Internationalising university education: Erasmus+ International Staff Training Week at the Politecnico
From May 22nd to May 26th Politecnico di Torino hosted the Erasmus+ International Staff Training Week 2023, bringing together partner universities from all over the world. The event was organized by the Innovation and Development of Education Unit of STUDI Department with the aim to enhance the participants’ competences in the internationalization of higher education. Core topics of the event were the Erasmus+ 2021-27 programme, its Horizontal Priorities, especially Inclusion and Diversity and Environment and Climate Change, and Innovation in Teaching.
The event was attended by 24 administrative and academic delegates of 17 PoliTo partner universities coming from 10 Non-EU countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Canada, Colombia, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, South Africa, Uzbekistan.
The delegates participated in three interactive workshops focused on the Erasmus+ Programme, Inclusion and Diversity, Innovation in Teaching and Language Teaching, led by different units of PoliTo STUDI Department: the Innovation and Development of Education Unit, the International Mobility Unit, the LIFE Division, the Special Needs Unit, the Teaching and Language Center.
The workshops stressed the transversal nature of the topics discussed and fostered the exchange of best practices among the different local contexts of the participating universities. PoliTo Sustainability Division also contributed to the training week presenting PoliTo policies for sustainability and guiding the guests in a thematic tour of the practical sustainability actions implemented on campus.
The week was opened with the speeches of David Chiaramonti, Vice Rector for International Affairs, Alberto Godio, Rector's Advisor for Student Mobility and Erasmus+, and Elisa Armando, International Relations Senior Domain Expert. The workshop on the Inclusion initiatives implemented by PoliTo was attended by Arianna Montorsi, Rector's Advisor for Gender Equality and Diversity, while the workshop on Innovation in Teaching was opened by the speech of Fulvio Corno, Rector’s Advisor for Teaching Technologies. The presentations by the partner universities on their inclusion and teaching innovation actions allowed to share and exchange good practices on the above-mentioned topics. The event was closed with the speech of the Rector’s Delegate for International Relations with China and Asian Countries, Michele Bonino.
The presence of the partner universities at PoliTo offered to several faculty members a valuable networking opportunity. Further to this, those PoliTo students who will perform an Erasmus+ mobility in the next academic year had the chance to meet the representatives of their future hosting universities in person. During the week, the training activity was complemented by guided visits of the PoliTo main campus, the historic seat of the Valentino Castle and the city of Torino.
The participants appreciated the quality and the organization of the training activities and considered them very useful for their professional enhancement and for strengthening the relations between institutions. Many of them, on their first visit of the Politecnico, also greatly appreciated the city of Torino and PoliTo as a valuable destination for their exchange students.
The Erasmus+ International Staff Training Week 2023 was made possible thanks to the funding available in the frame of the EU Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (KA107) project financed by the Italian Erasmus+ National Agency INDIRE. All participants were granted an Erasmus+ scholarship for Staff Training mobility.