Virtual Exchange and COIL Projects

Promoting the digitilisation of teaching: lecturers and students at the HWR Berlin collaborate with international partner universities virtually.

Teaching goes digital and global

Have you ever wondered what Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), Virtual Global Classroom (VGC), Virtual Exchange (VE) and other abbreviations related to online teaching at the HWR Berlin refer to? During this type of international exchange project students and lecturers work together online. These projects may feature an in-person mobility but this not a pre-requisite.

Developing intercultural and digital competencies

Virtual exchange projects enable encounters in the digital space. As a student or lecturer at the HWR Berlin you collaborate across national borders and time zones on a task with counterparts from an international partner university, thereby gaining experience in global teamwork and developing your intercultural and digital competencies.

Virtual Exchange – these are the advantages

  • A sustainable and inclusive form of international exchange for students – providing the ideal preparation for our increasingly digital world of work
  • Combines innovative and existing teaching formats
  • Provides international networking opportunities

Plan a digital exchange project

You teach at the HWR Berlin and are interested in finding out more about how to implement a digital exchange project with one of our international partners? Please feel free to contact us (see details on the right) or find out more about various options at the HWR Berlin:

Project Toolip

Project BeCOIL

UAS7 Virtual Academy

What forms can digital exchange take?

  • Your virtual exchange can be a short element built into an existing course or can be a new stand-alone course
  • It could take the form of a pre- or post-mobility session, or as a supplement to in-person exchange
  • There are lots of options; you can see examples of previous projects at the HWR Berlin at the bottom of this page and we are happy to advise you further

The video below was produced as part of the UAS7 Virtual Academy COIL project which the HWR Berlin was a member of, provides inisights into the planning and implementation of a COIL project:

An overview of virtual exchange projects

Here you will find an overview of virtual exchange projects that have already taken place at the HWR Berlin. More are added every semester: 

TOOLIP-Project

Creative Ideas for a Sustainable Eurovision Song Contest

Students from the HWR Berlin took part in the »The Big Enterprise Challenge« as part of »A Sustainable Eurovision 2023« at the University of Liverpool.

[Translate to English:] Virtual Court Tour mit Prof. Dr. Peter Ries in Berlin. Foto: UAS7 Netzwerk

HWR Berlin / University at Albany

Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility

In the COIL project of the HWR Berlin and the University at Albany on the topic of corporate social responsibility in the U.S. and the EU, students investigated cultural and legal aspects.

[Translate to English:]

Succession panning in family owned businesses

HWR Berlin / Drexel University

[Translate to English:] Blick über die Schulter: Ein Studierender sitzt zu Hause vor dem PC und blickt auf eine Videokonferenz auf dem Bildschirm, der vor einer lila Wand steht. Foto: © SolStock/ E+/ Getty Images

HWR Berlin / Amsterdam University

How does the Netherlands differ from Germany?

As part of the Toolip project, in the winter semester 2020/21 students from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and HWR Berlin discussed cultural differences between the two countries.

[Translate to English:] Virtual Global Classroom: Studierende nimmt zu Hause am Schreibtisch vor dem PC an einem virtuellen Workshop teil. Foto: © FilippoBacci/ E+/ Getty Images

HWR Berlin / Coventry University

Toolip: International exchange in the digital world

As part of the digitisation project Toolip, in November 2020, students from Coventry University and HWR Berlin held a virtual discussion on the international consequences of the corona pandemic.

[Translate to English:] Berlin International Week an der HWR Berlin: Studierender am Laptop verfolgt mit Kopfhörern die Eröffnungsrede von Prof. Dr. Andreas Zaby, Hochschulpräsident der HWR Berlin. Foto: Oana Popa-Costea

HWR Berlin / Verschiedene Partner

Recognizing potential for change, taking responsibility

Under the title »Sustainability and Responsibility in the 21st Century« the Dual Studies Department of the HWR Berlin hosted the Berlin International Week for the second time in November 2020.

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