VM curriculum designing

1. International student groups should be formed between/among collaborating institutions on the basis of mutual confidence relationships for SVM virtual exchange.
2. International (bilateral or multilateral) institutional agreements are signed for SVM implementation, following commonly agreed and accepted application forms for SVMvirtual exchange and credit transfer forms based on academic certificates issued by the hosting institution.
3. The hosting institution should have the offer for SVM available in advance, which consist of curriculum designed for VM, assessment forms and academic certificate forms consistent with credit transfer and recognition forms agreed with sending institutions.
4. Students can choose a shorter or a longer virtual exchange at the hosting institution (which should be indicated in the application) independent of prior/future physical visits to the same or different institution, choosing optional or joint – title courses from the hosting institution. The virtual exchange should however last not less than within the framework of one study subject, so that the credits received at the hosting institution for study learning outcomes can be transferred and recognized on the basis of an academic certificate.
5. International relation offices receive student applications for SVM and involve study departments to host visiting students.
6. Teacher(s) at hosting institution are assigned to intercultural international groups on the basis of internal institutional regulations and curriculum offer.
7. International student groups can be formed from visiting mobility students (physical visits at university campus) and virtual mobility students, as well as host students from the host institution.
8. Hosting institution should ensure equal access to VM curriculum for both groups of students (physically present at campus and those participating virtually) via pre-arranged ICT infrastructure.
9. In case of SVM, TVM can happen, but it is not a mandatory condition for SVM, and it largely depends on the curriculum designed for VM. It is not mandatory to have an international teaching group in the case of SVM.

Bilateral or multilateral SVM would differ mainly in VM student records. HEIs should keep in mind that students undertaking VM from one or several institutions can be registered only in 1 hosting institution at a time. Following this regulation, SVM should either allow flexible registration of students in terms of time scale during a VM project (short – term virtual visits, but not shorter than a semester), or SVM should be organized in longer terms to allow multilateral cooperation that lasts more than one academic semester. Then students can be registered in several institutions collaborating multilaterally on the basis of a VM multicultural exchange.

A student academic record at a host institution is an obligatory condition in order to achieve academic certificate on the basis of study records and to ensure credit transfer recognition by two or more collaborating institutions, on the basis of commonly agreed academic forms and collaboration agreements.

For this reason, in order to implement SVM and to recognize SVM outcomes, bilateral (not multilateral) institutional collaboration is recommended, especially if HEI implements SVM for the first time.

The mode of VM would not affect the same way TVM, as teachers usually have shorter term of VM and can stay in several hosting institutions during one semester.