The International Master in Adult Education for Social Change (IMAESC) is a joint master’s degree delivered and awarded by the following consortium: the University of Glasgow (Scotland), the University of Malta, University of Maynooth (Ireland), the Open University of Cyprus and Tallinn University (Estonia). Students will complete three mandatory mobility periods within Europe and can choose between two study tracks ‘Community Engagement and Education’ or ‘Critical Issues, Policy and Curriculum’. Additionally, this two-year programme (240 SCQF/120 ECTS) also has a Summer School in Malaysia focused on sustainability and peace studies and opportunities for summer internships through the Associate partners, linking to the world of work. Adult education has been recognised in Europe as a critical element in addressing challenges pertaining to employment, research and innovation, climate change and energy, education and combating poverty. A concern about social inequality and a belief that adult educators can contribute to social change based on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth is the driving force behind the creation of IMAESC. This programme draws on the strengths of each member of the consortium to deliver a curriculum that aims to enable people to work with adults effectively and competently in changing socially diverse contexts. This results in IMAESC being a relevant, ground-breaking joint degree that engages with and responds to key issues of our time, such as social inequality, migration, intercultural cooperation and collaboration and sustainable development.Employability is a major focus of the programme and IMAESC aims to promote fair, open and democratic societies to sustain growth and employment. Therefore work based placements are an integral part of the programme and students are matched with placement partners for the duration of each mobility period (Glasgow, Malta or Maynooth and Tallinn). Students also work with the Estonian Adult Education Association, the only credentialed national association for adult educators in Europe and map their experience to the Estonian Competency Framework which allows students to crystallise their learning gained through coursework and placements into a recognised EU credential.

Open University of Cyprus (OUC) is the second state University of Cyprus and the only University in Cyprus that offers programmes of study exclusively using the distance teaching methodology. Since receiving its first students in the 2006-2007 academic year, OUC is committed to opening up education to all, strives for an outstanding challenging and transformative teaching and learning experience with high academic standards, and aspires to secure unrivalled links with the business world and society. Through its internationalization strategy, OUC is seeking to establish a growing network of collaborators (Universities, research centers, governmental and business partners) in EU and third countries, to provide the basis for the development of internationally oriented teaching and learning collaborative research and knowledge transfer. More specifically, based on the University’s Strategic Plan 2018-2023, OUC seeks to exploit the international context by a holistic approach aiming to :•Establish a high quality in-country presence.•Offer high quality programmes for the needs of society, industry & labor market, primarily in Greek/English.•Offer programs of study jointly with other renowned Universities in Cyprus and abroad.•Enhance international student recruitment.•Internationalize curricula & align syllabus with international norms.•Establish sound partnerships to provide quality transnational education & research.•Improve student & staff mobility.•Establish an international alumni base.For the 2017-KA103 Erasmus+ project, OUC had set and successfully met the goal to increase the number of OUC students in the “Students Mobility for Studies” action. Three (3) OUC students secured Erasmus+ SMS funding in contrast to the 1 participation during the 2016 project. In addition, it was very important for OUC to maintain the rather satisfying numbers of participants in the “Students Mobility for Placements” action, and to have a steady flow of outbound students. Another goal that was also achieved was the funding of none (9) OUC students and recent graduates, who visited nine different countries. As noted in previous reports, because the Open University of Cyprus is a distance learning university, and the majority of its students are people with family and work obligations, it is not easy to maintain a high interest for mobilities for internships abroad and a steady flow of outgoing studies. Furthermore, in the course of the 2017-KA103 project, OUC welcomed 1 student for studies, and 2 students from partner Universities, which undertook internship at the University’s administrative units.OUC Faculty members had the opportunity to successfully complete teaching programmes in partner universities, develop and/or reinforce their network of collaborators on research possibilities and joint actions. Likewise, the University’s administrative personnel had the opportunity to participate in Erasmus+ International Staff Weeks, and receive quality training abroad. This opportunity was mostly exploited by colleagues that had been employed by OUC recently (in the course of 2017), and were able to travel abroad and create a network of collaborators, but also had the opportunity to discuss the similarities and differences between the way of work in different Universities in Europe.The 2017-KA103 Erasmus+ project has been a productive one for the Open University of Cyprus as 17 in total mobilities had been successfully implemented, while the experience and impact of participating in Mobility programmes is valuable. The fact that OUC managed to improve significantly its outbound SMS numbers sets a new goal for OUC to be more actively engaged in this Erasmus+ mobility and to increase numbers even further. Moreover, OUC is further committed to establish and maintain strong collaborations with renowned HEIs in Europe and further improve its participation in Erasmus+ strategic partnership projects.

