It is with great pleasure that we share with you the joy of co-learning during an Intensive Week organized within the Erasmus + CONFIDENT project by Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi between 24-28 October 2022. 5 students from Hochschule Bremen, Germany, 5 students from Tampere University of Apllied Sciences, Finland and 12 students from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania, got together for one week to learn, share and have fun in the beautiful city of Iasi. The participating students attended the two online modules in Intercultural Communication and Digital Learning developed within the CONFIDENT project and interacted with their peer colleagues and responsible professors either in class during the discussions or online on the Digicampus and Cyber Cafe platforms. All students have benefited or will benefit from an international exchange at their home institution.

The modules were developed by Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in close cooperation with Hochschule Bremen (Germany) and Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and were financed by the European Union through the CONFIDENT project (no. 2020-1-RO01-KA226-HE-095384). They aim to reach as many learners as possible. This is the link where they can be accessed: https://digicampus.fi/login/index.php.

The CONFIDENT Team

During 6-10 December 2021, the representatives of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration participated in the Transnational Meeting of the CONFIDENT project, hosted by Hochschule Bremen, Germany. The Erasmus+ project Enhancing Intercultural and Digital COmpeteNces oF MobIle StuDENts in Times of Crisis (CONFIDENT) is financed by the European Commission, Key Action 2- Strategic Partnership projects, as a response to the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in higher education. UAIC is the project’s coordinator, having as partners Bremen University of Applied Sciences (HSB, Germany) and Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK, Finland).

The main goal of the project is the development of digital and intercultural skills of the students who are going with an exchange abroad, before their actual departure to their host university as well as during their mobility. The transnational meeting had on its agenda the accomplishment of the first intellectual output of the project, the Online Self-Assessment Intercultural & Digital Competence Tool and the steps to distribute it to the relevant target groups. The discussions included the setting up of the working teams for the next intellectual outputs (the online modules for intercultural communication and digital skills) as well as the required steps for their achievement. The discussions about the planning of the fourth intellectual output, a virtual, social space intended for mobile students, were prefaced by the participation to the International Day of Hochschule Bremen.

By means of the activities and outputs created, the CONFIDENT project aims to ensure a better social and cultural integration of mobile Romanian and foreign students in their new academic environment, it will equip them with intercultural and digital tools which will help them in their future career, it will enhance their self-confidence and will increase the level of internationalization at home of non-mobile students.