EUROVERSITY multi-actor partnership is composed of 18 partners from 10 European Countries and 1 third country partner from Israel:

Project Coordinator

1) University of Hull (Hull) – UK

The University of Hull was founded in 1927 and offers a cutting-edge educational experience for over 18,000 students a year. The academic portfolio contains 50 disciplines across the arts and humanities, business, education, health, the sciences and the social sciences. As one of the major players in the regeneration of Hull and Scarborough, the University also has a significant impact on local economic and social growth. The Department of Modern Languages within the University of Hull is responsible for the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes which combine language study with modules in social and political history, literature, film, drama, art and other options. The Department embraces and reflects the current University Corporate Plan (2007-2012) in its key aspirations of exploring, creating and communicating knowledge in the discipline areas of languages, linguistics and area studies to enhance and address regional, national and international demand for graduate linguists, global graduates, language teachers and international researchers.

Web site: www2.hull.ac.uk

Partners involved in the EUROVERSITY project

2) Chambre De Commerce Et D'industrie Du Jura (CCI JURA) - France

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry provides different services to the companies from the industry, commerce or services in the Jura department. The adult training department is one of its main activities, and especially the language centre which organizes courses for the companies. Other services include the management of human resources, the business school, the management of local equipment such as the airport of Dole, the management of quality, counselling on environmental issues, and the assistance in creating a new business. CCI Jura has more than 9000 member companies and trains more than 1500 working people a year, as well as 120 students or apprentices. The language centre has a long experience in pilot projects and research, mainly via Leonardo programs.

Web site: www.jura.cci.fr

3) Università degli Studi Guglielmo Marconi (USGM) - Italy

Università degli Studi "Guglielmo Marconi" is the first Athenaeum in Italy following the "Open University" model. USGM, recognized by the Ministry of Education, is dedicated to researching, developing and testing innovative pedagogical methods to integrate blended learning with the latest technological solutions and communication tools in education. The International Project and Research Office has extensive experience as applicant and partner in various national and EU projects in terms of coordinating, developing e-learning, m-learning and intelligent agent technology for different training and educational programmes. USGM is applicant of two Comenius projects that address diverse EU high schools and educators: START project, using virtual worlds to teach street art and SEEP project, launching an EU Network of educational providers to promote co-operation and innovation in secondary school science education. USGM has founded the GUIDE Association, a network of about 70 universities aiming at enhancing distance education by supporting international cooperation and intercultural dialogue.

Web site: www.unimarconi.it

4) Universiteit Utrecht (UU) – The Netherlands

Utrecht University is an internationally renowned top university. Its quality is evidenced by the good results of research assessments and outstanding performance in international rankings. In the 2008 Shanghai Academic Ranking of the world's leading universities, Utrecht University rated as 9th best university in Europe. The University aims to: educate young people, train new generations of researchers, develop academics who have both specialist knowledge and professional skills; conduct groundbreaking research and address social issues and work towards solving them. Utrecht University offers a wide range of Bachelor's degree programmes and Master's degree programmes and is known for its innovative and pioneer academic, pedagogic and research initiatives. At Utrecht University ICT plays an important part in the process of innovating and enriching academic curricula and supports initiatives directed towards experimentation with ICT tools and implementation of best practices. Different teams have participated in several national and international projects related to ICT implementation for pedagogical and research purposes, the most recent one being the NIFLAR project (Networked Interaction in Foreign Language Acquisition and Research).

Web site: www.uu.nl

5) Technology Enhanced Lifelong Learning Consult (TELL) – The Netherlands

TELLConsult is a registered (KvK Nr. 30236540), small consultancy firm initiated and owned by Ton Koenraad. Its general objective is to contribute to quality promotion of Technology Enhanced Lifelong Learning with a special focus on Technology Enhanced Language Learning. To this end the main activities are related to the professional development of language teachers and teacher educators and the coordination and evaluation of projects in the area of Computer Assisted Language Learning. TELLConsult's previous and current project participations are in the field of (task design) for Computer and Mobile Assisted Language Learning (CALL & MALL), CMS customization for Communities of Interests and tele-collaboration, Interactive Whiteboard Training and research, e-tools for Content Integrated Language Learning (CLIL) and 3D Virtual Worlds for language learning.

