News
Vilnius Gediminas Technical University informs the YEBO! project’s partners about the opportunity for doctoral candidates from the Republic of South Africa (and other countries mentioned in the advertisement) to get funding for 1–2 semester internship at our university in the academic year 2021–2022.All information on internship funding and application opportunities PhD candidates can find here.
Information about doctoral programs at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and lists of potential supervisors of PhD candidates can be found here.PhD candidates wishing to do an internship are welcome to contact the potential supervisors directly.If applicants have any further questions regarding the funding of the internship, please contact to this address directly.The application deadlines are very short – documents accepted until 16 April 2021 to this address.If applicants do not find answers about the internship at the addresses provided, please contact the Department for Doctoral Studies of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University by e-mail: doktor@vilniustech.lt
After a successful three and a half years collaboration, YEBO! partners gathered for the last time online on May 6th, 2021, for the Final Consortium Meeting of the project.
This meeting was the opportunity to discuss the achievements and results of the project, the sustainability of its outcomes and to prepare to post-YEBO! era for the partners. The meeting ended with everyone committing to pursue their internationalization journey and to capitalize on the work done within the framework of YEBO!, while future collaborations between the partners where discussed. YEBO! might officially be over, but no doubt it still has a promising future.
The YEBO! journey started in December 2017, when the summer was at its most in Pretoria, and the snow was covering the streets of MontpellierYEBO!meaningYES! in Zulu bridged two continents with fifteen partners for collaboration focusing on the internationalization of doctoral studies in South Africa.
The three and a half years journey started with great enthusiasm driven by the common desire amongst partners to build a sustainable ecosystem in the respective member universities to support the production of globally competitive PhD’s. It is a globally recognised fact that PhD’s are the foundation of academic life and a key driver of innovation. By focusing on the strengthening the internationalisation of PhD’s studies, the YEBO Project presented an opportunity for mutual learning, benchmarking and leapfrogging for all partners.
YEBO’s legacy
Throughout the YEBO project timeline, many interventions were undertaken to strengthen inter- cultural competences, structural services to support international mobility and enhance the international quality, development of a toolbox for supervision, networking and exchange of the best practices amongst others. These interventions brought together all stakeholders in the PhD value-chain including academics/supervisors, administrators, university leaders, PhD candidates, early career academics and funders. Many moments of shared learning and growth were availed these interventions. As the Covid – 19 pandemic upended our reality, the YEBO Project timeline was adjusted and new ways of working adopted. With all these challenges, the project achieved its objectives owing to the unwavering commitment of all the partners.
The Final Conference
From the 12thto 14thApril 2021, the YEBO project will hold its final conference organised collaboratively by all partners and hosted online by the University of Pretoria and the University of Uppsala. The conference themed “Internationalisation of the PhD: from possibilities of today to challenges of the future”will include a set of great activities with a specific emphasis on core aspects of the Doctoral Studies: modernisation and supervision. Among all, we will have sessions involving speakers from YEBO partner institutions, from the South Africa Ministry of Higher Education Science and Innovation, from the European Commission, government representatives, funding agencies representatives amongst others. Participants will also be given the chance to take part in a virtual collaborative activity called « World Café ». On the final day, PhD students will take on the challenge to present their thesis and research process with scientific posters or three-minute presentations in front of a very demanding crowd and jury.
As the final YEBO conference marks the end of the project, it also provides an opportunity to investigate YEBO development during its lifespan, its contribution to the South African national plan for doctoral education, the current position of the South African Doctoral studies and students and what challenges remain to address. And we trust that thanks to YEBO’s contribution, when the blue sky of Pretoria will welcome the summer light and the winter will cover the streets of Montpellier again, there will be assessed knowledge, developed methodologies and skills to face remaining challenges and foster doctoral students with a strong internationalization and supervision for the future.
We encourage you to save the date and hope that you will be able to join us online for the final YEBO! Conference!
Register for the conference here:https://rsvp.hubilo.com/yebofinalconference
Find out the full programme here:YEBO_Conference_Programme
SAVE THE DATE! YEBO will host its Final Conference from April 12 to April 15 of 2021. The event will take place at the University of Pretoria, South Africa (to be confirmed depending on the COVID-19 situation). The conference will also be broadcasted online so you can engage even if you don’t have the opportunity to travel.
