🧑 Lucie Loyon (UT2J); Rodica Florea (UTBV); Daniela Voinescu (UTBV)
📅 Thu. 31 October 2024
On Thursday, October 31st, Rodica Florea from the management office and Daniela Voinescu from the accounting office at Brasov Transylvania University (UTBV) in Romania met with Lucie Loyon, the head of international projects at Jean Jaures University (UT2J) in France. This meeting focused on exchanging best practices in managing and financing international projects.
Introduction to the University
The meeting opened with an introduction to the international relations service at UT2J, allowing an overview of the organizational similarities and differences between the two universities.
One such similarity is the existence of an institute for research and development recently created at UTBV and for which an homologous structure exist at UT2J under the name house of research.
Lucie Loyon shared how projects organization is distributed among specialized departments and how a tight collaboration with the University of Toulouse helps producing higher quality project proposals.
UTBV representatives underscored the value of being part of UNITA, an alliance of Romance-speaking universities dedicated to promoting linguistic diversity and supporting the development of rural and cross-border mountain regions.
Members from both universities expressed enthusiasm for strengthening their relationship and deepening mutual understanding.
Visit of the house of research
Sharing Tools and Best Practices
Members from UT2J shared tools that are being used to facilitate mobility planning such as MoveON as well as tools for cost planning and expenses justification.
Good practices were exchanged such as how to properly gather the needs of researchers and teachers. The importancee of proper wording and consistent communication in projects was highlighted by Lucie Loyon.
Differences in university scale were discussed, revealing that hiring specialized staff can greatly enhance international project management. UTBV members emphasized the benefit of guiding professors during proposal writing to minimize surprises and improve proposal quality.
Campus visit
Addressing Challenges in Promoting Erasmus+
After a campus tour, the meeting continued over a meal at Masto Algharam, a Lebanese-Syrian restaurant, where participants discussed strategies for promoting the Erasmus+ program.
Both parties agree that the impact of Erasmus + projects should be emphasized among teacher and researchers, they explored ways to highlight the program’s long-term networking benefits to encourage more faculty involvement.
UT2J shared its experience with events like Erasmus Days as effective promotional platforms. A questionnaire to gather faculty insights was proposed as a way to better understand how to increase Erasmus+ engagement. Creating an official Erasmus+ best practices guide was also suggested to enhance the proposal process.
Upholding European Values of Science and Progress
The meeting concluded with a discussion on promoting European values like diversity and inclusion. Challenges arise, for example, when international visitors need assistance from specialized caregivers who may not be fluent in English.
This meeting provided UTBV and UT2J representatives with a productive exchange of practices and strategies. Both parties expressed satisfaction with the discussions, which highlighted shared goals and laid a foundation for continued collaboration on future projects.