CORINTHIAM is a funded Tempus project of the European Commission aimed at strengthening the cooperation between European Higher Education Area (EHEA) institutions and the Middle East region by establishing structural measures that facilitate exchange mobilities, joint programmes and mutual recognition of diploma.
The objectives of the CORINTHIAM project included implementing the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and establishing centralised offices responsible for interationalisation.
One of the goals of the project was the publication of specific guidelines and handbooks on five distinctive areas. The University of Brighton is producing the fifth and final handbook on the implementation of ECTS. Following discussions at the CORINTHIAM workshop held in Brighton in June 2012, the handbook has been edited by Prof. Anne Boddington and will include chapters by the Israeli, Palestinian and European members of the project examining the challenges and benefits of internationalisation and introducing the ECTS system. We are also proposing to publish this handbook on Kindle reflecting the University of Brighton’s focus on bringing innovative digital publishing into the academic arena.
The project has stimulated considerable dialogue within Israel and Palestine as well as with European partners. It has resulted in many outcomes including enhanced mobility and infrastructural transformations within the third countries through the establishment of international relations offices and by engaging academic colleagues and students in the development of a pedagogic dialogue facilitated by the pilot implementation of a common, student-centred, academic credit framework across a wide range of subjects and institutions, alongside examination of the Diploma Supplement as a means to record holistic student achievement.
It is particularly noteworthy and a credit to all CORINTHIAM’s partners, that despite the discomforts and challenges of middle eastern politics, the project has ridden the wave of serendipity, stimulated new friendships, partnerships, and more importantly identified new collaborative projects, designed to extend beyond the implementation of the core pillars as set out in the original CORINTHIAM proposal.
Our ‘CORINTHIAM conversations’ have provided the impetus and opportunities to innovate across borders, to build new knowledge and expertise and to work, learn and research differently and together. Vitally, CORINTHIAM has, through support from Tempus, contributed to ensuring that the significant value and role of higher education internationally, continues to address strategic perspectives, to make a social and cultural difference and to sustain a dialogue that transcends politics and national borders.
Israeli Partners
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - [BGU]
Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design, Jerusalem - [BEZ]
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem - [HUJI]
Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya - [IDC]
Palestinian Partners
European Partners
Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Belgium) - Grant Holder and coordinator.
Compostela Group of Universities (Spain)
Lund University (Sweden)
Masaryk University (Czech Republic)
Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano (Italy)
University of Brighton (United Kingdom)
Carl van Ossietzki Universität Oldenburg (Germany)
Utrecht Network (Netherlands)