The team is working hard to design an exciting and engaging program to close YEBO! on the highest possible note. Stay tuned, more information coming your way really soon!
On November 24-25, YEBO participated in the South Africa and Sweden University Forum (SASUF) hosted online by Uppsala University, one of the members of YEBO’s consortium.
During this event, YEBO delivered 2 high quality workshops gathering a grand total of 120 participants combined:
- « Ethics of research in the digital age and COVID-19 era », where panellists discussed the main challenges of the « Global Scholar » in terms of ethics, the rules of the research competitiveness « game », the requirements to work ethically, the new direction implied by COVID-19, ethics of interaction and engagement with digital platform, and so on. The panellists also highlighted good practices they implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic when it comes to ethics.
- « Supervision of PhD students in the digital age and COVID-19 era: what’s changed? », where panellists discussed the new ways of supervising recently developed (co-tutelle, dual/joint degrees, …) and how they were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the responsibilities of the supervisor in such a specific context, the need for evaluation of the supervision, the long-distance relationship between the PhD candidate and the supervisor, the different facets of the supervising job, the different kind of supervisors and how they evolved with COVID, and more.
Both workshops were delivered by 3 panellists and a moderator from YEBO’s partner institutions. The complementarity between the panellists, all of them being at different stages of their career and with different backgrounds and career paths, allowed really lively discussions and a lot of informative exchanges on related topics.
If you missed the workshop, you can find the presentations of the panellists on theYEBO platform, along with additional and relevant content related to these topics.
A huge thanks to all the participants, to the panellists, to the YEBO partners and to SASUF and Uppsala University for a really fruitful and interactive event!
During the last 6 months, YEBO has been working hard behind the scenes to adapt its activities to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several events got canceled or postponed, but the YEBO! Team managed to find alternatives in order to bring you content at home.
The main highlight: initially supposed to conclude in October 2020, YEBO activity will keep going until May 14th, 2021. And we have a lot of exciting stuff to come. Here is what’s new for YEBO!
1. YEBO! Conference 2: « Fostering the internationalization of PhD studies Empowering Future Female Leaders in International Academia », initially planned during the SASUF event hosted by Uppsala University, Sweden, on May 4-6, 2020,will be replaced by another activity as SASUF is being postponed.
Indeed, SASUF is now going digital, and will be hosted online on November 23-26, 2020. During this event, and in order to adapt to this new format, YEBO! Conference 2 will be replaced by 2 workshops: A) Supervision of PhD students in the digital age and COVID-19 era: what’s changed? and B) Ethics of research in the digital age and COVID-19 era. You don’t want to miss that.
2. YEBO! was supposed to participate in the Annual Conference of the COIMBRA Group hosted in Montpellier, France, June 10-12 2020.This event is canceled.
3. YEBO! Conference 3, the final conference of the project, was scheduled on september 28-29th 2020 in Pretoria, South Africa. This event ispostoponed and will now take place on April 12-15th 2021, along with the final consortium meeting of the project. As for now, the plan is still to have a physical event hosted by Pretoria University, depending on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. In any case, the event will also be online, at least in a blended format. More information to come really soon, stay tuned!
On behalf of the YEBO Team!, thank you for your support and contribution to YEBO’s success. We cannot wait to see you during our really exciting activities scheduled for late 2020 – early 2021.
On October 8th, 2020? YEBO held its 5th consortium meeting. It took place online and gathered representatives from all 15 partner institutions involved in YEBO! A really intense and fruitful meeting having as its main focus the adaptation of YEBO! activities to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During this meeting were discussed:
- The activity to be delivered in replacement of the canceld Uppsala conference originally scheduled in May, 2020;
- The date and content of YEBO! Final Conference, its format and the elements to consider (COVID-19 situation in South Africa, in European countries, …) in regards of a possible physical event;
- Opportunities for dissemination of YEBO! results by the end of the project;
- Upcoming updates on the YEBO! PhD Portal.
The following decisions were taken:
- Preparation of 2 workshops for the South Africa and Sweden University Forum (SASUF) hosted by Uppsala, in replacement of the Uppsala conference. The workshops will focus on Supervision of PhD students in the COVID-19 context and Ethics of research and its evolution in regards of digitalization. Both of these topics will have to be related to internationalization of PhD studies. Next step: identify possible panellists and design together the content of the workshops;
- New date of the Final Conference: April 12-15th, 2021. New theme to be discussed and agreed by the end of 2020. Participants from YEBO! Training 4 will be involved with a PhD contest (3min pitch or scientific poster presentation). Final decision to be taken in early 2021 on whether the conference can be hosted physically. In any case, there will be an online accessibility (blended event or 100% online);
- Content and architecture updates on the PhD Portal.
