VirtuallyEDU

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global education system, necessitating a shift to remote teaching and learning. This transformation has highlighted the digital skills gaps among both students and teachers, leading to a widening digital divide between countries.

VIRTUALLYEDU is an international Virtual Exchange program that aims to engage over 2.500 students of HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) from EU State Members and Eastern Neighborhood Countries in activities that will promote digital savvy and cybersecurity knowledge.

 Through a variety of online activities, VIRTUALLYEDU seeks to connect young people from Europe and the Eastern Neighbourhood regions with higher education students, faculty members, and academic staff in order to develop their digital skills with the ultimate goal of enhancing employability, encouraging intercultural anti-discriminatory dialogue through online people-to-people interactions and consequently, strengthen youth dimension in the relations of the EU with the Eastern Neighbourhood countries.

Project Objectives:

1. to develop digital skills and virtual collaboration capacity to support the objectives of the established growth strategy for the Higher Education sector by creating a Joint Digital Skills Ecosystem for the HEIs, youth organizations, trainers, academic staff and students

2. to upskill HEIs’ staff and youth organizations’ trainers in digital skills and online safety tailored to the needs of each learning environment

3. to provide new teaching and learning approaches through virtual collaboration regarding the respect of other cultures and students who lack foreign language proficiency

4. to establish a sustainable open access material for long-term use and enhance the capacity of students to participate adequately in virtual exchange activities and finally boosting employability in the digital era

5. to bring together HEI staff and students from EU and Eastern Neighborhood countries to achieve a greater impact on HEI’s digital upskilling and elimination of cyberbullying

6. to upgrade the Higher Education sector regarding virtual learning and teaching tools in order to decrease cyberviolence due to digital illiteracy

For more information, contact:

Ali Rashidi, The Head of International Cooperation Department at Folkuniversitetet Uppsala, ali.rashidi@folkuniversitetet.se

Yuliia Kozhukhivska, Assistant Project Manager at Folkuniversitetet Uppsala, yuliia.kozhukivska@folkuniversitetet.se