Ghent University was established in 1817 and has 11 faculties, which offer high quality and research-based educational programmes in almost each scientific discipline. Currently there are about 9000 staff members and over 41000 students. More than 11% of the student population is international.
The university is very active on the international scene, scores high in the international rankings: n° 69 in the Shanghai ranking and n° 107 in the Times Higher Education, and has been at the forefront of the implementation of all European higher education funding programmes since the start of the Erasmus programme. The Erasmus mobility is recognised as a “success story” by the EC and UGent obtained the ECTS label from the very beginning. The University has a longstanding experience in Erasmus Mundus: coordinator of 2 Joint Doctoral programmes, 9 Master Courses and partner in 2. UGent also coordinated 11 Erasmus Mundus Action 2 projects, of which 5 are with the Western Balkans (Basileus), 4 with South-East-Asia (Lotus) and one with India (Svaagata.eu) and China (Lisum). UGent has been a partner in 24 EMA2 projects worldwide.
Since the start of the Erasmus+ programme, UGent is involved in 37 Erasmus+ projects (3 as coordinator) and 4 Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (2 as coordinator). The International Relations Office provides guidance and support for the actions in the frame of the Erasmus+ programme. Apart from educational projects, Ghent University is active in many research projects (FP7, now Horizon 2020), a number of collaborative development projects, financed by both national (VLIR: Flemish Interuniversity Council, DGDC, BTC) and international organisations (Unesco etc). An institutional integrated policy plan for internationalisation was drafted in 2013 for the period 2014-2018. This plan created a framework for bottom-up initiatives in a setting of quality control and transparency, set the context for strategic partnerships, and the creation of 3 new prospect regional platforms: Russia, Latin America and South East Asia, in addition to the regional platforms with Africa, China and India.
UGent has been one of the most active international players in the field of higher education in Europe. UGENT will take part in the implementation of all work packages and activities on the project, but they will especially contribute by their expertise in educational sciences and expertise in the integration of ICT in the teaching and learning process. During the visits of the representatives of PC universities to their university, they will share their experience with the guests, showing how higher education can be improved by integration of new technologies and appropriate pedagogical approaches in conventional education. They will also hold several short intensive training sessions for teaching staff from PC HEIs.
The team from UGENT responsible for the implementation of the proposed project consists of the staff from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and its Department of Educational Studies. The Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences is one of the 11 faculties at Ghent University. With its 4500 students it is one of the largest faculties. The faculty takes the lead in a number of academic bachelor and masters level programmes: Psychology, Educational Sciences, Social Work and teacher Education. The Educational Sciences at Ghent University reflect the wide diversity of educational issues that are being studied in the field. Next to the foundations and philosophical base of education, there is a strong research focus on the history of education, special education, teacher education, ICT-based educational practices, performance indicator studies, social work, etc. Research traditions in these domains build on high level quantitative approaches, next to a strong focus on interpretative qualitative methodologies.
- Martin Valcke
- Annelies Vanderbeke