I2AGORA

1.Information

LLP project: “International Internship AGORA – I2AGORA”, Project number 511784-LLP-1-2010-1-HU-KA4-KA4MP

Director: Diana ANDONE
Value: 59.201 EURO
Period: 2011-2012

Members: Prof.dr.eng. Radu VASIU

Partners:
University of Miskolc, Hungary
European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU), Netherlands
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Timisoara Software Incubator (UBIT), Romania
National Distance Education University (UNED), Madrid, Spain
Open University, Heerlen, Netherlands
Tallinn University, Estonia
Chamber of Commerce and Industry Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Miskolc, Hungary
Euro-Contact Business School, Budapest, Hungary

Project web page: http://edu.uni-miskolc.hu/

2.Objectives

Universities of the 21st Century are expected to reconsider their relationship with both the regional and global economy. Practical placement may act as an important pillar of it, as well as a multifunctional tool for improving the employability of graduates. While flexibility of course delivery and physical/virtual mobility have received quite a lot of attention, leading to widely available good practice cases/guidelines, in contrast much less focus has been directed toward the improvement of flexibility and internationalization of practical placements.

The prime objective of the I2AGORA project is to open up synergic potential between EU projects, focused on this challenging area. Survey, systematization and synthetisation of previously implemented and running relevant projects will follow a 3*3 dimensional approach – a “Magic Cube” of Virtual Internship Programs – involving:

• vertical dimensions – periods of internship in chronological order, (pre-, implementation and post-internship activities),
• horizontal dimensions – pedagogical patterns, technological tools and methodological models, as elements of the “educational” approach,
• layers of actors/stakeholders: students, universities, enterprises and intermediaries/multipliers

Special pilot “Internship2.0” programs will be announced and managed by the partners – students from all over EU will be involved in different development activities.

I2AGORA will deliver:

• multilingual Intern-Gateway as a one-stop access point to virtual internship projects, guidelines, etc. (2) IdeAgora – a web-based meeting point for sharing ideas and solutions within the Community of Practice
• versatile support in using ICT-based, modern working environment by all stakeholders,
• a multiplication of the impact by “Employability Cliniques” events with proven showcases;
• a confrontation of conventional placement assumptions with flexible models, leading to recommendations for European policy.