Web site: www.koenraad.info/tellconsult

6) Molde University College (HiMolde)- Norway

Molde University College was founded in 1994 as a Specialised University in Logistics. Molde University College offers education at bachelor, master and PhD level in the fields of logistics, economics, business administration, management, informatics, sports sciences, social sciences and health sciences. In Scandinavia it is one of the leading Universities in the field of logistics. Molde University College offers programmes at bachelor's level in Norwegian and at master level and above in English. Around 1800 students study at Molde of which around 9% are international (representing around 40 different nationalities).

Web site: www.himolde.no

7) Umeå University (UmU) - Sweden

The department of Language Studies at Umeå University teaches a number of languages including English, French, Nordic languages, Spanish, German, Sami and Russian, as well as several other non-European languages (Arabic and Chinese, for example) at undergraduate and post graduate levels. Much of the teaching is distance based and the department has a long history of collaborative projects involving new media such as virtual worlds. For example, ASSIS (A second step in Second Life) is looking at gender and identity in teacher trainees. In addition, the Department collaborates with HUMlab, the digital humanities laboratory, where technicians, teachers, developers and researchers meet. HUMlab, which collaborates with all departments in the humanities, has a long history of running projects related to virtual worlds (Active Worlds, Traveler as well as Second Life) and other digital media. HUMlab owns its own island in Second Life and holds regular seminars and courses in digital humanities.

Web site: www.umu.se

8) University of Manchester (UoM) - UK

The University of Manchester is Britain's largest single-site university with a proud history of achievement and an ambitious agenda for the future. The University of Manchester has an exceptional record of generating and sharing new ideas and innovations. Many of the advances of the 20th century began at the University, such as the work by Rutherford leading to the splitting of the atom and the developments of the world's first modern computer in 1948. Today, the University of Manchester is one of the world's top centres for biomedical research, leading the search for new treatments for life-threatening diseases and at the forefront of new discoveries in science and engineering. By 2015, The University of Manchester aims to hold a world-class leading research profile and be among the top 25 universities in the world.

The Language Teacher Education Group within the School of Education at the University of Manchester runs an MA in Educational Technology and TESOL, which is taught both onsite and at a distance and has been doing this for twenty years; this course is almost unique in the world, certainly in the configuration of technologies it uses. Staff have also been involved in the conduct of a variety of materials development and research projects mostly connected to the design and creation of e-learning materials for groups of teachers.

Web site: www.manchester.ac.uk

9) Université de Strasbourg (UdS) - France

The University of Strasbourg's strengths and assets stem from its active involvement in virtually every discipline comprising the current body of knowledge. The international dimension is fundamental for the University of Strasbourg. It has long term experience in technological and scientific research at national and international level. Its Technology Transfer Office, one of the very first developed in a French university, strives to promote the work of the researchers and facilitate partnerships with economic and institutional stakeholders.

In the University of Strasbourg, there are 38 faculties, schools and institutes for five areas of teaching. There are 42260 students registered. Foreign students represent 19.8% of the university population. 4649 permanent staff, 2678 teaching staff, 1971 administrative and technical staff and 1356 researchers. With its 5 campuses spread throughout the city the University of Strasbourg is an essential player in the promotion of scientific and technical culture of the Country.

Web site: www.unistra.fr

10) Linnaeus University (SOL) - Sweden

The School of Language and Literature at Linnaeus University offers courses in English, Film Studies, French, Japanese, Latin, Literary Studies, Spanish, Swedish as a Second Language, Swedish and German at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Linnaeus University was founded on 1st January 2010, when the University of Växjö merged with the University of Kalmar. The School (via the University of Kalmar) was a founding partner of the Kamimo Islands Project in 2007, and has offered regular university courses in English in Second Life each term for the last three academic years.

Web site: www.Inu.se

11) Consorzio FOR.COM. Formazione per la Comunicazione (FOR.COM.) - Italy

FOR.COM, established in 1990, is a public non profit Interuniversity Consortium recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education. FOR.COM develops and delivers Open Distance Learning courses and is an employee educational training institution, applying innovative solutions and interactive tools in order to promote flexible and collaborative learning processes. The "International affairs and Research Project Office" at FOR.COM carries out research and project activities at national and international level for the development of innovative ICT based training programs and methods. The project office collaborates closely with universities, Research Institutes and Centres of Excellence worldwide, designing and implementing research projects on a global scale. FOR.COM is engaged in an extensive national and International network, allowing the establishment of diverse partnerships and promoting the opportunity to share knowledge and skills in the field of distance education and training.

