European Format for Exchange of Social Security Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

European Format for Exchange of Social Security Education

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Open and distance learning

Project Summary

The EFESE project (European Format for the Exchange of Social Security Education) was conceived to respond to the absence of a truly comprehensive curriculum on social security; in other words, a curriculum that combines several disciplinary (e.g., law, economics, and social policy) and national perspectives into one EU-wide curriculum.

To develop a widely accessible, comprehensive and European curriculum, EFESE created a format for course design that could be virtually disseminated and exchanged between different European universities. The format fosters a blended learning approach and suggests a structure for blended courses. Blended learning combines online and residential learning; consequently, the physical mobility of teachers and students can be partially replaced by online mobility. This strategy decreases the financial and time constraints that usually come with ‘traditional’ mobility, partly enabling the participants to ‘be mobile while staying local’. Another advantage is that blended learning is a student- centred approach; the student progresses at his/her own pace and chooses the content and delivery method (e.g., video, text, PowerPoint, etc.) according to his/her individual background, needs, and interests.

Apart from testing and widely disseminating the format, EFESE also trained teaching staff (two intensive programmes) and launched an open access online manual on blended learning. Moreover, EFESE also offered two intensive programmes for learners (i.e., university students) in which the EFESE format was fully implemented. In total, the format was applied to the teaching practice in more than 20 cases.

The three project objectives (i.e., developing a joint format for virtual course exchange, building a joint curriculum and broadening academic and professional networks) were attained through several activities organised into six intellectual outputs:
IO1: Surveys of needs, expectations, best practices and evaluation amongst the organisations and participants involved.
IO2: IT development of a format as well as the selection of on-line tools for teacher-student interaction and an open on-line platform.
IO3: Specialized pedagogic and didactic support.
IO4: Feasibility study on the establishment of a fully recognized and accredited joint master degree in Social Security.
IO5: Joint curriculum building.
IO6: Dissemination and networking.

Initially, the project partners were the KU Leuven (Belgium), CECL (Greece), the University of Ljubljana-UL (Slovenia), and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark); the latter being replaced in January 2016 by the University of Groningen, RUG (Netherlands).

The impact of the project included the exchange of knowledge and expertise in the fields of blended learning and social security between various academic and research institutions. More specifically, the project set the basis for the exchange of educational material between universities and experts through the EFESE format, a joint curriculum in social security and a strong network. University students and researchers were able to increase their exposure to various European perspectives on social security through the virtual delivery of courses, assisting them to enhance their capabilities to work in an EU or international environment. Furthermore, the intensive training events had an impact on the knowledge and skills of teachers and students on issues surrounding blended learning and ICT methodologies. Professionals and policy makers benefited by actively being involved in the EFESE network, participating in the multiplier events and accessing the project outcomes.

The project made an innovative contribution to enhancing the concept of mobility towards the virtual dissemination of educational material. In the future, more and more academics and tutors can gradually benefit from the EFESE format by applying it to their teaching activities. Moreover, the joint curriculum proposed by EFESE can further be implemented as a joint programme allowing the involved universities to further enrich their educational relationships. The strong EFESE network, consisting of universities and research institutions, can enhance the base of expertise and can further disseminate the EFESE format throughout and beyond Europe. This will result in more organisations joining this initiative and more students and teachers enjoying the benefits of this innovative form of teaching.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 425685,74 Eur

Project Coordinator

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN & Country: BE

Project Partners

• CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
• UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
• RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN