby (UoD) and where international collaborative work would be welcomed. A Networking Lunch took place to enable informal discussions with the presenters and further staff from the Collegeof Life and Natural Sciences (CLANS) and the International Recruitment and Collaborations (IRC) department. Different topics, ideas, proposals and projects were discussed, and several actions were fixed, in order to deepen the results of the strategic partnership.
