Arqus moVEs – 5th edition: Virtual Exchanges for international mobility experiences

Participants will develop various skills and competencies. In particular, the project will:

• Enhance and foster soft skills.
• Foster intercultural competence and global competence.
• Boost critical thinking.
• Stimulate interest in global issues.
• Create cohesion among participants.
• Cultivate curiosity towards other cultures and active listening.
• Promote inclusive multilingualism.
• Develop linguistic and digital competencies.
• Practice various languages at the same time/simultaneously.
• Boost students’ mobility.

The project foresees different communication modes:

• many-to-many communication, where various languages other than English will be used as lingua franca.
• few-to-few communication, where collaborative activities will be carried out.

The Kick-off meetings will take place on 3 November 2025, before international and exchange students’ departure, and it is divided into two levels:

• First level: 3 meetings focused on crunchy themes like food, music, and language, with a strong cultural orientation to help students get prepared for their mobility experience (duration: approximately 3 weeks).
• Second level: 3 further meetings exploring more thought-provoking, engaging, and sensitive themes (duration: approximately 3 weeks).

Participants will be free to sign up for the first level and later decide whether to go for the second one and furtherly develop their intercultural growth and networking.

Students’ workload is estimated to be around 2-3 hours/week and combines synchronous and asynchronous activities.

The participants who meet the requirements for their respective level will be provided with an Arqus certificate of participation. Special mentions will be dedicated to participants who stand out in terms of commitment and active participation.

The students who complete both levels will furthermore be awarded with an Open Badge. 

Arqus MoVEs is open to all Arqus students, but it has limited places. Students will be selected based on their motivation and their previous experiences.

To complete the course, all the participants must:

• Participate in all of the synchronous online sessions (if anyone misses one of the sessions, they will have a chance to catch up).
• Write a final essay on the overall exchange (different length depending on the attended level).
• Create one to three(max) infographics (depending on the level).
• Comment on at least four of their peers’ posts and infographics.
• Fill in three questionnaires.