In recent years a number of important changes have been taking place in the Mediterranean and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In the southern Mediterranean, the economic crisis has had a knock-on effect across societies, with issues such as the environment, culture, health, and even identity coming to the fore. The people's revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East, spurred on by a popular demand for democracy, human rights, and transparency have highlighted just how interconnected the region is, as well as the role that Europe can play in one of its immediate neighborhoods.The media has played an ambiguous role in the crises which have affected the region - the advent of social media has been hailed as a driver of democratic change and community building, while at the same time economic and political pressures have caused the mainstream media to curb their reporting of the aforementioned issues. In the melting pot of change, the region's youth has been both a driver of change but is also one of the main groups that is suffering the consequences of these crises. Lacking proper information and opportunities, there is a risk of youth becoming disenfranchised within and across societies. Official institutions, operating under economic and political strain and restriction, are not able to address numerous issues of relevance to youth, while the media are not responding to their role in supporting democracy. ECFOLI is a media education project giving the opportunity to the youth of the Mediterranean and Middle East region to meet, share and create in their own communities, around the common issue of Environment and the Mediterranean cultural heritage, fostering therefore a dialogue, and allowing the establishment of long lasting and sustainable skills in conflict resolution.The 30 youth participating coming from of Cyprus, Palestine and Morocco will create different media products which may include digital stories, jazz videos clips, and drama plays that will highlight and promote in their own way the Environment and Mediterranean cultural heritage. the youth will be trained to be the ECFOLI ambassadors and therefore take a more active participation in the society. Through the use and the development of an E-learning and E-coaching multilingual platform, ECFOLI will provide learning and initial and ongoing training material for users as well as communication, collaboration functionalities, collaborative space work and evaluation system to the trainers and participants. ECFOLI will promote, develop and implement an innovative practice in the field of media education in a trans-regional project.The project will take place during 2 years, starting with a training of trainers in Cyprus, followed by the implementation of the different activities in each country and ending after the dissemination of the media products by a final inter regional workshop and conference in Morocco where leaders and participants will share best practices and evaluation. The conference will also gather together practitioners and experts in the fields to ensure the dissemination and sustainability of the projects outcomes. The ECFOLI documentary and exhibition will be launched.

<< Background >>Europe is a wonderful place when we think of the cultural richness and diversity that exists on this continent, or of the achievements of our evolved democracies. But Europe needs an education system that takes all the people who live here along and gives them equal opportunities and chances to participate, especially in the arts and culture. This is the only way to prevent a dangerous division of society, that starts at the national level. It is a big task, and there is still a lot to do here. The schools, cultural institutions and universities involved in E*CCAJ and spread over four European countries want to join forces to do their part for the inclusion of young, disadvantaged pupils – with the power of arts education. Because: some young people in European schools are not visible to each other or even themselves. We feel strongly that the program CCAJ, through creative encounters between young people from different schools, through their participation on cinema as art, will enable them to see themselves and each other, to share their lives and passions and identities - both on screen and behind the scenes. But to make these encounters successfully happen, teachers need tools and expertise, which can be provided by developing pedagogies with filmmakers, and further developed and exchanged between each other. Furthermore, since the outbreak of COVID-19, our target groups of young people (and teachers and filmmakers) have experienced more isolation, but at the same time have been put in reach of each other, and culture, through digital means. E*CCAJ addresses all these challenges by initiating a European learning community over three years, across geographical borders and sectors.<< Objectives >>Objective 1: The renowned film education project CCAJ will be transferred into a new European constellation and methodically developed further. New reusable products & training formats will be created. Objective 2: The positive effect of this film education project and its special methodology on disadvantaged students with regard to the acquisition of Key Competences, empowerment and inclusion is to be examined as an example. Implicit experiential knowledge that has grown over years in the pedagogical leadership / in the tandems of participating artists and teachers will be made explicit and can be shared. The significance of the project and its many dimensions can be better classified in terms of educational policy. It is opened up for further research and serves to develop research perspectives and methods for aesthetic film education. Objective 3: All project participants (students, teachers, filmmakers, mediators, cultural organizations, universities) engage in an intensive examination and learning process on film education and broaden their horizons, network, etc. through participation in a European project and the mobility that comes with it.