“Hub Europe” – New Approach to Teaching and Learning EU at School

ЕRASMUS+ – Jean Monnet Activities
https://www.eubgschool.eu/bg/

The project aims to open the University to the secondary education and to contribute to the excellence of teaching and learning EU at secondary schools and to overcome one common weakness in EU teaching – its orientation towards general knowledge, rather than new research on the dynamics of the EU and in particular on understanding Bulgarian EU integration. “Hub Europe” Resource Centre was created. It acts as a knowledge-spreading and result-oriented hub on European affairs and Civic education, also filling the gap on topics related to the EU current priorities: European Green Deal, economy that works for people, Europe fit for the digital age, protecting our European way of life, stronger Europe in the world, new push for European democracy.

Prof. Ingrid Shikova, Assoc. prof. Kaliyan Simeonov, Dr. Habil.

Jean-Monnet Center of Excellence for Teaching and Research on the Europeanization of the Countries of South-Eastern Europe ЕRASMUS+ – Jean Monnet Activities

http://jeanmonnetexcellence.bg/

The project had three interrelated objectives – 1) to upkeep the excellence of European Studies at Sofia University by enhancing the integration of research and education; 2) to improve their international visibility in academic networks; 3) to improve the public perception of EU in Bulgaria by blending the efforts of the university team and the NGOs through regular presentation of academic expertise on key topics of the EU via open access Internet platform.

Prof. Ingrid Shikova, Prof. Georgi Dimitrov, Dr. Habil., Assoc. prof. Kaloyan Simeonov, Dr. Habil., Assoc. prof. Mirela Veleva, Dr. Habil.

EURASIA – European Studies Revitalized across Asian Universities (585968-EPP-1-2017-1-BG-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP, Erasmus +)

https://eurasiaproject.eu/

EURASIA is part of Erasmus+ – Key Action 2 – “Capacity building in the field of higher education”, an important element in support of the strategic priorities of the EU Global Strategy 2016. It aims to strengthen the academic ties between higher-educational institutions (HEIs) in the “programme” countries (Bulgaria, Poland, France Italy and UK) and four Universities in the two 2 “partner countries” (China and India). The project addresses the challenges of establishing, updating and modernizing curricula in European studies in a globalized world. EURASIA is an opportunity for capacity building of all the partner institutions based on shared ideas, the exchange of educational know-how and the development of resources, so empowering all stakeholders.

The project activities involve the joint elaboration of original modules and courses on European studies, the development of appropriate methodologies and the creation of teaching and learning resources, including online material.

Prof. Maria Stoicheva, assoc. prof. Nikolina Tsvetkova, asst. prof.  Vihar Georgiev

JEAN MONNET CHAIR OF IDENTITY AND MULTILINGUALISM (553397-EPP-1-2014-1-BG-EPPJMO-NETWORK)

https://jmonnetmst.wordpress.com/

The projects aims to establish a network of international institutions for research in European identity, culture, European citizenship, exchange and multilingualism.

Prof. Maria Stoicheva

History of EU Eastern Enlargement (528392-LLP-BG-AJM-MO)

The aim of the project is to introduce for the first time a course on History of EU Eastern Enlargement to the students of the Department of European Studies and the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Sofia, which is the oldest and the most established higher education institution in Bulgaria.

Assoc. prof. Mirela Veleva, Dr. Habil

Assessing the risk for media pluralism in EU and beyond: application of the Media Pluralism Monitor tool (MPM2017) in 30 European countries  – European University Institute Florence, Italy (funded by the European Commission)

Prof. Nelly Ognyanova, Dr. Habil.

Maximizing the integration capacity of the European Union:Lessons and prospects for enlargement and beyond (MAXCAP) EU FP7 – Collaborative Project

The ‘big bang enlargement’ of the European Union (EU) has nurtured vivid debates among both academics and practitioners about the consequences of ‘an ever larger Union’ for the EU’s integration capacity. The research project MAXCAP will start with a critical analysis of the effects of the 2004- 2007 enlargement on stability, democracy and prosperity of candidate countries, on the one hand, and the EU’s institutions, on the other.

