Mobility Goes Virtual

Thanks to Mobility Goes Virtual (MGV), FIW bachelor students will once again have the opportunity to experience intercultural exchange at home in the summer semester of 2022 while improving their foreign language skills. Together with students from the "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute" (KhPI) of the National Technical University in Ukraine, they can take a virtual elective module (FWPM) with the thematic focus "Sustainability in Digitalisation–Green IT". The language of instruction will be English.

The aim of the overall project, which is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as part of the "International Virtual Academic Collaboration (IVAC)" programme with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), is to acquire digital and intercultural skills and to intensify the long-standing partnership between the two universities.

The joint virtual module will furthermore explore ways to make hardware and software solutions more sustainable. Within the joint course, students work together in international teams on a project basis and thus learn the basics of international project management. The course is led by two lecturers from each of the two universities, who supervise the thematic blocks for different units. A gamification approach is also pursued: as part of the module, students can, among other things, collect digital badges - digital certificates that visualise skills learned in the course of the module.

The module is rounded off by the visit of the Ukrainian participants to FHWS with a workshop and the final presentations by the teams. The FWPM will be integrated into the degree programme at both the German and Ukrainian universities and can therefore be fully credited. It is also intended to become a fixed component of the curricula beyond the summer semester of 2022, although the topics may vary depending on the subject area of the participating lecturers.

The first planning meetings between all involved at FHWS and KhPI have already taken place to define the project procedures and design the joint module.

An event is planned for the beginning of 2022 to present the module and the project partners to all those interested.