BackgroundResults emerging from multiple research projects have been showing promising possibilities for the inclusion of ICT in schools. However, the actual adoption of ICT in schools is much less successful. Although several factors might be at play, we believe that two important ones concern the need to foster knowledge in schools regarding:- The connections between their existing technological infrastructure, its potential for teaching and the possibility of repurposing these technologies in accordance with concrete pedagogical goals.- Ways to implement sustainable ICT policies, acknowledging digital technologies trends, novel pedagogical practices and empowering primary users and relevant stakeholders.ObjectivesThe project promoted practices to help schools reach an e-mature level (as explained by the NCTE). More specifically, the project focused on the wise use of ICT in schools and to ensure that teachers, students and other stakeholders are able to:- Exploit the benefits of the investments made in ICT infrastructure,- Gather and document successful ideas on how to apply innovative uses of ICT infrastructures at schools and support the exchange of such practices,- Reflect on and promote the adoption of novel educational models, ideas and experiences that link digital artefacts and learning.The consortiumThe project’s partners Departments from University Education of Weingarten (Germany), the Open University of Cyprus (Cyprus) and Linnaeus University (Sweden) have a long experience in: (i) teacher training, (ii) fostering the implementation of novel pedagogical practices in schools and (iii) leading research projects in education and ICT in schools. This experience also translates into close partnerships with schools at regional level as well as established relationships with educational organisations at national and international level.Description of activitiesThe project run for three years. Initially, the ICT infrastructure as well as the e-maturity of the participating schools and the practices regarding the ICT infrastructure at schools were assessed and analysed in close cooperation with the school teachers. Corresponding information was analysed at different levels of abstraction, taking the form of scenarios and patterns, and collected in the eSIT4SIP inventory, which was complemented with OER resources from the web. Furthermore, the consortium designed and created a digital environment utilizing the eSIT4SIP knowledge base that facilitates the effective search and reflection on the analysis outputs created. The system contains a decision support component, allowing to search for technological alternatives with educationally equivalent functionality. All these together allow for an innovation process that enables stakeholders to reflect on their current practices, consider alternatives and design modifications. MethodologyThe initial analysis of the schools’ existing infrastructures was performed by the consortium through visits and interviews in close collaboration with the partner schools. Additional OER resources were discovered and integrated with a web-scraping approach. The development of the knowledge base contained the design and implementation of ontologies for learning and infrastructure, to provide for enhanced search mechanisms. The knowledge base was developed taking a design-based approach with a strong focus on usability issues, thus targeting to provide optimal support for users.Results and impactThe activities referred to above generated the following:- A knowledge-base (KB) collecting practices' descriptions, allowing searching and browsing for ICT-related learning scenarios and instructional design patterns, available at www.esit4sip.eu. - A dynamic and integrated inventory of learning scenarios and instructional design patterns, currently around 300 scenarios, drawn from participating schools and as OER from different sources in the web, provided to the public via the eSIT4SIP KB. - An innovation process utilizing the KB and its inventory, including a general mechanism to identify alternative implementations of learning scenarios with the above listed types of technologies and tools, based on the invention of the concepts of micro-activities and learning tool affordances.- The design of a recommender system, which suggests to teachers scenarios that could be implemented in their teaching given their didactic problems and opportunities and the infrastructure available.Long term benefitsthe project’s results can provide a set of tools that will enable schools to reflect on their current ICT strategies and pedagogical goals. In turn, such reflection will empower schools to refine their ICT strategic plans and be able to reach an e-maturity level. The more such a system is used the richer its knowledge base and the more relevant its recommendation become.

The project focuses on creating environmental awareness towards plants and greenery, educating young people and their teachers towards ecological learning spaces. Actions will promote and foster awareness of environmental issues in an educational context, e.g. the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN Agenda 2030. Unlike the wider agenda of protecting natural habitats like rainforests, our approach aims to stimulate knowledge and appreciation of plants close to the people concerned, i.e. in urban indoor and outdoor environments. Especially, the effects of plants in classrooms, offices, homes and public spaces have hitherto been undervalued. The project will target young people from an early age onwards, with students from primary, secondary and tertiary level to learn about potted plants in their immediate vicinity. With this promotion of plant appreciation at a young age, the project intends to lay the foundation of much wider protective attitudes of natural and artifical flora (and fauna). Therefore, it is considered to enhance thinking about the positive effects plants have on the climate and environmental well-being of our planet.With a technology-enhanced approach using sensors and visualisations, children will not only learn basic facts about plants, but also about care and responsibility towards them. We use the cascading approach via primary and secondary school teachers, educational leaders, lecturers and support staff to establish a wide-ranging plant supported school climate, as well as measuring and evaluating their impact on learning and social behaviours.

The Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance, through the Department of Labour and in collaboration with Higher Education Institutions of Cyprus created the program “Work Experience ARound Europe” (W.E.AR.E.) in order to give the opportunity to young graduates to gain work experience in their field of studies, in organizations of their choice in the European Union countries, and in order to promote youth mobility.The basic idea was to put young graduates to organizations of their choice in European countries in order to gain work experience that could facilitate their integration into the Labour Market, since work experience is very important for employers when selecting a candidate for a job and therefore young unemployed without any work experience have a much greater problem in finding a job.The Erasmus+ Consortium is consisted of the following Higher Education Institutions: University of Cyprus, University of Nicosia, European University, Frederick University, Neapolis University Pafos, UCLan Cyprus, Cyprus International Institute of Management and Open University Cyprus.The program was implemented in the period 01/06/2016 - 30/09/2017, giving the opportunity to thirty-six (36) new graduates to gain work experience in their area of interest and academic studies in an organization of their choice for a period of 2-6 months, in thirty-four (34) different organizations, in ten (10) countries (Greece, United Kingdom, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Austria). It also helped them develop new skills, expertise, intercultural and language skills and networking that would ease their access to the labour market.The fields of study in which the participants obtained professional experience include: Accounting, Education, Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Law, Chemistry, Sociology, Business Administration, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Modern Languages and European Studies, Byzantine and Modern Greek Languages and Literature, Mathematics and Statistics, Economics, School Counselling and Guidance.The participants had a first contact with the labour market, they became familiar with the working environment of an organisation that operates in their field of studies, had to work as a member of a group or individually, developed skills and expertise in handling complex machinery and the latest technology programs, things that in Cyprus would not have the opportunity to do. Moreover, their experience in European countries contributed to the personal development of the participants both in linguistic and intercultural level and has given them, apart from professional experience, general knowledge, confidence and other skills that will help them in the pursuit of work. Almost all participants found work immediately after the end of their training period, in Cyprus and other European countries.