Virtual Exchange

As defined in the UNIC Handbook on Virtual and Physical Mobility, Virtual Exchange is "a form of virtual mobility characterised by particularly intensive interaction between teachers and students across the border of at least two countries".

Virtual Exchange aims at uniting students from different universities virtually in collaborative tasks and supporting them in the discussion of specific topics, the exchange of ideas or the joint generation of a product and its presentation.

Virtual exchange is embedded into regular teaching activities, so can be slotted into an existing module or classes.

UNIC supports teaching and learning staff to internationalise their classes via virtual exchange. Take a few minutes to see how UCC’s Dr James Kapaló transformed his Study of Religions module, Dignified Spaces in a Plural Europe: 

Dignified Spaces: A UNIC Virtual Exchange Module - YouTube

Regular free online workshops guide staff on how to set up Virtual Exchange in their own module. See our Latest Updates section for the next upcoming session, or email unic@ucc.ie.

Staff Visits

Staff visits and job shadowing take place under Erasmus+ funding and other funding, allowing UCC academic and professional staff to develop skills and collaborations with UNIC partners. Erasmus+ staff visits are co-ordinated via the International Office, but the UNIC core team can help to link UCC staff with potential host colleagues across the consortium.

See our Staff Opportunities page for specific staff events across UNIC partners, or email unic@ucc.ie.

Check out this summary of a UCC group’s experience at the University of Lodz international staff week: UCC Staff Attend University of Lodz International Staff Week.

Lifelong Learning Workshops

UNIC’s Lifelong Learning Workshops, held online, respond to the growing demands and expectations on universities and the need to respond to social and economic developments.

Universities, as educational entities, are increasingly challenged to develop new ways that work towards inclusion across a whole spectrum of diverse groups in its towns, cities and rural areas.

UNIC partners recognised a need for dialogue, collaboration and international exchanges of tried and tested approaches, new initiatives, and methods around Lifelong Learning.

All partners shared a desire to improve marketable skills among groups, fostering understanding between them, while working to break down any social and cultural barriers which might inhibit the development of a flourishing intercultural society.

Successful workshops held so far have covered subjects ranging from autism to microcredentials, adaptive learning, job-seeking and entrepreneurship, as well as advancing inclusion in Learning Cities. Any upcoming workshops or events will be advertised in the News and updates section.

Academic Collaborations

UNIC offers a ready-made network for academics to connect with their peers for research, publications and networks. Some successful initiatives include the EU-funded TESTEd project (featuring three UNIC partners) and a range of Engaged Research projects supported by UNIC for Engaged Research (UNIC4ER) seed funding. UNIC4ER is itself a funded partnership between UNIC universities in support of Engaged Research. Read more about UNIC4ER on the UNIC site: Research (unic.eu).

Through UNIC, UCC also gains membership to prestigious research networks, such as IMISCOE, the largest interdisciplinary network of researchers in the field of migration. https://www.imiscoe.org/  

Contact the UNIC team at unic@ucc.ie if you want to establish connections to academic colleagues in our partner institutions. 

Find out more about the research strengths of UNIC partners: https://www.unic.eu/en/universities.

Joint Programmes

Joint degree programmes allow a number of UNIC partners to deliver a degree course, enabling students to study and live in a range of universities. 

Redesigning the Post-Industrial City MSc (RePIC) is the first degree course to be implemented. RePIC is a two-year, English-taught Master's programme jointly designed and delivered by eight UNIC partners – where the ambition is to build a vibrant knowledge and innovation community committed to the rethinking of more sustainable urban futures.

RePIC fosters transformative modes of teaching, research, and learning - responding to the specific challenges and characteristics of post-industrial cities and their increasingly super-diverse populations. RePIC is led in UCC by staff from Cork Centre for Architectural Education (CCAE) and the School of Geography.

Read more about RePIC: Redesigning the Post-Industrial City - Master’s programme (unic.eu).

Digital Mobility Tools

UNIC has developed integral digital mobility tools to connect students across UNIC, facilitate inter-university processes and align UNIC’s activity with EU-recognised standards.

The UNIC virtual campus is a portal which, when launched, will give an overview of all courses and joint programmes that are available through UNIC.

The UNIC student card identifies students across the consortium and connects to existing university credentials (Edugain).

The integration of the European Student Identifier across UNIC universities enables partners to be ready to support student mobility and trans-national co-operation into the future (read about the European Student Card initiative).

To find out more about UNIC digital mobility tools and their implementation in UCC, contact claire.crowley@ucc.ie.

Online Language Courses

Online language courses are available to all UNIC staff and students; whether you want to prepare to travel to a UNIC location or just want to learn something new. Language courses take 15-30 hours depending on the module, and also cover fascinating cultural aspects. 

Courses are available for Croatian, Dutch, English & Irish (delivered by UCC's Language Centre), Finnish, French, German, Spanish & Basque, and Turkish. See more information and sign up: https://www.unic.eu/en/online-language-modules.