YEBO developed a funding tool to help PhD students identify and candidate for funding opportunities for their research projects. This tool consists in a plateform called OPEN4YEBO!
Within the framework of the project, YEBO! is offering 7000 licenses, with free and unrestricted access.
On the 16th and 22nd of July, Central University of Technology (CUT), Free State, in Bloemfontein, South Africa, delivered online sessions for PhD candidates from YEBO partner universities with complete information and a tutorial on how to access and use the plateform. These online sessions gathered over 200 students and future beneficiaries of OPEN4YEBO!
Happy new year from all the Yebo! team!There is plenty to come in this new decade for the Yebo! project, have a sneak peek at our future events:
- Yebo! Conference 2: “Fostering the internationalization of PhD studies Empowering Future Female Leaders in International Academia”, Uppsala, Sweden, May 4-6th2020
- Side event at the Annual Conference of the Coimbra Group: Montpellier, France, June 10-12th2020
- Yebo! Conference 3:Final conference, Pretoria, 28-29thof September 2020
The Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of Western Cape co-hosted a YEBO training with more than 50 PhD students and 20 trainers to “Strenghten research visibilty and capacity of PhD candidates”.
To better prepare 50 SA PhD candidates in improving their capacity to conduct research at an international level, the workshop focused on 4 main themes: 1) writing a (mobility / research) grant proposal; 2) research ethics and integrity; 3) publishing internationally & pitching your research; 4) visibility of research & the researchers (e.g. broader impact, social media, career development). The students who attended the training will contribute to the YEBO final Conference in September, showcasing the new competencies acquired in termes of research communication.
YEBO partners from Europe and South Africa met in Vilnius on the 21st and 22nd of November 2019 for the second mi-term consortium meeting.
They presented EACEA Interim Evaluation remarks, discussed QA Report & Feedback Training 2 & 3, prepared for Training 4, presented YEBO! leaflet, poster & Video
Discussed Dissemination & Sustainability Action Plan, provide feedback from EUA-CDE, IEASA & EIAE conferences and prepare for next conferences.
The aim of the Staff Week was to highlight the International strategy of the different institutions represented and to generate links and exchanges of ideas and good practices regarding internationalisation of higher education. The agenda was built towards that goal with presentations, collective intelligence trainings, work sessions but also some social events for conviviality.
There was 50 participants from 7 different countries, all being part of a Higher Education institution and partnering with the University of Montpellier within the framework of a project related to internationalization like Yebo!
EAIE Conference
Helsinki 2019: Europe’s largest international higher education conference
24–27 September 2019
The 31st Annual EAIE Conference and Exhibition in Helsinki, Finland took place at the Messukeskus Expo and Convention Centre. The 2019 conference theme was ‘encompassing all voices’.
It was a great opportunity for Yebo! to disseminate the project by the production of a poster that was presented during the poster session.
Poster thematic: « internationalization of PhD Study ».
Two speakers presented the poster, Leolyn Jackson,Head of the International Office at CUT and Camylle Pernelle, Project coordinator from Montpellier University.
Internationalisation of Higher Education in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR): Innovation, Diversity, Inequality and Inclusivity
21-23 August 2019, Cape Town
YEBO partners from Europe and South Africa are meeting in Somerset West, Cape Town, South Africa from the 21st to the 23rdof August to participate in a series of Workshops within IEASA Annual conference “Internationalisation of Higher Education in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR): Innovation, Diversity, Inequality and Inclusivity”
WORKSHOP 02: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF DOCTORAL STUDIES AS A RESPONSE TO THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The 4th Industrial Revolution is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres. The workshop will explore the relationship between 4IR and internationalization of doctoral studies.
Key speakers: Prof. Gunda Huskobla, Friedrich Schiller University Jena/Coimbra Group, Germany; Prof. Leif Kirsebom, Uppsala University, Sweden; Prof. Liezel Frick, Stellenbosch University, South Africa; Umesh Bawa, University of Western Cape; Leolyn Jackson, Central University of Technology.
