FAPSA
FAPSA leads the development of innovative pedagogical approaches for RUN-EU and offers pedagogical support to enhance future skills through our joint education offer.
FAPSA ensures we deliver academic excellence and the best learning experience to our students
They identify and promote innovative pedagogical models and practices to be used in the creation of challenging and flexible study programmes that enhance transdisciplinarity and mobility in higher education. These are the RUN-EU Short Advanced Programmes and the Double and Joint Degree Programmes.
Supported by the European Innovation Hubs work, the FAPSA ensures our students get the latest knowledge in the three RUN-EU thematic areas and the future and advanced skills necessary to overcome the challenges of the future. With the students’ success and satisfaction at the top of their priorities, the FAPSA works with transnational curriculum development teams and other key stakeholders to provide immersive international learning experiences
How does the FAPSA work?
The FAPSA is managed by one Central FAPSA and is then divided into eight Institutional FAPSAs (one at each RUN-EU university, considering TUS has two FAPSAs – one in Athlone and the other in Limerick).
Central FAPSA
The Central FAPSA is led by HAMK and offers pedagogical competence development opportunities to teachers across the alliance.
It has three teams:
Pedagogy Team
It focuses on the pedagogical approach of the programmes.
It was produced by the FAPSA Pedagogy Team to promote pedagogy best practices for the development of advanced skills-based programmes.
The FAPSA is currently updating this report and a second edition will be published soon.
Skills Team
It identifies the advanced competencies to be developed.
Every semester, the FAPSA collects learning analytics to measure the RUN-EU learning and teaching experiences and understand which concrete approaches to education are better for our students.
The results of this assessment are then presented in the future and advanced skills reports – the Skills Bulletins.
By using concrete stories and experiences from students, researchers, teachers, employers, and policymakers, the FAPSA ensures the RUN-EU study programmes are delivering the skills set required for 2030 and beyond.
Audit Team
It ensures the quality and relevance of the programmes.
The Central FAPSA is also responsible for the development of tools and processes that are used to assess the relevance, quality, and impact of the Short Advanced Programmes and the Double and Joint Degree Programmes.
In 2021, the Central FAPSA piloted the use of the LearnWell questionnaire, which is a research-based instrument to assess the relevance, quality and impact of single modules or courses (such as SAPs) and study programmes (such as the Double and Joint Degree Programmes).
LearnWell is also a self-reflection tool for students to assess their learning processes and study-related wellbeing.
RUN-EU Super Week
The RUN-EU Super Week is an event organised by the Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) in Hämeenlinna (Finland), where staff get involved in the activities of the FAPSA Pedagogical Development Programme and the Design Factory Bootcamp, while students participate in a Short Advanced Programme organised by HAMK.
The Design Factory Bootcamp aims to promote the development of teachers’ transdisciplinary competencies and to enable the RUN-EU universities to launch their Design Factory to become members of the Design Factory Global Network.
The international Design Factory Bootcamps promoted by the Central FAPSA target three teachers from each RUN-EU university. These events aim to support further mobility opportunities for teachers and transdisciplinary and transnational Design Factory Workshops for students between the Design Factories.
RUN-EU Pedagogical Approaches Handbook
The RUN-EPA Pedagogical Approaches Handbook includes an overview of pedagogical development and peer learning initiatives for RUN-EU teachers and staff.
Pedagogical Guide for Teachers
Pedagogical Guide for Educational Developers and Leaders
Learning Guide for Students
Description of MOOCs Focused on Study Skills Development
Analysis of the Quality, Impact, and Relevance of RUN-EU’s Joint Education Offer
Institutional FAPSAs
Eight institutional FAPSAs design
and implement the innovative programmes and pedagogical approaches at each university
- Institutional FAPSA TUS Athlone
- Institutional FAPSA TUS Limerick
- Institutional FAPSA Leiria
- Institutional FAPSA IPCA
- Institutional FAPSA HAMK
- Institutional FAPSA NHL Stenden
- Institutional FAPSA FHV
- Institutional FAPSA UBU
- Institutional FAPSA Howest
