Erasmus+ International Staff Week hosted at the Open University of Cyprus

The Mobility Office of the Open University of Cyprus (OUC) has organized a successful Erasmus+ International Staff Week between 26 and 30 July 2021, with the aim of expanding cooperation with foreign universities, and to exchange ideas, know-how and best practices between faculty and staff of OUC and the incoming participants to the Staff Week. Five (5) members of academic and administrative staff of three (3) Universities of Ukraine (Mariupol State University, National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, and Kyiv National Linguistic University) participated in the Staff Week, which was organized in the framework of the Erasmus+ International Mobility action. All measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 disease were taken.

The participants had the opportunity, through presentations and workshops, to acknowledge the significant prospects and benefits of distance education. The training week included presentations by OUC Faculty members concerning the University’s educational methodology and academic support provided to OUC students, while administrative staff gave presentations on Students and Programmes of Study Support, Research, Innovation and Liaison with the Business World, OUC Library, Human Resources, as well as issues related to International Relations, Development and Communication. The Laboratory of Educational Material and Methodology and the eClass and Digital Content Management Sector of the Open University of Cyprus also the OUC eLearning Platform and the innovative eLearning tools used by OUC. Incoming participants and the OUC staff had the opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas and reflections on the challenges faced by conventional universities in the implementation of distance education during the previous academic year, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. OUC also hosted a representative of Foundation for the Management of European Lifelong Learning Programmes, who presented the opportunities for cooperation between the European Union and Third Countries under the Erasmus+ Programme. The organization of successful Erasmus+ International Staff Weeks at the Open University of Cyprus, with the wide participation of staff of foreign Universities, contributes significantly to the development of student and staff mobility activities and expands the horizons for cooperation and communication with foreign universities.