WORKSHOP 05: CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT AND THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF DOCTORAL STUDIES CONCRETE APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONALISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION – THE YEBO CASE STUDY
Explore how the 4th Industrial Revolution is swiftly reshaping peoples’ everyday lives through advancements in fields such as artificial intelligence, 3D printing and biotechnology. The workshop examines the Erasmus+ Project YEBO as a case study to highlight how internationalization may help address challenges presented by the impact of the 4th industrial revolution on Higher Education in particular.
Key speakers: Dr Lidia Borrell-Damián, European University Association (EUA); Refilwe Moleyane, Central University of Technology; Dr. Xolani Makhoba, Reon Maemane and Prof. Anthony Bizos, University of Pretoria; Anish Kurien, Tshwane University of Technology.
« DEVELOPING A TOOLBOX FOR MANAGING INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE PhD PROGRAMMES »
Integral to the internationalisation of PhD studies is the idea of student-supervisor interaction taking place across borders, nationalities and cultures. In addition, other stakeholders play a role when PhDs are internationalized. These stakeholders are located in different societal contexts, institutional contexts and strategies, disciplinary contexts and individual contexts. Given these different contexts, participation in the higher education system of different countries can sometimes mean that different and occasionally contradictory, norms, rules and regulations, legislative frameworks and educational traditions come into play. Indeed, this is true even at an inter-institutional level with in South Africa, let alone between countries. There are therefore a number of important considerations to take into account in order to safeguard the interests of all parties. This training workshop will look in some detail at international PhD engagement through the mode of joint enrollment at different partner institutions. It will seek to map the elements that need consideration when contemplating enrolling PhDs in this way and aim to provide a template or guideline for South African partners to use. The training workshop will also look at some specific challenges that impact in the different contexts, from the macro to the micro level. In conclusion, the workshop will also allow for some alternative models of supervisory training to be shared since adequate supervisory capacity development in the country is a particular pressure point in the South African context.
EUA-CDE Annual Meeting 2019 (Brescia, 12-14 June)
Open to everyone interested in this field, the EUA Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE) invited university members and other stakeholders to take this opportunity to exchange good practices and build new relations with European policy makers, funding organisations and global partners. This event is of particular interest for academic leaders, doctoral education professionals, doctoral candidates and other research stakeholders.
YEBO side-event:Promoting doctoral education in South Africa
The YEBO special event lasted 1,45 hours and it was held during the EUA-CDE pre-meeting (12 June 2019). The topics was: Overview of South African Doctoral Context (state of the art, National Strategy, current challenges); current opportunities in South Africa for European universities (co-tutelles framework; fellowships); future perspectives for the Internationalisation of Doctoral Education in South Africa (long-term strategy, new investments & objectives beyond 2020).
For more information on YEBO side-event: yebo@umontpellier.fr
For more details on EUA-CDE Annual Meeting:https://eua.eu/events/32-2019-eua-cde-annual-meeting.html
« Towards institutional structures that support the complete PhD life cycle »
The starting point of this workshop is that internationalization of PhD studies is a shared institutional responsibility. In order to make each PhD experience more international institutions need to make sure that all phases of the PhD life cycle are adequately supported: before embarking on a PhD candidates need to have access to information and services with regard to funding and international mobility; their registration at the university should be free of any unnecessary barriers (e.g. a uniform registration system for all, incl. international candidates); upon registration they should have access to various services for personal/professional development, for short (e.g. conferences) and long term (e.g. research stays, joint supervision) international mobility; quality mechanisms are to be put in place to ensure retention of PhD students (e.g. annual progress reports, supervisor training, etc.).
Key note speakers: Mahlubi Mabizela, Aldo Stroebel, Nico Jooste, Robert Kotzé, Alexander Hasgall, Jean-Marie Pincemin
The Central University of Technology, Free State extends an invitation to service providers to tender for the “Call for tenders for purchasing a service providing access to a database of international funding opportunities for PhD candidates of European Project YEBO! South African partner institutions”.
All bid documents (available in English only) are obtainable from 09:00 on Monday, 25 February 2019 until 10:00 on, Monday 25 March 2019, from Room 55 Orion Building or via e-mail): tenders@cut.ac.za.
Closing date: Monday 25 March 2019 at 12:00
All of the 15
YEBO partner institutions met from the 27th to the 30 of November. They participated all together to see the results reached so far and to decide on the future activities of the project.
