“International teaching weeks provide our students with an international study experience at their home university. Visiting teachers not only pass on new knowledge but also teach in different ways, share their cultural and personal experiences,” says Virginija Savalenkovienė, Exchange Programmes Manager at KTU International Relations Department.
According to her, the incoming teachers are specially preparing for their participation in the international teaching week, attempting to demonstrate and share what they have best – both in terms of knowledge and didactics. According to Savalenkovienė, Global Faculty Week is one of the important components of the process, known as internationalisation at home.
All the lectures of the Global Faculty Week 2022, which will take place on April 25–29, are integrated into the study modules, so there will be no changes in the timetable for the students and no special registration is required.
In-person lectures with teachers from Mexico, Colombia and all-around Europe
According to Savalankovienė, the Global Faculty Week, which is being organised for the third time, is becoming a traditional event. Each time, the programme and the mode of the event are different; however, its aims do not change – to share and exchange experiences, to get to know each other and expand the network of academic contacts.
“This year we try not to overload our programme with official events and presentations. The lecturers come to teach, they are focused on this task, and during their free time, they want to rest and recharge. We want to introduce our community to the guests, to show how we work, and at the same time let them experience Lithuanian hospitality, introducing the city and our culture,” says Savalenkovienė, adding that the faculties who invited the teachers are also preparing welcoming events to the invited lecturers.
This year, most of the guest lecturers from abroad were invited by the faculties of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and the School of Economics and Business. More than 10 guest lecturers will give live or virtual lectures in each of them. Of the 50 lecturers participating in KTU Global Faculty Week, 26 are expected to arrive in person.
“We were surprised by the people’s enthusiastic response to our invitation to come to Kaunas. We will have teachers from such faraway countries as Mexico and Colombia, also, we will have visitors from Western Asian countries such as Azerbaijan. Of course, most of the guest lecturers come from European universities,” says Savalenkovienė.
The first KTU Global Faculty Week took place in 2019, the second in 2021 (then all lectures were online). According to Savalenkovienė, the last year’s event was especially successful and received very good feedback from partners. Therefore, it was decided that this event will have a hybrid format, where teachers can choose how to give lectures in-person or remotely.
“After visiting our university, lecturers from the overseas universities can form a picture of how we work, how we live, how much we have changed. They bring those impressions to their universities and share them with their students and colleagues. I believe that the positive news about our university comes back in a variety of ways: an expanding network of partners, a growing number of exchange students, and, finally, this is reflected in the rankings,” says Savalenkovienė, reminding that the development of internationalisation is a continuous work, which impact should be assessed in the long run.
