Minor Programmes: Launch of the 1st EU-CONEXUS joint educational offer
EU-CONEXUS started its Minors courses on the 15th of January and welcomed its 220 first students during a virtual “Welcome Day” on the 19th of January.
The European University EU-CONEXUS, gathers six universities members in Europe: La Rochelle Université (France), Universidad Catόlica de Valencia (Spain), Zadar University (Croatia), Agricultural University of Athene (Greece), Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest (Romania) and the University of Klaipeda (Lithuania) and 3 Associated Partners: Waterford Institute of Technology (Ireland), Rostock University (Germany) and Frederick University (Cyprus). Created around the theme of Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability, the university aims to create joint study and research programmes.
Yesterday morning was held the ‘Welcome Day’ in a virtual session where Jean-Marc Ogier, EU-CONEXUS Chair and Isabella Baer-Eiselt, EU-CONEXUS Executive Director, welcomed the 220 students from the 6 partner universities of the two first editions of EU-CONEXUS Minor Programmes. Members of Student Board talked about the main objectives of EU-CONEXUS and students´ role in the project, as well as presented a series of activities and events planned for the students in the upcoming months. While e-meeting all Minor Officers, students had a chance to ask any questions about the programmes or the virtual mobility itself.
The two Minor Programmes are (1) Minor in Blue Economy and Growth and (2) Minor in Coastal Development and Sustainable Maritime Tourism. The Minors offer 19 courses in 10 thematic sectors and can be tailor-made and personalised in line with the students’ needs and interests.
The Welcome Day was also a chance for the students to get familiar with the virtual learning environment in a training session held by Jean-Christophe Burie, EU-CONEXUS Smart Campus manager. The EU-CONEXUS Smart Campus has adapted several ODL (Online distance learning) platforms for enabling virtual mobility and teaching for an international teacher and student community.
Each university named a Minor Officer who will be in charge of all the organisational aspects of students’ mobility as well as guiding them through their international experience with practical information. They were introduced during the event and students had the opportunity to interact with them.
The event was also the opportunity for some students to share shares their expectations and motivation for applying to EU-CONEXUS Minors.:
“I decided to apply for EU-CONEXUS Minor’s programme Coastal Development and Sustainable Maritime Tourism because it is related to my main specialisation of studies – Civil
Engineering – and I hope it will give me advanced knowledge about sustainable development and protecting the coastal areas.
I can gain a lot of skills and great experiences from being an EU-CONEXUS student and collaborating with students and professors from other universities from Europe. Completing the Minor program will certainly create career opportunities in an area that I might not have even thought about before enrolling in college, like Tourism or Coastal Constructions.”
Ilinca-Elena Urbaczek, UTCB 2nd year student, Faculty of Engineering in Foreign Languages
