The expert John Hudzik gives a talk on comprehensive internationalisation, which is followed by the presentation of the URV book "Comprehensive Internationalisation at the URV"

As part of the URV’s International Staff Week, which brought international university staff to the URV to share good practices from 8 to 12 May on the Catalunya Campus, the URV invited John Hudzik from Michigan State University to give a talk on “Comprehensive internationalization for all: critical steps forward”. There was also the presentation of the book “Comprehensive Internationalisation at the URV: Examples of Good Practices at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili” by Publicacions URV. The event took place in the afternoon in the URV’s auditorium to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the University’s creation and the 30th anniversary of the Erasmus programme. It was presided over by the Rector Josep Anton Ferré, the Vice-Rector for Internationalisation, Mar Gutiérrez-Colón, and the director of the National Erasmus Agency (SEPIE) Pablo Martín. The audience included university staff, professors and participants in the International Staff Week.

The speaker is considered to be the father of the concept of Comprehensive Internationalisation. “There is great pressure on higher education institutions to internationalise in the 21st century”, he said. He spoke about coining the concept to refer to a commitment to take action to integrate global, comparative and international perspectives through the three main activities of the university: teaching, research and service to society. These fundamental functions thus fuse with the international context. The concept of comprehensive internationalisation transforms the institution from the inside out and leads professors, administrative staff and students to think and act in a manner that is oriented towards internationalisation. John Hudzik was accompanied by another expert, Edilio Mazzoleni, director of the UCSC International at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan (Italy).

Comprehensive internationalisation at the URV

The event also saw the presentation of the book Comprehensive Internationalisation at the URV: Examples of Good Practices at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, which is the first publication to bring together a good number of the University’s experiences in internationalisation. Edited by Mar Gutiérrez-Colón, Vice-Rector for Internationalisation, it presents thirteen activities carried out by the URV’s teaching staff and administrative staff.

The experiences are: the URV International Virtual Campus; the AAEDAT, permanent network of international relations on environmental matters at the URV; Internationalisation of the URV’s Doctoral Supervision Training model; the Wiener Project: a gateway to internationalisation via online language tandems; Transcending traditional teaching: learning first-hand about the European Union through a course’s practical activities; Assessing the level of internationalisation of studies for working in a globalised world: which competences, which training?; Studying human rights from a transversal and transnational perspective; the European Nursing Module, a tool for developing the intercultural sensitivity of students on a nursing degree; The SMILE programme: Students of mobility and Learning English; The Collaborate on an international cooperation project” programme of the URV; Teaching in English at the Faculty of Economics and Business; 360º communication in the URV’s internationalisation process: internationalising communication whilst communicating internationalisation; and the Cooperation Practicum in Nicaragua: a service learning experience for completing the work placement and degree final project in the Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology. The book is available in English and Catalan.