<< Implementation >>E*CCAJ will implement teacher training in film education as well as long-term learning activities for disadvantaged pupils in four European countries: Portugal, Bulgaria, France and Germany. This will be accompanied by a research-based evaluation (observation, interviews) organized by two Universities in France and Germany. Furthermore, we will organize a international cross-sectoral in-depth exchange and reflection on methodologies and pedagogical approaches on arts education & inclusion.<< Results >>see annexed PDF

"Context. Disinformation spread over the digital social networks is a threat to our democracies, our society, our economy, and to the individuals. Disinformation alters confidence of the general public in the media, and tends to undermine the freedom of press and the freedom of expression. As highlighted in the report published by the High Level Expert Group (2018) set up by the European Commission, tackling misinformation requires a multidimensional approach and strategy because of its technological, legal, political, economic and educational implications (""A multi-dimensional approach to disinformation. Report of the independent High level Group on fake news and online disinformation"" - March 2018). In this respect, the European Commission particularly recognises ""the key role of emerging technologies which are changing the way information is produced and disseminated, and have the potential to play a central role in tackling disinformation over the longer term. For instance: Artificial intelligence, Innovative technologies, such as blockchain and Cognitive algorithms. The EU Commission also streses that: ""Journalists must have the right digital skills to be able to use data and social media analytics, with a view to enhancing fact-finding and verification"".The project has also two main objectives:a)To meet the need for new and advanced skills that media and media education professionals must acquire. With this in mind, the project plans to design and develop a joint European cross-disciplinary post-graduate training curriculum on disinformation and fact-checking accessible via the Web. b)To enable participants to acquire real expertise in the fields of fact-checking and disinformation, in order to enable them to exercise the new emerging profession of fact-checker. To this end, the project plans to create a set of 8 higher education eLearning modules provided over the Web, and covering the main disciplines involved in designing and implementing a a fact-checking strategy based on quality news production and distribution. Participants. The project will be run by a consortium made of eight partners. It will be led by the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of the New University of Lisbon, in cooperation with the Faculty of Computer Science and Communication of the University of Economics in Katowice, the Faculty of Sociology of the Sorbonne Nouvelle University - Paris 3, the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Faculty of Education Sciences of the University of Lapland, the Faculty of Law of Leiden, the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the University of Lorraine, and the Portuguese Press Publisher's Association. Target audiences: students in media studies, current and future media professionals; public relation managers, teachers in media education. The project will carry out the following key activities:The design, implementation and organization of a joint European cross-disciplinary post-graduate training curriculum on disinformation and fact-checking accessible via the Web. The design & development of 8 e-learning course modules in the following areas covering the main disciplinary fields concerned by disinformation. Dissemination activities: a project website, a web portal intended for the scientific and professional community, a face-to-face workshop on fact-cheking, an international conference. The project methodology: the project will be managed by the project promoter who will assign the internaternational project coordinator, and be supported by the project Steering Committee composed of two representatives from each partner centre, one of whom acts as local coordinator of the project. A Quality Assurance process will guide the different activities of the project, supplemented by feedback analyses on the satisfaction of the project's target groups. The results and impact envisaged:a) A new joint cross-disciplinary postgraduate training curriculum on disinformation and fact-checking with a set of eight higher education eLearning modules provided over the Web; the joint organization in the partners' universities of the new postgraduate training program on fact-checking; A satisfaction survey and study;b) The joint organization five face-to-face workshops on fact-checking for news media professionals c) The project website; a dissemination web portal directed to the media scientific, and professional community; a geolocation website of the postgradute students; ; the organisation in Lisbon of an international conference on fact-checking, disinformation, and education; the organization in Portugal (mainland and islands) of a 2-day workshop on fact-checking.Impacts & future benefits: the dissemination of advanced knowledge to current and future media professionals; meeting the need for new skills; the European deployment of postgraduate studies and international access to training via the Web."