During this meeting was presented :
The results from the first Training session in Bloemfontein.
The progress report on the quality management of the project’s first year.
ThePhD Portalof the project.
And the following decisions were taken :
Clarification of the themes, targets and places for the next conferences and training sessions.
Suggestion of a few modifications on the PhD Portal.
Validation of the equipment selected by the partners institutions for their purchases.
Validation of the dissemination plan of the project.
YEBO ! partners from Europe and South Africa met in Bloemfontein from the 23rdto 26thOctober to deliver a series of Workshops on Intercultural Competencies.During the training session on Intercultural Competencies the participants were involved in the workshop onIntroduction to the need and impact of having Intercultural Competenciesand the workshopTestimonies and exchange of best practices on Intercultural Competencies. Keynote speakers during the training were: Liezel Frick, Fanny Poujol and Stephanie Giljohann.
This training session on Intercultural Competencies was the first one in a series of four. The other sessions will be organized in the course of 2019 and 2020, focusing on the set-up and management of doctoral schools, international supervision and research capacity.
It took place on the 12thand 13thApril in Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Fourteen partners attended it. During this meeting several subjects were tackled. First the results from the internationalization rate questionnaire were presented and helped set the priorities of this project. Discussion on the PhD portal and how it should be organized took place. And finally the theme, approximate date and place of the training sessions and conference were decided.
The meeting took place at the Education, Culture, and Audiovisual Executive Agency (EACEA) headquarters on the 29th and 30th January 2018.
It provided opportunities for networking and sharing knowledge on how to conduct an Erasmus+ programme. Two representatives of the project went there, Camylle Pernelle (UM) and Leolyn Jackson (CUT).
They met with the project officer in charge of the project. They got the chance to discuss the regulations concerning Erasmus+ Capacity Building projects.
The Kick-Off of the project took place the 4th and 5th December 2017 in Montpellier. It gathered around thirty participants from the fifteen international partners involved in the project.
This Kick-Off was a very important meeting where partners got the chance to meet one another. It also allowed the outlining of the implementation of the activities, goals and the guidelines to be adopted during this project.
During these two days, the participants discussed how to evaluate the internationalization rate of PhD studies among all partners, the creation of a PhD portal and the organization of conferences and training sessions.
Timeline
2017
- 4 – 5th December 2017:
Kick-off Meeting in Monptellier (FR).
2018
- April 2018:
Publication of YEBO #1 Newsletter(click here) - 12 – 13th April 2018:
Meeting 1 in Cape Peninsula University of Technology (SA). - May 2018:
Introduction of the results from the comparative analysis of the internationalization indicators. - October 2018:
Publication of YEBO #2 Newsletter(click here)
Training session 1 hosted by the Central University of Technology
(SA) : Intercultural skills. - 29th-30th November 2018:
Mid-term meeting hosted by the Technische Universität Berlin (DE).
Launch of thePhD Portal
2019
- 25th-29th March:
Training session 2 hosted by the University of Pretoria (SA): Towards institutional structures that support the complete PhD life cycle
- 12th-14th June:
YEBO side-event within EUA-CDE Annual Meeting in Brescia (IT)
- 24th-28th June:
Training session 3 hosted by Stellenbosch University (SA):Developing a toolbox for managing international collaborative PhD programmes
- 21st-23rd August:
YEBO side-event within IEASA Conference (Cape Town, SA)
Publication of YEBO #3 Newsletter(click here)
- 24th-27th September:
YEBO side-event within EAIE Conference (Helsinki, Finland)
- 30th October -4th November:
Montpellier International Staff Week with participation of 15 YEBO partners
- 21-22nd November:
Second Mid-Term Consortium meeting hosted by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (LT)
2020
- 10-13th March:
Training session 4 hosted by the University of Western Cape (SA): “Research Visibility and Capacity”
Publication of YEBO #4 Newsletter (click here)
- 16th and 22ndJuly:
Online information session on the OPEN4YEBO! Platform, hosted by CUT
- 8th October:
5th conosrtium meeting hosted online
- 24-25th November:
YEBO! workshops during the South Africa and Sweden University Forum (SASUF)
2021
- 12-14th April:
YEBO Final Conference online, hosted by the University of Pretoria (SA)
- 6th May:
YEBO Final Consortium Meeting online