Study & Teaching

The project aims to build up a portfolio of nine international SDG projects in blended mobility format, combining virtual project work with short-term physical stays abroad. In transnational projects with foreign partner universities from France, Luxembourg, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Great Britain, Israel, Jordan and Rwanda, students work in internationally composed teams on a real sustainability challenge of a practical partner. The topics range from strengthening sustainability in the tourism and fashion industry to sustainability solutions in the healthcare and water sectors to promoting social entrepreneurship and sustainable construction methods in developing countries. In this way, the students not only strengthen their professional competences with regard to sustainability, but also acquire important 21st century skills for the internationally shaped labour market.

Further information on the 9 model projects can be found in the fact sheets.

Virtual international guest lectures by university and practice partners from industry, business, and society broaden international perspectives in teaching in a simple but very effective way. They also strengthen the network of students and teachers and the trans-sectoral exchange of knowledge. In order to strenghten SDG-driven teaching, the project will therefore award annual cross-departmental honorary funds for virtual guest lectures from 2023 onwards.

In addition, two four-week guest lectureships in the field of sustainability will be funded annually at Trier University of Applied Sciences between 2022-2025. These make an essential contribution to the expansion of English-language teaching and international methods and are also intended to provide systematic incentives for the internationalization of teaching: This can range from the development of a module with transnational exchanges as part of the curriculum, to the possibility of structured student exchange, to the prospect of establishing a double degree program. The current call for applications for the year 2022 runs until 08.05.2022. Please use the application form for this purpose.

One project goal is to develop a training concept for international (digital) teaching and education for sustainable development. This training concept has teachers, curriculum developers, and course coordinators as well as young academics as the target group. The training series consists of four modules:

• Intercultural Communication in Hybrid Teaching Settings
• Teaching in English: Fundamentals of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
• Method Training for the International Classroom: Virtual Exchange & Blended Mobility
• SDGs and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): activating teaching methods and sustainable teaching content

Teachers who participate in at least three of the four modules and subsequently develop a concept for a new international course as a final project receive the overall Micro-Degree. It is also possible to take only individual modules according to interest. The training series thus aims to ­sustainably ­strengthen ­international teaching and the ­integration of SDG-related teaching content into the curricula, as well as the use of student-centered, digital formats. You may find the detailed course description and the application form in the download area.

As a way of complementing the training series, an e-learning area is being set up with a toolbox­, video tutorials, ­and recommended actions for implementing virtual international teaching collaborations. Moreover, the project team ­advises all ­interested teachers on the formats of Virtual Exchange and Blended Mobility. It also supports you in finding the right partners, developing your international teaching idea and searching for suitable funding instruments­.

Within the project framework, funds totaling €20,000 are available between 2022-2025 to provide financing for promising new international projects. The three cross-cutting themes of "internationalisation", "digitalisation" and "sustainability" are to be considered together. In the "Teaching Cooperations" call for proposals, annual funding of a maximum of €2,000 will be awarded for international teaching cooperations which:

• include digital elements (virtual exchange, blended mobility, development of international digital modules, etc.)
• strengthen sustainability competencies by focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and/or Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

All teachers at Trier University of Applied Sciences are eligible to apply. For the exact eligibility criteria, please refer to the call for proposals and send your application for the year 2022 by 04.03.2022 to: haw.international@hochschule-trier.de. Please use the application form provided.

Applications will be reviewed and selected by a selection committee according to the following selection criteria: relevance, innovation content, reference to the SDGs, the strength of the methodological-didactic concept and the interweaving of virtual synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning phases with attendance phases, the strength of the consortium and integration of strategic university and practice partners, international added value for the department and the university as a whole, and sustainability of the concept.