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Learning in the global classroom Digital travel and borderless study in DAAD project Promoting joint teaching in the global classroom: Professors Daniel Agyapong, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and Ralf Meyer, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg
If you ask students what the most formative experience of their studies was, they often mention the semester abroad. After all, a stay in a foreign country and the interaction with students from a different culture are amongst the most valuable experiences one can have.
Experience internationalisation The “Code Share Teaching and Learning” project in the degree programme International Business recognises this. Students learn virtually together with fellow students from the partner universities in Ghana (University of Cape Coast), Finland (South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences) and the USA (Coastal Carolina University). “It’s about giving students a chance to experience internationalisation – not just through the course content, but also through learning in a global classroom”, explains Professor Ralf Meyer from the Department of Management Sciences, one of the project initiators. In the future, students will be able to choose from a variety of courses at one another’s universities. This hitherto unfamiliar way of learning will bring theoretical content on the globalised economy to life. The project is also a big opportunity for students who cannot or do not want to spend a semester abroad after Corona. “They still gain international experience, including ‘international teamwork’”, says project manager Jana Kohl. The second phase of the project started in March 2021, with 50 to 60 students in each of the two modules “Current Topics in Global Finance” and “Social Impact Investing”.
Summer school And that’s not all. Starting in July 2021, Meyer and Kohl will organise a four-week virtual summer school, in which students from the four partner universities involved can attend eight courses (two per university). Originally, a week-long classroom phase was also planned, but this will now take place digitally. A one-year guest professorship at H-BRS for co-initiator Professor Daniel Agyapong from the University of Cape Coast beginning summer semester 2021 is also planned, but for the time being he will also teach exclusively virtually at H-BRS. This is all part of the DAAD’s International Virtual Academic Collaboration (IVAC) programme and will be funded with 91,000 euros from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research for one year.
