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Erasmus Policy Statement

Our International Strategy

Preschool Teachers Training College in Novi Sad continues its efforts to affirm the policy of friendly and constructive academic links with higher education institutions all over the Europe, as well as to improve international exchange of teachers, students and administration. Institutional strategy plan is to achieve specific goals through: a) Inclusion in contemporary trends of international cooperation in the region, Europe and all over world; b) Forming a student capable of acting in contact with other environments and cultures; c) Training of administrative staff to work with foreign students and teachers.

Cooperation with the Faculty of Education in Zurich (Switzerland, www.phzh.ch) was organized through the exchange of experiences and improvement of the work and knowledge of professors and students through strengthening of mutual capacities. This led to Council of Europe’s educational project “Living Democracy SEE” (Serbia)” (www.livingdemocracy.rs). Preschool Teachers Training College in Novi Sad has cooperation with the University of Maribor (Slovenia), Academy of Music in Gdansk (Poland), as well as with the Preschool Teacher Training college in Baja (Hungary). As a preparation for the implementation of the program Erasmus+, in the period between December 2013 and November 2016, the College was partner participants of the Tempus Programme project titled TEACH - Harmonization of Preschool Teacher Education Curricula in Serbia (544141 – Tempus-1-2013-1-RS-TEMPUS-JPCR). Specific project objectives were to: a) harmonize curricula through identifying the harmonization framework, b) to certify harmonized curricula through reaccreditation and enrolment of the 1 st generation of students, c) to improve transversal skills of teachers and to improve teaching methodology and entrepreneurial competences of teachers. Step towards implementation of the program Erasmus+ is a leading coordinator role in the latest TEMPUS Program project titled KEY – Keep Educating Yourself, Erasmus K2 - CBHE (585731-EPP-1-2018-1-RS-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP). Specific aims and objectives are to: a) establish the ECES learning hubs within participating HEIs in Serbia and Montenegro, b) to build the capacity across the CPD sector for monitoring, evaluation and quality assurance.

Preschool Teacher Training College in Novi Sad entered the program of academic motilities through Key 1 Erasmus+ program, establishing inter institutional cooperation with partners in the EU countries (Poland, Slovenia, Hungary) and Switzerland, in accordance with institutional capacities and possibilities of member countries to establish cooperation in the field of academic mobility of students, academic and non-academic staff.

Institutional strategy anticipates several concrete steps, i.e. 1) promoting and maintains relations with foreign higher education institutions; 2) empowerment of institutional capacities for the implementation of the program of Erasmus+ 3) stimulation of involvement of students, teaching and non-teaching staff in activities within the framework of the Erasmus+ Program, 4) broadening of the network of active partners and monitoring of reaching of aims of the Erasmus + Program. In the future, it is envisaged to develop cooperation programs for the member countries and countries outside the European area, within the framework of exchange programs and other activities, in accordance with the capacities of the institution and the willingness to cooperate with foreign partners.

Our strategy for the organization and implementation of international projects

The Council of PTTC has adopted the Strategy of Internationalization, as well as the establishment of the Institutional Department for International Relations. The strategy describes the intentions of the PTTC on the basis of the TEACH - TEMPUS project, and in the context of harmonized curricula with institutions that form the same staff, educates future educators. At the same time, it was working to improve the quality of teaching staff, through the development of soft skills, transfer of knowledge and development methods of teaching.

The KEY – Erasmus+ project goes a step further, so educators from the world of work who have completed vocational studies, are trained for continuous professional development, the recognition of its importance and contributions for the personal development of each individual and society. It is planned to do this by educators using ECEC learning hubs as local centers for continual professional development. PTTC is devoted to the continuous development of professional pedagogic and administrative support for academic staff involved in international projects PTTC continued to deal with the exchange of students and professors while Serbia was a partner country. Since the Serbia becomes a program country on 01/01/2019 (https://erasmusplus.rs/serbia-as-a-fully-fledged-erasmus-programmecountry/), PTTC supports existing efforts to continue to participate in such forms of exchange of people, knowledge and ideas. So far, cooperation with the Faculty of Education of the University of Maribor has been realized on the basis of a bilateral agreement within the Erasmus program KA107.

Expected impact on the modernization of our institution

Good practices encountered during the realization of Program activities will lead to a reflection and possibly adaptation of the institution’s approach to education and research in preschool matter. A broad network with strategic alliances will further this process of critical reflection, as strengthening quality through mobility and cross-border cooperation. Through their involvement in the Program, students and staff will gain skills linked to teaching and learning in an international environment. Many of these skills are transferable competences required from an increasing number of professionals on today’s labour market, such as language proficiency, intercultural competences etc. PTTC intends to organize mobility, both for study and training purposes. We wish to develop cooperation projects within the framework of a strategic alliance involving higher education, practice institutions, and all institutions which involve preschool matter. Thus, we believe the Program will give an impetus to establish a long lasting and structural link between preschool education, stakeholders and society in general. Clearly, the opportunities offered by such a link will be beneficial to students and staff and can help them in the development of their careers. The primary goals of European Education Area are investing in people and their education and Quality of Early Childhood Education & Care, so developing internationalization of Preschool Teachers Training College is logically inside of all the matter. Three key factors contribute to an improved education: the first one is the quality of teachers and of teaching. The second issue is linked to lifelong learning. The third factor is innovation and digital technologic education in the field of education. Priorities of PTTC are tackling skills mismatches and promoting excellence in skills development of preschool teachers, building inclusive and connected higher education systems, ensuring higher education institutions contribute to innovation and supporting effective and efficient higher education systems. The PTTC, as a higher education institution for preschool teachers, is developing its potential by following the education in the field of education. It aligns the needs of markets with market needs by adapting the curriculum to modern business requirements. Following the contemporary cultural, social and economic parameters, PTTC aims to link and harmonize educational with the professional competencies of students creating an appropriate environment in which they are formed as future educators. The aims of such an education environment, that PTTC strives to comply with the European Education Area (European Commission) initiative and objectives. The ultimate goal is to provide students with quality time at foreign faculties, strengthen their language competences, recognize their degree in EU countries, and strengthen European cultural identity. An important initiative PTTC intends to develop is a education system centers for lifelong learning of preschool teachers (Project KEY Keep Educating Yourself – Erasmus+ Program, Capacity-Building projects in the field of Higher Education. Call for Proposals EAC/A05/2017 - Project Reference 598977-EPP-1-2018-1-RS-EPPKA2- CBHE-JP).