1. VIRCLASS Meeting Amsterdam Managing the E-learning (Administrative issues)

2. Hints  Institutional role  Fees  Accreditation  Secretariat management  Awarding a diploma

3. Institutional role  VIRCLASS Project needs contribution by a WHOLE INSTITUTION and not only by a SINGLE TEACHER  Commitment to the initiative should come from an institutional representative (Dean, Rector, Director, Vice-Chancellor, etc.) FULLY AWARE of the project outcomes, aims and objectives…

4. Institutional role (2)  This “high level” commitment is motivated by the efforts of VIRCLASS to generate an e-learning programme that may be AGREED, SUSTAINABLE and FULLY RECOGNISED over the years;  It would be UNACCEPTABLE that a Virclass partner institution does not FULLY recognise credits awared by VIRCLASS…

5. Institutional role (3)  Furthermore, costs related to the teachers’ activities carried out in Virclass (mainly referred to “teaching”, “tutoring” and “assessing”) would represent the institutional financial commitment to the programme.  All the NECESSARY STEPS TO GUARANTEE FULL RECOGNITION should be immediately undertaken by all partner institutions

6. Institutional role (4)  Considered that, upon previous experience, BA students seem most likely to become the potential e-learning students:  The VIRCLASS curriculum could be approved and recognised (at each partner institution level) as part of the common degree in Social Work;  The VIRCLASS curriculum could be approved as external module that may then be fully recognised within the student’s academic CV;  The VIRCLASS curriculum might figure as specialisation course that would award additional titles for access to post-graduate education…

7. Institutional role (5)  An example of best practice may be the following: BA in Social Work at University of …(duration: 3 years) Common CV International CV Notes 1° Semester Common CV 2° Semester Language prep. 3° Semester VIRCLASS 4° Semester Common CV 5° Semester Erasmus abroad (at one of VIRCLASS partner institutions) 6° Semester Dissertation

8. Fees  In order to guarantee SUSTAINABILITY, we have to be aware that during and beyond the EU financial contract period, VIRCLASS HAS COSTS, namely:  Teachers’ wages  IT’S LEARNING licences  Platform maintenance  Students’ access to facilities (copyright issues, libraries, computers, books, etc.)  Overhead and administration costs  Travel & meeting costs

9. Fees (2)  How can VIRCLASS financially survive? 1.Through students’ fees 2.Through institutional fees By choosing option 1), there may be problems related to the non-habit in some Countries to pay for tuition fees as well as the risk to lose many students even before the start of the programme. By choosing option 2), there is the risk that NOT ALL of the VIRCLASS partner institutions may be able to sustain such an amount of expenses in order to have students not paying for tuition.

10. Secretariat management  HIB will start as official VIRCLASS secretariat, but…  Is there really any need to have the Secretariat changing from one institution to another?  Or is it better to have a common centre of excellence in this kind of activity that may guarantee full high-standard support to students and teachers?

11. Awarding a diploma  According to the choice done by each institution concerning recognition and accreditation, it will be possible to define what kind of title VIRCLASS may award its participants