Konstantinos Petridis is Associate professor and Vice Rector of Internationalisation at the Hellenic Mediterranean University. He is a physicist specialising in laser physics with a PhD from St Andrews University in Scotland.
Dr Petridis researches continuous wave laser systems. In particular, how to engineer the physical and mechanical properties of 2D materials using laser pulses for energy harvesting and storage applications.
He explains the strategy and vision for institutionalising VE at Hellenic Mediterranean University, which is a passion of his alongside his love for his subject.
From a leadership perspective, what impact has institutionalising virtual exchange at your institution had?
I would say that virtual exchange is one of the most favourable tools for enhancing the internationalisation of my institution. It also demonstrates how to improve physical mobility in general.
So, for example, the European Commission has the goal of 50% of students undertaking a physical mobility within Europe by 2027. At present, it’s only around 12%. It’s safe to say this figure will not be reached any time soon if we maintain the current trends.
In order to try and achieve this magical number, the EU strategy has been to introduce an online or virtual path, in its various activities and projects. I want to remind our audience that BIPS (blended intensive programmes) begin with a virtual component, and then progress to the actual physical mobility. This is an approach that the EU is encouraging very much. And it’s because the main aim of this type of activity is to cultivate a culture around how this type of virtual mobility can help achieve this 50% goal later on.
We know from research that undertaking virtual mobilities helps build trust among the students thereby enabling them to move outside of their comfort zone and experience a physical mobility.
Virtual exchange strategy and vision
My strategy at the Hellenic University is dual. First, to be innovative and contribute towards policies on how to get further recognition for VE as an integral part of the virtual mobility. When we report the mobility features within the European university alliances, we need to demonstrate the virtual mobility aspect of the exchange. This actually confirms the tendencies that are taking place within the European alliances.
The reality is that when we apply the virtual exchange aspect of our courses on a local level, we will end up impacting the overall goal of this 50% goal for physical mobilities in the future. And this will happen in a very short space of time.
As a scientist – a physicist – what challenges have you faced in trying to expand your VE programmes, given that initially VE programmes focused on language practice, although we know this is evolving and changing rapidly?
I’m predominantly a researcher and this means I love challenges and I love to experiment and try new things! Things others have maybe not tried yet. I like to be an innovator and get in on something in its early stages. This is close to my culture as a scientist.
So, to answer your question, it’s not a problem. We need the language and we practice it every day. I come from Greece and it’s very touristy so we practice our English language all the time.
As scientists, there are no barriers to cultivating research skills during a VE. I’m currently coordinating a COIL with 11 universities, and more than 100 students all over the world. Some of those institutions are very prestigious such as Cornell, TECHNION, Weizmann Institute of Science among others. This collaboration will help students to improve their writing skills as they will learn how to write a paper, how to present at a conference or how to design a poster. These are soft skills necessary for scientists to be better scientists.
There are, however, no limits as to what a VE can be and what it can achieve in terms of skills building and development. As technology continues advancing and we introduce more virtual reality for example, we will have virtual labs too, very soon.
And VE is not only a multicultural experience. It also encourages the integration of new tech tools and platforms within the framework of the digitalisation of education. VE is a wonderful laboratory open to all forms of experimentation. You can try anything!
You mentioned you are collaborating with a number of universities – can you expand a bit on how the students are working together on this current COIL project?
It all starts with interpersonal relations, so the trust has been built between individuals initially, through colleagues you know well and have collaborated with before. We have agreed a priority topic that we are all invested in. This is the first step.
The next step of the ladder is a Memorandum of Understanding (an MOU) between the universities, to enable the recognition of VE/COIL within our respective institutions on an international level. This can take time as we need to engage the governors and all those who need to be involved.
At the moment, it’s a work in progress as this is all based on trust on an interpersonal level. We need to develop this further so it becomes an official collaboration for the further development of VE courses within our institutions.
We have started to integrate our virtual exchanges into existing courses at this point. All the students need research skills, independent of the course they follow, as well as soft skills and digital skills. All students need to acquire these skills in order to be more employable in the era of AI.
What role do you envisage for VE/COIL in EU Alliances?
It should be the main tool in order to achieve the physical mobility target. Universities need to think outside the box and propose solutions to the EU on how to achieve this physical mobility target for example. They need ways that have not been thought of before and they need to propose solutions to overcome the problems. So, in my opinion, VE should be the main pedagogy in order to promote and cultivate physical mobilities. It should aid internationalisation as a ‘culture’ which signifies an openness to build innovation, collaboration, research etc so when people come together in a situation of trust, this will inevitably lead to more physical mobilities in the future.
I urge my colleagues to try this pedagogy because VE is a pedagogy and not only a tool. The skills needed to facilitate in the virtual classroom should also be encouraged in the face-to-face. I also think VE is the main tool to enable civic engagement beyond the walls of the university and this is something we should all be striving for.