VENUS

Project: Virtual and E-mobility for Networking Universities in Society

Duration: 24 months (1 March 2006 - 29 February 2008)

Coordinator: EuroPACE ivzw (BE)

Partners: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) (BE), Audiovisual Technologies, Informatics and Telecommunications bvba (ATiT) (BE), University of Cologne (DE), Teknillinen korkeakoulu, Koulutuskeskus Dipoli (Helsinki University of Technology, Lifelong Learning Institute Dipoli) (FI), Nyugat-Magayarorszagi Egyetem, Geoinformatikai Foiskolai Kar, (University of West-Hungary, College of Geoinformatics) (HU), West Pomeranian Business School (PL), Technical University of Kosice - Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics (SK), Consorzio Nettuno Network per l'Università Ovunque (IT)

Role EuroPACE: EuroPACE is responsible for the work packages on project management, dissemination, and networks and collaboration

Summary: VENUS aims to

- internationalise prestigious courses, with international scope and importance, in each member university through virtual mobility, open to both students and citizens. The content will focus on promoting European citizenship, collaboration and personal development.

- implement two different models of international virtual seminars (a seminar series during the academic year and a one-week summer school) and evaluate their sustainability.

- enhance international clusters of educational institutions each strongly embedded in regional networks, in order to stimulate inclusion of citizens. Through the elaboration of the contents on two levels (general European and region specific) the European identity will be enhanced and at the same time local aspects will be valued.

- become a world-class example of cross-border collaboration between higher education organisations, businesses and citizens. The overall objective is to create a sustainable best-practice example of the 'Faculty of Extension', extended both in the sense of methods and target public.

Project results: All project results are collected in the VENUS Handbook entitled 'Creating New Opportunities for Universities'. The handbook is based on the experience of the project partners who organised Virtual Seminars on a broad range of European subjects and a Summer School on the Use of Social Software in Business and Higher Education. The handbook as well as the summary booklets and recommendations in English, French and German can be downloaded here or at the VENUS website.

URL: http://www.venus-project.net & http://www.venus-seminars.net/

Supported by: European Commission, DG Education & Culture, eLearning Programme