From 3 to 6 December 2024, the ‘Blended Total Immersion Week - Advanced Regional and Transversal Skills’ compulsory elective module (FWPM) took place for the sixth time as part of the Erasmus+ ‘Blended Intensive Programme (BIP)’ scheme. This year, it was organised at Aschaffenburg UAS in presence for the first time. When AUAS hosted the BIP for the first time in March 2022, the programme had to be switched to an online-only format at short notice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
25 students from Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences and its partner universities in Spain (Universidad de Málaga), France (Université de Bretagne Sud), Finland (Turku UAS) and Sweden (Mid Sweden University) took part in the programme. It was organised by Prof. Dr Renate Link from AUAS, who is also the initiator of this FWPM-BIP. Professor Link is delighted that the five selected AUAS participants with the best letters of motivation once again came from four different degree programmes at the Faculty of Business and Law.
The motto of the project week was ‘Future Skills’. During this BIP, the students dealt with future skills that are still underrepresented in the curricula of business administration degree programmes. According to recent studies, these include skills such as intercultural communication, digital collaboration, digital ethics and AI, digital learning, digital and media literacy, creativity, dialogue and conflict competence, resilience and mission orientation. In workshops on these skills, the participants were able to expand their key competences, which corresponds to a central function of Erasmus+ BIPs.
The students were asked to develop a didactic concept in small multinational groups. The goal was to involve the integration of at least three of the aforementioned future skills into an existing module at their home university. To this end, the students received background knowledge on these skills in workshops organised by lecturers from all five consortium universities. In addition to Prof Dr Link, the professors Dr Alison McNamara and Dr Sabrina Schork from AUAS also contributed to this BIP with their own inputs.
The non-European perspective was provided thanks to a talk by visiting professor Dr Keiichi Homma from Toyo University in Tokyo, Japan, with which AUAS is currently in the process of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with regard to a possible collaboration.
Professor Link's ‘total immersion’ concept for this BIP included asynchronous and synchronous online phases with a virtual escape room as well as a lecture by an external AI expert. An excursion to the regional company Erbacher Food Family was also included to illustrate the entrepreneurial view of Future Skills. To support the language exchange, the programme was supplemented by a taster course in German led by Nina Heininger, lecturer and cooperative doctoral candidate at the AUAS, and various cultural excursions. From a visit to the Aschaffenburg Christmas market to a brewery tour, there were numerous opportunities for the guests to experience Bavarian-Franconian culture. They were also able to practise what they had learnt in the German taster course.
The next BIP is already just around the corner and will return to Mid Sweden University in May 2025, where it was previously hosted in December 2022. In autumn 2025, the BIP is expected to take place at Turku UAS.
Following the successful participation of Prof. Dr Franca Cantoni from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, a partner university of AUAS, in this year's Aschaffenburg BIP, talks are currently underway to win an Italian consortium partner. Professor Cantoni was very positive about the experience during the BIP at TH AB:
„Thank you so much for your warm welcome and hospitality, which I truly appreciated. The course content, the various teaching activities, and the extracurricular opportunities were all outstanding. I find the overall approach highly convincing, engaging and innovative.“
Students from AUAS can have their participation in the ‘total immersion’ BIPs recognised as a subject-specific compulsory elective module (Module Manual, p. 157ff.) and credited towards the additional qualification ‘BW/BWR with an international profile’. (Flyer BW/BWR international)
Further information on the current BIP of the ‘total immersion’ type and a story with testimonials from participants can be found on our English website.