Prof. Georgi Dimitrov, Dr. Habil., Anna Plachkova

LeTeEm: Learners, Teachers and Employers

(LLP – Comenius №539723-LLP-1-2013-1-UK-COMENIUS-CMP)

Learners, Teachers and Employers (LeTeEm) is an EU funded project that aims to encourage young European secondary school students to develop employability through creative thinking, curiosity and enquiry, critical thinking and communication with confidence and practicality by working on activities in partnership with businesses. One of the most successful methodologies for developing a partnership with industry and promoting creativity, competitiveness, employability and the growth of an entrepreneurial spirit is the ‘Learning by Developing’ (LbD) methodology. It has been chosen by the project team as it directly addresses the problems of building close ties between education and the workplace and engendering creativity and innovation in both fields. The LbD methodology will be adapted by pedagogic and implementation aspects, and for use across Europe, by addressing cultural, legal and localisation issues.

Assoc. prof. Nikolina Tsvetkova

aPlaNet – Autonomous Personal Learning Networks for Language Teachers (LLP, Transversal, KA3 № 511460-LLP-1-2010-1-TR-KA2-KA2MP)

Prof. Maria Stoicheva, Assoc. prof. Nikolina Tsvetkova

Promoting excellence in teaching and research in EU Studies at primary and secondary school level through digital and virtualisation tools (EU PETR) (2013-2015).

The project aims to foster collaboration between academics, teacher trainers, secondary and primary teachers, future teachers and librarians in exchanging existing good practices about study content and methodologies for teaching EU studies at school. New ones need to be trialled out with the support of technologies for virtualisation of communication channels.

The project is based on enhancing the quality and bringing about innovative changes in the pre- and in-service training of teachers with regard to EU studies through implementing ICT in teaching EU studies at primary and secondary schools in Bulgaria.

The envisaged major impacts of the project are:

• improved teaching quality and learning capacity,
• enhanced interest in EU matters at primary and schools and at a whole-university level,
• in-depth knowledge about the EU achieved via networking and online collaboration between primary and secondary teachers, teacher trainers, academics and librarians,
• involvement of librarians in storing and managing information collections about EU studies via relevant ICT tools.

Prof. Ingrid Shikova, prof. Maria Stoicheva, assoc. prof. Nikolina Tsvetkova

Promoting Intercultural Competence in Translators (517871-LLP-1-2011-1-UK-ERASMUS-EMCR )

Language and culture go hand in hand. In the translation profession, understanding how these two interconnect is fundamental to the quality of any piece of work. It is therefore fundamental to train intercultural competence.

PICT provides sets of materials and guidelines to establish useable standards and to help trainers approach the teaching of intercultural competence.

• A curriculum framework o against which trainers can design their own training programmes and materials
• A sample set of teaching materials o which teachers can use in the classroom or as templates to help design their own material
• A sample set of assessment tools o which can be used at different stages in a training programme and can be adapted to suit your own training environment
• A situational survey report on current practice

Prof. Maria Stoicheva, assoc. prof. Nikolina Tsvetkova, asst. prof. Desislava Karaasenova

“Learning by doing Europe” (357758-LLP-2011-BG-AJM-ICS-Learning Europe at School)

The main aim of this project was to develop suitable interactive methods and techniques to facilitate learning about EU matters across the curriculum and to stimulate students’ active participation. To this end a toolkit „I am citizen of the European Union„ containing recent EU information and methodology for organizing simulation games on EU decision making, visualization, attractive presentations, role-play, debates, etc. was developed.

The project contributed to the continuous development of secondary school teachers adding a new dimension to their life-long learning experience – that of understanding the EU. The training activities were based on a high quality innovative methodology and didactic materials and encouraged teachers to both gain insights into EU issues and implement the latter in their own practice. The highly participatory and practical nature of the training and learning activities ensured that teachers and students experienced in practice social cohesion, active citizenship, intercultural dialogue, respect for gender equality and personal fulfilment. The project encouraged students and teachers to pursue excellence in learning about and understanding the EU; it added to preparing students for their future lives of active EU citizens.

The major impacts of the project are

• improved teaching quality and learning capacity
• enhanced interest in European matters at secondary school level.