Web site: www.forcom.it

12) Verein Offenes Lernen (talkademy) – Austria

The "Open Learning Association" aims to welcome all those who are interested in educating themselves. TALKADEMY is the language learning part of the association. The common goal is to serve and enable the individual learner and develop a truly learner centric organization. TALKADEMY informally established itself in March 2007 by starting to use 3D spaces for language learning activities in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Arabic, English and other languages. It quickly grew to a community of over 400 participants, starting with the "IBM Virtual Universe" community. TALKADEMY is privately funded and open to the public. One idea of placing TALKADEMY outside of existing educational organizations is to explore how a learning organization could best utilize the properties of 3D spaces when not embedded in legacy structure. TALKADEMY cooperates with a growing number of universities, companies and not-for profit organizations to extend its reach and provide infrastructure hosting different sub-communities.

Web site: www.talkademy.org

13) Universidade de Coimbra (UC) – Portugal

Situated in the banks of Mondego at an important crossroad located 100 Kilometres from Porto the University of Coimbra – with around 21.000 students, being 1624 foreign and more than 600 exchange students – is one of the oldest in Europe. In addition to the so-called "classical" degrees offered by a university with over 700 years of history – in a world which goes from the Social an Human Sciences to Medicine, from Law to Pharmacy and from the Pure Sciences to Sport Sciences – all the faculties have been concerned to constantly update the content of their courses to suit them to contemporary realities according with the Bologna Process. The UC offers 65 first degree courses (licenciaturas), 184 postgraduate courses, 281 PhD fields. It has 176 research centres and important centres of knowledge transfer.

Web site: www.uc.pt

14) University of Cyprus (UCY) - Cyprus

The KIOS Research Center for Intelligent Systems and Networks operates under the University of Cyprus. The University of Cyprus is the first public university and the main research institution in Cyprus and has demonstrated a rich research activity in a broad spectrum of research areas. The centre was originally established to promote interdisciplinary collaborative research between scholars and professionals in the industry, academia and research organizations. At the current stage, the KIOS Research Center has more than 35 researchers who work on multiple areas related to Power Engineering, Intelligent Systems and Networks, Biomedical, Telecommunications, and even Applied Linguistics. Scholars and researchers working in Engineering-related fields strive to conduct ground breaking research that aims at contributing to the advancement of knowledge in the area of intelligent networked embedded systems and its applications to the design and management of large-scale complex systems with emphasis on safety-critical and trustworthy systems. Applied Linguists, on the other hand, work on various areas related to the implementation of social virtualities, such as Second Life, to teach courses and key terminology in Engineering to undergraduate engineering students.

Web site: www.asu.edu

15) Universität Bielefeld (UoB) – Germany

There are about 17,000 students studying at the University (as of 2004), which was founded as a state institution in 1967. At present, approximately 1,700 foreign students from more than 100 countries are enrolled in Bielefeld. Most of them come from Turkey, Greece, Russia, Poland, South Korea and the People's Republic of China. The University is characterised by the close contact between students and teaching staff and the numerous service offers for the students. With a few exceptions (medicine and engineering subjects) it is possible to study any subject here; at present there are 13 faculties (departments). The Bielefeld University Language Centre (Fachsprachenzentrum) is responsible for the language instruction of about 20,000 people and focuses on the instruction of languages for special purposes with particular attention to less represented languages.International learning groups conducted in 3D-envirionments would benefit our aims especially since singular or specialized interests could more easily find means to be realized in such a setting.

Web site: www.uni-bielefeld.de

16) ICC International Certificate Conference e.V. (ICC) – Germany

The ICC - International Certificate Conference e.V. is a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) with participatory status at the Council of Europe. ICC is an international network for language learners, teachers and researchers. ICC promotes and improves the learning and teaching of languages in post 16+ education and lifelong learning through joint developments and the good practice of its members. One of the ICC's major fields of work is the training and certification of teachers as a means of improving the quality of language teaching. ICC has also developed and accredited online teacher training courses (live online and asynchronous). ICC has been involved in the Portfolio development over recent years and has developed various Portfolios for users with special needs. ICC has been partner in a number of European projects and has an expertise in online course delivery. Within the Projects EUROVOLT, LANCELOT, ELTACS, PELLIC and LeTS GO, ICC has been involved in developing and certifying online teacher training courses and material in virtual classrooms and in 3D Learning environments.

