From 9 to 13 October 2023, the Ukrainian and Moldovan teams of the international DEFEP Erasmus+ Ka2 project “Distance education for future: best EU practices in response to the requests of modern higher education seekers and labour market” paid a study visit to the University of Palermo. The week of the study visit was dedicated to innovative educational technologies in distance education.

The project partners from Ukraine and Moldova got acquainted with digital tools and practices that are successfully used in the educational process by the UNIPA teachers. As part of the DEFEP study visit, a meeting with the Rector of the University of Palermo was held. On this meeting the importance of international cooperation within the framework of Erasmus+ projects was noted. During the week, the Ukrainian and Moldovan DEFEP teams:

studied the experience of the Centre for the Innovation and Enhancement of University Teaching of the UNIPA;

took part in the presentation of the online learning manual;

got acquainted with the Digital Academy, which is a digital platform of the European University;

visited classrooms and laboratories for online tests;

got acquainted with software tools for organising online learning: Moodle, OpenBadge, EduOpen (Mooc);

learnt about the peculiarities of the functioning of online master’s programmes in “International Relations, Politics and Trade”, “Digital Humanities for the Cultural Industry”, “Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering”, and “Management Engineering”;

Listened to the research of Italian colleagues on distance learning and its psychological impact on students.

It should be noted that this event coincided with the All-Ukrainian #ErasmusDays2023, which were organised by the National Erasmus+ Office (NEO). The theme of #ErasmusDays2023 was “Sustainability & Responsibility”. Throughout the week, the Erasmus+ community shared success stories and achieved results of projects in the fields of education, vocational training, youth and sports.

As part of the DEFEP study visit, it was held a meeting was with the Rector of the University of Palermo, where the importance of international cooperation within the framework of Erasmus+ projects was emphasized.