“The timing for our Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange was perfect”, explains Andra Cioltan-Drăghiciu, from the University of Graz, Austria, and the German speaking Andrássy University, in the Hungarian capital Budapest. “2018 marked the centenary of an important historic date, when Hungary lost territory to Romania and which has resulted in many political debates and misconceptions to this day”.

Andra teamed up with her Romanian colleague, Dana Stanciu, a teacher from Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca and Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu, to carry out a Transnational Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange Project. Nine students took part in an online collaborative activity that explored the different perceptions and interpretations of that historical event which resulted in the Treaty of Trianon. They created presentations so each side could explore the different perspectives.

Andra and Dana then introduced a number of real-time virtual sessions to their project with the help of specially trained Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange facilitators. “This was the perfect way to bring the students together online in a safe space where they could learn from each other”, explain Andra and Dana. With no lecturer present, both educators agree the students were freer to speak their minds and discuss their different viewpoints.

Following the online sessions, both lecturers introduced the concept of Virtual Exchange to their respective universities and found funding for an actual mobility. The students have visited each other in Romania and Hungary (December 2018, March 2019) and continue building upon their ‘virtual’ relationship, thus taking the project forward. “It’s been hard work coordinating it all”, say Andra and Dana, “but it’s been such a rewarding experience and one we’d highly recommend”.

Read more on the specific trainings offered by Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange to develop Transnational Exchange Projects with partnering institutions.