Erasmus+ Teatime: what will be the academic mobility of 2020/21 like?

On October 16, 2020, the International Office of the Peter the Great Polytechnic University will host the Erasmus + Teatime event. The event will be held online as part of the Erasmus Days 2020 project supported by the national agencies Erasmus + and the European Commission.

Erasmus + Teatime will bring together staff and students from Erasmus + partner universities. For many years SPbPU has remained the leader among Russian universities in terms of the number of program participants. Since 2015, more than 500 students, graduate students and university staff have been able to go to exchange studies, conduct research, lecture or do an internship at European universities through a scholarship from the European Union.

With the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, academic mobility at universities has temporarily stopped, but this does not mean that students and staff should stop making plans for the future. The task of Erasmus + Teatime is to discuss the most difficult tasks of the next academic year with friends and partners over a cup of tea and share their experience in solving problematic situations of the past semesters.

All universities have a lot of stories about how the spring semester of 2020 has passed. Since March 2020, employees of the International Office of Polytechnic University have been in continuous correspondence with all partner universities promptly resolving issues of informing about the epidemiological situation on the campus; they maintained permanent contacts with embassies and consulates to help students from Russia return home and foreigners to go to their countries. Several times they had to urgently contact the Department of the Situation and Crisis Center of the Russian MFA in order to include the students of Polytechnic Institute who had into a difficult situation in Italy in the lists of export flights.

Together with foreign colleague, in a friendly atmosphere of Erasmus + Teatime, employees of international offices will discuss what changes await the academic mobility programs and share their experience in resolving crisis situations. Erasmus + Teatime will start at 12:00 Moscow time, the language of the event is English. To participate in it you need registration, positive mind-set, and a cup of tea in hand.

Prepared by the SPbPU International Office