The University of Murcia (UMU) is a one-hundred-year-old institution that traces its origins to the thirteenth century and a reference centre for higher education in the Region of Murcia (south-eastern Spain). This international institution plays a very important role not only in research and teaching, but also in the society itself, acting as an essential social engine and as a strategic bridge for every teaching and research activity, as well as for any investment to be carried out in the Mediterranean coast.
UMU is a public comprehensive university and a reference center for teaching and research in the Mediterranean coast, teaching 32.700 students in 5 Campuses. The University has approx. 2,400 lecturers, and 1,200 administration and service members. UMU offers 56 Degree programmes, 78 Master’s Degree programmes and 29 Doctoral programmes (with 337 Research Groups and 4 University Research Institutes), some of which provide bilingual lectures in English (the Degree in Primary Education, among others) and the possibility to obtain a dual degree with partner universities in Europe and Latin America.
At international level, the University of Murcia has signed agreements with over 900 universities around the world. With more than 20 years of experience, both the International Office and the Research Office OPERUM are very active and have extensive experience in hosting European and international cooperation and research projects and promoting research excellence.
The Faculty of Education of the UMU is the largest Faculty of our University, with approximately 4700 undergraduate students, 700 graduate students and 150 PhD students, 350 lecturers and 30 members of the administration staff. It offers 4 Degree programmes (Bilingual degree in Primary Education among them), 8 Master Programmes and 2 Doctoral programmes (Education and Educational technology).
The Faculty of Education is also one of the most active centres in national and international relations within the UMU, this shown by the high number of agreements, own mobility programmes and collaboration projects started and developed by the Faculty, among others, CREANET Project (a Comenius Network endeavour developed between 2010 and 2013), TACCLE2, QATSL, CREATE skills and Disabuse (Erasmus+)
The Faculty was awarded the ECA Certificate for Quality of Internationalisation in 2014 and 2016, establishing a three-year Internationalisation and Interculturality Plan (2016-2018).
This roadmap envisions the Internationalisation of a university as much more than just increasing the language skills of the different groups (lecturers, students and PAS), studying abroad or having many international students (De Wit, 2011). It means knowing the language but also the history, customs, way of living, traditions, location and culture of other people and nations. It also implies exchanges, sharing, cooperation, solidarity, commitment, etc. It means benefiting from the opportunities offered by other contexts to meet our own needs. It implies listening to what others need and helping them solve their problems, if possible. It refers to being aware of what we have and sharing it. It means adapting what we do to the social challenges and demands, which are increasingly more global and universal. It means being a local citizen and a citizen of the world at the same time. At the moment, internationalisation and interculturality form a single paradigm (Morey, 2000; Mc Fadden et al., 2009).
The Group of Research in Educational Technology (GITE), based on the Department of Didactics & School Organization of the Faculty of Education, is directly involved on this project. It is a group of researchers and teacher trainers specialized in educational innovation with new methodologies as well as technology enhanced learning. They have a long track record of pioneering e-learning with younger pupils and have established networks of primary, secondary teachers across Spain, as well as vocational trainers, who are actively working in this field on innovative projects designed for that age range.
In addition, they are involved with many teachers’ associations and coordinate working groups of serving teachers on a range of curriculum issues including e-learning, teacher professional development and interchange of good practices. They are leaders in formal and informal actions for teachers and trainers. GITE participates also in some projects with the private sector, related to educational motivation, methodologies for learning and so on.
What are the activities and experience of the partner organisation in the areas relevant for this project? What are the skills and/or expertise of key persons involved in this project?
The key persons involved in this project will be:
– Linda Castañeda:
Linda Castañeda is Educationalist and PhD in Educational Technology. Dr. Castañeda is Associated Professor in Educational Technology at The Faculty of Education of the University of Murcia. Research Member of GITE. She has participated in diverse research national and international projects regarding the application of pedagogical principles to the development of educational processes through the use of the Internet, and the educational and organizational implications on the use of technology in teachers training and institutional development, as well as the use of new didactic methodologies, media for education in different levels and Personal Learning Environments. She has participated in a wide variety of international events as speaker and has several papers published, and takes active roles in a wide variety of national and international Professional Educational Networks.
– UMU International Office:
The University of Murcia has already significant experience in the Erasmus + programme as coordinators of 3 Strategic Partnership and as partners of another seven Strategic Partnership.
Should the proposal we now present be granted, the international office will fully support the project implementation, specifically the administrative and financial management. Furthermore, a point worthy remarkable is the fact that due to our increasing international activity the University of Murcia has developed software and on-line applications tools mainly devoted to projects, mobility programmes, and financial management. Our database is nowadays a powerfull tool accessible from the web by teachers, students, non-academic staff and partner institutions to obtain updated information about the programme. This same structure will also be put to the service of this Strategic Partnership. University of Murcia will also contribute to the promotion of the project as well as will support all activities in the course of the project.
María Almudena Fernández: International Relations Officer at the University of Murcia for more than 7 years. I have worked for the at the Academic services (Recognition of foreign qualifications and admissions) and for more than 4 years at the Unit for Internationals Projects and Development, managing the administration and finances of European and International Cooperation projects and implementing varied internationalisation activities. Previously worked for the Regional Administration in the Unit for Relations with the UE.
The Website: https://www.um.es/