Interview
2 min read
Published on
January 31, 2021
How long have you been working in international education?
I have been in the position of Director of the Centre for International Cooperation of Masaryk University since September 2013 only, but I have been involved with international education since the early 90s, when I was appointed Vice-Dean for International Relations of the Faculty of Arts and worked in the position from 1992 to 2000, and from 2006 to 2013. And even as Dean of the Faculty (2000-2006) I was obviously tackling the issue on everyday basis.
Which was your previous professional experience?
My professional experience at the Faculty of Arts concerned not only managerial tasks, but usual teaching as well: besides my work within the senior management of the Faculty of Arts, I was one of the members of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures (1990-2014).
Tell us something about you. In which university did you study? Which is your degree? And your main academic interest?
I am a perfect example of that despicable and universally despised academic inbreeding: I studied at Masaryk University, graduated from Masaryk University, and started working at Masaryk University as well. I graduated in French, Latin and Italian philologies, i.e. languages and literatures, and I specialized in the linguistics of Romance languages, namely French and Italian. I taught practically all the linguistic disciplines in Italian (Phonetics, Morphology, Historical Development, Semantics, Dialectology) as well as the Historical Development of French, and I led also a course in Vulgar Latin.
How many languages do you speak?
Well… you should never ask a linguist or a philologist, how many languages he or she speaks: the only honest answer is that I can express myself, speak and write more or less correctly only in Czech, which is my mother tongue. Apart from that, as said before, I have a degree in three other languages (one of which, Latin, cannot seriously be spoken), and I can make myself understood hopefully more or less without major errors in English.
Which are your favourite countries? Which are the countries that have left an impact on you?
This is not an easy question: there may be a great difference between “favourite countries” and “countries that have left an impact”. When I was a kid, I lived at the age of 10-12 for two years in India with my parents, and I have to say that it really left a great impact on me. I still remember almost every day of that stay: everything was so different, people, their behaviour, animals, the countryside… Actually, I think that was already the starting point of my feeling – which turned into conviction later on – that international experience has an absolutely irreplaceable role in one´s life. I was lucky enough to get the confirmation in the following years, during my three years of study at a lycée in France (1970-73), at the Facoltà del Magistero in Florence in Italy (1977-78), or during my work as lecturer in Czech in India once again, at the Department of Foreign Languages of the University of Delhi (1988-90), drinking chai and eating samosas with my colleagues from France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland at the end of each working day…
I do not know if I have a favourite country: I love Brittany; I love Provence and the Cévennes; I love Tuscany… but I love also the gentle hills of my country, and I do love that pungent smell spreading all over Indian villages in the evening, when families start to cook their dinner and make fire with dry cow dung cakes…
Could you mention some moment or fact that has made you think your effort and work in the international area is worthwhile?
Well, actually… It is perhaps a bit pretentious, but I have never had any doubt that there are not many things that would be more valuable in one´s life than international experience, and I have always been perfectly aware of all the benefits my international experience (connected not only with a stay abroad) brought to me. But if you want me to mention one moment, it will definitely be a very personal one: in 2015, my younger son was on his Erasmus semester in Kaunas in Lithuania. One evening, he sends me an sms saying how perfectly happy he feels there, and I ask him: “So you think I should really start believing in what I am doing?” And he replies immediately: “Dad, you have no idea…”
But… just look at any snapshot students took during their studies abroad: you can see smiling, laughing, happy faces. Can you imagine a more tangible proof?
Anything else you would like to add?
Isn´t this even too much?
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Interview
January 31, 2021
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2 min read
Meeting
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Meeting
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Meeting
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Meeting
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Meeting
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Strategy
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Meeting
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Strategy
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Strategy
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Meeting
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Strategy
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Meeting
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Strategy
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Strategy
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December 12, 2022
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Meeting
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Meeting
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December 1, 2022
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3 min read
Meeting
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November 29, 2022
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2 min read
Meeting
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November 22, 2022
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1 min read
Awards
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October 20, 2022
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Meeting
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September 22, 2022
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2 min read
Meeting
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September 15, 2022
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2 min read
Meeting
Prof. Margriet Krijtenburg from THUAS has been in UFV campus to meet with her research colleague Ángeles Muñoz, Director of the Governance and Leadership School. Among many topics, they are evaluating the possibility of setting up a COIL.
June 21, 2022
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1 min read
Meeting
During the second week of May, the VERSATILE project partners met in Tampere to have a short term staff training event in order to try out the different tools for the online teaching guide and to present the first project results to an external audience. The Learning, Teaching, Training Event was followed by the 3rd Transnational Partner Meeting, with the objective of finalizing the Online Teaching Guide.
May 10, 2022
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1 min read
Awards
The first participants from HSRW received their certificates for the THN-VE. A total of 15 students from all four faculties successfully completed their virtual exchange. Feedback from students on the courses has been overwhelmingly positive. Just the registration process for the courses was a bit challenging depending on how many courses were chosen. Students would like to have one central registration for this: “Despite early problems registering with the partner universities and accessing courses, the experience was definitely worth it in the end,” said Celine Balle, student at HSRW. “My degree programme in International Relations also offers a module on Intercultural Management, but the module offered by our partner university in Spain was structured very differently and offered other perspectives and approaches to the topic. We all found it very interesting.”
April 24, 2022
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2 min read
Strategy
Jan Pavlik is an important member of THN since its creation. Thank you so much, Jan, for your engagement with the network, your wise views, encouragement and, among all, your friendship through these years. We’ll miss you. Enjoy! And we wish to welcome Violeta Osouchová, new Director of the Centre for International Cooperation at Masaryk. Looking forward to work with you in the successful development of new projects.
April 12, 2022
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1 min read
Meeting
All together five colleagues from The Hague University of Applied Sciences took part in the TAMK International week called Eye on TAMK 2022. This multidisciplinary week took place in Tampere. THUAS colleagues participated in Business, Media, Languages/Communication and non-teaching staff tracks, and presented their fields of expertise. The overall theme of the event was digitalization in higher education. Picture taken by Yue Wang from TAMK during the non-teaching staff track. More information about the event:
April 3, 2022
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2 min read
Meeting
HSRW, MUNI, UoD and TAMK had their 2nd Transnational Partner Meeting within the VERSATILE Project. The original plan was to meet in presence in Derby, but due to travel restrictions, the project partners decided to have this meeting online. The objective was to discuss and evaluate the results of the state-of-the-art analysis about the online teaching situation at each partner institution. Based on the results of the analysis, the group set the tasks for the Online Teaching Guide, which will be one of the intellectual output of the VERSATILE project. (The photo refers to the presential meeting that took place later in May).
January 27, 2022
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2 min read
Meeting
Some THN members participated in this event organized by the European Association for International Education (EAIE). Panelists were Laura Rumbley, Associate Director for Knowledge Development and Research at EAIE, and Juan Rayón, President of Erasmus Student Network, who presented his views about the students’ perspectives on virtual exchange. The webinar was followed by an interesting exchange of comments among the many attendees.
January 21, 2022
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1 min read
Awards
Georgina Barquin, UFV teacher of THN-VE, has published Cultural Intelligence. The key to transformational changes in companies. This book encompasses 100 considerations when facing transformational organizational changes. Understanding your real organizational culture vs the desired culture, the culture that surrounds you and that of your stakeholders, will help you set the best change management strategy to reduce frictions and resistance points even before you start. Congratulations!
January 4, 2022
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1 min read
Interview
How long have you been working in international education?
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Interview
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Interview
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Interview
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Interview
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Interview
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Interview
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Interview
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Interview
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Interview
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