Developing practical competences in German Studies Curricula Erasmus Project

Project Title

Developing practical competences in German Studies Curricula

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality and Relevance of Higher Education in Partner Countries; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The Department of German Studies at Vienna University, the Department of German, Dutch and Scandinavian Studies at Comenius-University Bratislava and the Department of German Studies at Szeged University have already successfully collaborated in a series of twinning programs (ERASMUS, CEEPUS) and research projects (FWF, MTA, TÁMOP).

Such cooperation included, already before and above all after Bologna, teaching and exchange of ideas on goals and contents of the discipline and curricula. Beecause of discipline changes and developments in university teaching philosophy, the need of modernization has increased from year to year. The requested project will continue this work and add new objectives. In the last years, German studies have moved away from the confinement on the medium “text” resp. the narrow literary canon and made a pragmatic turn. A practical orientation came to the fore. At the same time, literary and cultural studies have revised philological research.

The goal of the project is to extend substantially and methodically the existing curricula of German and Austrian Studies at the universities of Vienna, Bratislava, and Szeged. The scope of the project is to develop materials apt to broaden and to internationalize curricula. The project will foster students’ media and practical philological competences such as dealing with source material, editing, digital editing, and translating.

The project will focus on central European cultures in the period between 1848 and 1948. It will especially deal with processing cultural and political crises in different media. The concern with radical historical changes is topical. Currently, cultural continuities are being contested and supporter of a shared European identity are being challenged to legitimize their values. The substance of the project complies with this situation. In reviewing materials dealing with disruptions, discontinuities, and crisis management, it will cross national and cultural borders. The search of materials will aim at strategies of communication of these crises during important transition years such as „1848“, „1867“, „1873“, „1918/19“, „1945“ and concentrate on contemporary journalism. Concurrent with the international profile of the project, cross-border and comparative materials will be chosen, considering especially echoes of incisive events in the neighbouring countries. The work will be based on the concept of cultural transfer that looks on culture and international exchange as a constructive, open process.

The project addresses BA and MA students of German Studies at the three partner universities as well as teachers at these departments. In total, during the three years of the project approximately 300 students and 7 teachers will be involved.
Activities in the scope of the project are divided in the following stages: planning – development – implementation – evaluation – sustainability. After the conception of the thematic framework (historical crises, forms of representation of crisis-awareness, strategies of crisis resolution), the project partners will look for adequate materials and enhance them didactically. The materials will be published on a web platform. This platform will also be used to present materials digitally edited specifically for the purpose of the project. Thus, the project will tie in the field of Digital Humanities. The materials and modules will be used in German Studies teaching in Vienna, Szeged, and Bratislava. As a part of the project, a winter school focusing on digital editing and lasting one week will take place in Vienna. The project will be consulted and evaluated by an advisory board. The results of the project will be presented at the German Studies departments in Vienna, Szeged, and Bratislava in order to ensure a long-term implementation of its results. The practical substantial and methodical extensions will be integrated in the German and Austrian Studies curricula in Vienna, Szeged, and Bratislava.
During the project, in all three participating universities the materials developed in the project will be utilised in two rounds of courses. After the end of the project, teachers at Vienna, Szeged, and Bratislava universities will continue to use these materials as well as to exchange ideas and share experiences.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 150760 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT WIEN & Country: AT

Project Partners

• UNIVERZITA KOMENSKEHO V BRATISLAVE
• SZEGEDI TUDOMANYEGYETEM