In only 2 years the YUFE Alliance (Young Universities for the Future of Europe) has developed a leading model of a student-centred, equalitarian, open and inclusive European University, and is fully committed to make the next step towards an innovative, globally competitive, and attractive European Higher Education Area. YUFE will continue to make our shared dream become a reality: the emerging of a unique, holistic, diverse, and innovative European University by 2030. YUFE has developed a ground-breaking vision where education, research & innovation, and societal impact seamlessly interconnect in seven pillars fostering our joint goal in education: to provide high quality, open and flexible European academic curricula, the education for the future, for life-long learners of all backgrounds (II). Academic research, innovation (III), and societal responsibility leading to impact (IV) are fully integrated in the YUFE ambition. YUFE Digital University will provide for the development of both digital tools and instruments and digital policy frameworks and skills (V). YUFE identity and values (I) are reflected in all Alliance’s activities and are prominent in the narratives that YUFE brings forward in its sustainable strategy, with the aim to establish a socially responsible European University, working together to develop a people-centred, inclusive, and open European University for their students, staff and communities. To achieve these ambitious goals, the YUFE Alliance is moving towards a federation-like structure with an inter-university YUFE campus in the long term. Institutional development provides a hub leading to new models of governance, management processes and staff development (VI). Finally, via dissemination and capacity building (VII), YUFE is all set to serve as a role model and influence and push transformation across and beyond the existing European universities.

ENROPE - European Network for Junior Researchers in the Field of Plurilingualism and Education - is an international, cooperative project aiming to provide high-quality qualification and networking opportunities for junior researchers in the field of multi- and plurilingualism and education. European societies of today are characterized by a growing diversity of languages, cultural preferences and backgrounds, as well as by dynamic shifts regarding socioeconomic opportunities and participation. Education towards plurilingualism, therefore, is at the very heart of European integration, and it is closely linked with the strife for socioeconomic well-being and political and cultural equity. If seen against this scene, it seems rather timely that the field of foreign language education will shed its widely monolingual character: Foreign language education has mostly remained an issue of national cultures, national research traditions and national educational systems. The notion of teaching different languages as single and separate systems is largely unquestioned as are local language teaching policies and practices. Junior researchers who enter the field at the early stages of their careers find it in a paradoxically monolingual state. The ENROPE project operates at the interface of language education research, language teaching and professional development. Its key objective is to encourage educational researchers and, vice-versa, educators with an interest in research to develop a more plurilingual mind-set as well as a professional habitus that reflects language education research and teaching in the light of societal multilingualism and individual plurilingualism. ENROPE promotes inquiry-based and research-related classroom development that is sensitive to the linguistic ecology of classrooms and their environments as a means of promoting high-quality and innovative language teaching. As an overall result, ENROPE has established a sustainable network for junior researchers in foreign language education and has aimed for strengthening professional identities. An Intensive Study Programme (ISP), consisting of three annual training weeks, linked to and enhanced by regular online study phases (OSPs), has brought together around 200 junior researchers from various disciplines involved in language education research. The ISP has provided them with opportunities for transborder collaboration and professional qualification at two intersecting levels: 1) specialist thematic exchange and reflection of research practices in the light of multi- and plurilingualism, and 2) reflection on and development of the researchers’ professional identities with regard to multi- and plurilingualism. The project, thus, combines professional qualification through collaboration with a pedagogical agenda through experiential learning and reflection. In order to establish a sustainable inter- and transdisciplinary environment for academic exchange and reflection, ENROPE has produced 1) an Online Platform (IO1) offering versatile spaces and tools for collaboration, e-learning and networking in the context of multi- and plurilingualism. In line with the Online Platform, 2) an embedded e-Portfolio (IO2) has functioned as an empowering tool for researchers in language education and language educators alike to engage in meaningful professional reflection that reaches beyond the instrumental skills of the academic disciplines. ENROPE’s key activities and products have been underpinned by a 3) Qualification Handbook (IO3) and thus be open for adaptation in other educational fields affected directly or indirectly by multi- and plurilingual ecologies. With regards to the Multiplier Events (ME), four events have been organized and hosted by four different partners. The results and outcomes of the products have found a place and have been shared with the wider audience; namely teachers, teacher educators, teacher-researchers, policy-makers and academics from related disciplines. ENROPE has been recognized by a consortium consisting of nine European universities and research centres representing a wide array of languages and disciplines. The consortium is also complemented by a large network of associated partners from within Europe and beyond, which has focused on facilitating ENROPE’s outreach and sustainability throughout and after the project’s lifetime. Thus, a large number of participants are also expected to participate in future events especially in digital formats. It is clear that the well-established structure of ENROPE to support doctoral and post-doc students at an international level will become a stable and sustainable component of the further work of the LANGSCAPE network group, as the ENROPE consortium consisted mainly of members of LANGSCAPE.