NICE Handbook Virtual Launch

17 Dec 2020

The Network for Intercultural Competence to facilitate Entrepreneurship (NICE)  began as an Erasmus+ KA203 project. It was coordinated by the University of Edinburgh and received funding from the European Commission between and 2017-2020. NICE is a blended exchange programme, comprised of an online module on intercultural competence and entrepreneurship. This is centred around solving a real-world problem and is aimed at students from all disciplines and study levels. Over the course of the programme, students worked in transnational teams to develop a solution to a global challenge while developing their intercultural competencies and an entrepreneurial mindset.  

In UCD, the NICE module was offered by the Innovation Academy as a 5 ECTS undergraduate elective during the spring trimester in 2019 and 2020. The course required students to complete individual work in their own time and meet virtually with their team of students across eight European countries.

In July 2019, UCD hosted the NICE summer school, bringing together 64 students from eight universities. The Summer School incorporated interactive sessions with lecturers and entrepreneurs, student group work, team pitches, and an extensive cultural and social programme. In July 2020, the NICE consortium held a virtual summer student conference, which was hosted by the University of Salamanca.

UCD led the final output of this Erasmus+ project, which involved developing a handbook for policy makers, HEIs, colleges of further education and vocational schools. The handbook is broken down into several different sections outlining how to build a virtual exchange programme and it is accompanied by a comprehensive resource pack, which includes module outlines, a summer school planning template, training notes and student and staff recruitment plans. Read the handbook and view the introductory video

The NICE UCD team is hosting an online Q&A session on Wednesday, 13 January 2021 at 11:00 GMT/12:00 CET and we would be delighted if you could join us. Members of the NICE Project Consortium will provide you with a short presentation on our handbook and answer any questions you may have about implementing a virtual exchange programme. Sign up for the virtual session.

We hope that you can join us and look forward to discussing virtual exchange with you. If you have any questions, you can visit our website or email us at nice@ucd.ie.