Web site: www.icc-languages.eu

17) Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) – Germany

The Christian-Albrechts-University zu Kiel currently teaches over 22,000 women and men and the range of subjects on offer is spread over eight faculties. In addition to the original faculties, the faculties of Agricultural and Nutritional Science, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Business, Economics and Social Sciences and, the newest faculty, the Faculty of Engineering are integrated into the university. The faculty of Arts and Humanities comprises among others the Institute of Education (IfP) and a chair in Media Education (MP). The chair in Media Education is held by one of the researchers of this project proposal. She also is director of the Institute of Education. In research and teaching the chair focuses on epistemological foundations of knowledge creation through design and object-oriented inquiry. The team investigates the role of epistemic artifacts and knowledge in design (design theory). It develops pedagogical models such as "design as knowledge creation / inquiry" to integrate research and design in higher education. The chair is responsible for teaching Media Education and Technology Enhanced Learning at both teacher education and a bachelors and masters programme in education.

Web site: www.uni-kiel.de

18) Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) – Sweden

The Stockholm School of Economics is an internationally highly recognized business school, pioneering in research areas such as economics, finance, management, and marketing. SSE has 6 departments, 2 research institutes,and some 150 faculty members, including 37 full professors and some 60 associate and assistant professors. Since 2008 SSE has maintained an island within the virtual world of Second Life with the aims of developing educational training activities and conducting research. The strong commitment of Dr. Robin Teigland has led to the development of numerous initiatives and collaborations, which have taken place within Second Life. The projects have been characterized by a very international breadth involving university and research institutions in Europe and USA, egDUKE Corporate Education, University of Texas – Austin, Utrecht University, and Innsbruck University,in addition to corporations, eg IBM, Sun Microsystems, Investor, Atlas Copco, and the Swedish Tax Authority.

Web site: www.hhs.se

19) TECHNION – ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (IIT) – Israel

Technion is Israel's primary technological university and the largest centre of applied research. It is ranked among the leading technological universities in the world, and is the major contributor to the growth of Israel's high-tech industry. The Technion University offers degrees in science and engineering, and related fields such as Architecture, Medicine, Industrial Management and Environmental studies. Great emphasis is also placed on its humanities and social science programs, the incorporation of which take on ever-increasing importance in today's multi-faceted workplace. But Technion's goals go beyond providing a well-rounded technical education. At the institute, scientific instruction is interwoven with professional ethics, producing leaders sensitive to social and environmental issues. The Technion occupies about 1,325,000 square meters and includes 100 buildings. There are about 40 research centres, 11 research institutes and 10 Centres of Excellence. At present there are approximately 8,448 undergraduate students, 2,553 M.Sc. students and 1,499 Ph.D., M.D. and D.Sc. students - a total of 12,500 students.

Web site: http://www1.technion.ac.il/en

Associated Partner (nominated)

A1 Mittuniversitetet Sundsvall, Sweden
A2 CLI, University of Pisa, Italy
A3 University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
A4 University of Leicester, UK
A5 University of Valencia, Spain
A6 University of Granada, Spain
A7 Nevsky Institute: Elena University St Petesburg, Russia
A8 Comenius secondary school, The Netherlands
A9 Alhambra secondary school Granada, Spain
A10 Bar Ilan University, Israel
A11 Réseau National des Centres d’Etude des Langues des Chambres de Commerce et d’Industrie, France
A12 University of Vienna, Austria
A13 Steinbeis Transferzentrum Sprachlernmedien, Germany
A14 Nixward New Media Creations, Netherlands 
A15 University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Austria
A16 Universität Zürich, Swiss
A17 Technische Universität Wien, Austria
A18 University of Tubingen, Germany
A19 British Council Barcelona, Spain
A20 Pixel Online, Italy
A21 Sciences du langage/Université Stendhal Grenoble, France