Co-operation between the Finnish Virtual University (FVU) and the Bavarian Virtual University (VHB)
In 2006, the Finnish (FVU) and Bavarian (VHB) Virtual Universities signed a Co-operative Agreement on the exchange of their member universities’ online courses and online learning materials.
At the moment, FVU’s and VHB’s member institutions are collaborating on digital study material in Mathematics developing a shared-used online course Functions and Applications. See more about the collaboration at www.intmath.org.
Furthermore, concrete actions took place in the autumn 2007 when 10 Finnish university degree students were selected to an online course e-Business and e-Commerce offered by the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg. The course was running from the 15th of October 2007 to the 29th of February 2008.
A similar kind of pilot exchange course took place in spring 2008 when 13 German students participated in an online course on Society and Politics in East and Southeast Asia organized by a Finnish university.
The experience gained from these two pilots will be availed when planning the exchange system in a larger scale.
See also a workshop presentation Higher Education Online Across National Boundaries - the Bavarian and Finnish Virtual Universities' experience" at the EDEN Conference 11-14 June 2008 in Lisbon, Portugal, and the Abstract. (pdf)
Proceeding planning activities
To map out FVU member universities’ online courses and online learning materials that could be suitable for exchange, the FVU Service Unit sent out a questionnaire in October 2006 to FVU liaisons in each of the 21 member universities, as well as to the co-ordinators of the FVU thematic networks.
Information on more than sixty online courses or online learning materials was received. Some of the courses and materials were only in Finnish and needed to be translated into English if considered suitable for exchange.
Similar kind of mapping out on courses for potential exchange was done by the VHB.
Courses offered by the Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern (VHB), 2006 (pdf)
The next step was to find out about the possible interest for exchange in any of the FVU's or the VHB's member institutions. Based on the aroused interest the two online courses were selected for pilot exchange.