Swiss-North African Academic Network (SINAN): Network for the further development of teacher training in Switzerland, Tunisia and Egypt
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Content of this page
Profile
- Project leadership
- Samir Boulos (PHZH)
- Project team
- Heinz Bachmann (PHZH, former employee), Mònica Feixas (PHZH), Sabrina Marruncheddu Krause (PHZH)
- Organisational unit
- W-IB (Internationale Bildungsentwicklung)
- Project phase
- Completed (1.1.2017 – 31.12.2021)
- Project type
- Service project
- Funding
- State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation
- Participating institutions
- University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, School of Education; University of Teacher Education BEJUNE; University of Teacher Education, State of Vaud; University of Geneva; Assiut University, Egypt; American University in Cairo, Egypt; Ministry of Education, Tunisia; University of Tunis, Tunisia; University of Carthage, Tunisia; Virtual University of Tunis, Tunisia
Description
The Swiss-North African Academic Network (SINAN) project aims to strengthen the exchange of knowledge between universities of teacher education in Switzerland, Tunisia and Egypt. Its focus is on promoting expertise in the field of higher education pedagogy within teacher training.
To this end, the SINAN project is implementing the following measures:
- Establishing a network of 24 lecturers from the three project countries
- Organising three network meetings in Switzerland, Tunisia and Egypt
- Production of an adapted Arabic version of the handbook “Competency-based teaching and learning in higher education – essentials”, published by the Centre for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich)
- Collaborative compilation of an anthology featuring participants’ reflections, best practices, insights and experiences from the SINAN exchange
Central to the SINAN project is the establishment of a network between the participating higher education institutions and the exchange of ideas at the network meetings. These meetings provide a framework for discussing the fundamentals of competence-based higher education teaching, as well as for learning about different teaching practices and learning cultures. Participants further deepen this exchange by working in international trios on a topic of their own choosing and publishing the results of their work. Participants then act as multipliers, sharing the insights they have gained within their own universities.
SINAN is a project of the Department for International Projects in Education.
Project outcomes
An image gallery with 4 images follows.
At the start of the SINAN project, PH Zurich had no existing links with higher education institutions in Tunisia or Egypt. Consequently, researching the education systems in both countries and analysing the need for reform were crucial to establishing targeted contacts with higher education institutions. Following a visit by a delegation led by State Secretary Mauro Dell’Ambrogio of the SBFI in April 2017, among other activities, the project team was able to establish these contacts.
Throughout the project period, exchanges were characterised by three network meetings in Switzerland, Tunisia and Egypt, with individual working periods in between. Additionally, groups comprising members from the various project countries had the opportunity to collaborate on a topic of their choice. These trios played a crucial role in the international exchange within the networks. Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the meetings were temporarily switched to online network meetings and the project duration was extended by one year.
Publications on teacher training in English and Arabic
The handbook on higher education pedagogy edited by Heinz Bachmann, “Competency-based teaching and learning in higher education – essentials”, was translated into Arabic for SINAN and proofread by SINAN participants. The work of the trios was also published in an anthology entitled “Learning across Borders in Teacher Education: Experiences with the Swiss-North African Academic Network (SINAN) Project”. Alongside individual contributions, the anthology contains a description of the network project and an overview of the education systems in the participating countries. It also features a concluding chapter which analyses academic exchange within the framework of SINAN, employing methods from qualitative social science and the Value Creation Framework by Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner. Both the anthology and the Arabic version of the handbook are available free of charge in the PHZH repository. The latter is also available on the IPE-Textbooks platform.
Further development and networking projects
In November 2021, after five years, the SINAN project was brought to a close in collaboration with the LECU network project at a public symposium held at the PH Zurich. Thanks to the SINAN project, PH Zurich was able to establish new cooperations in North Africa, leading to the launch of two new projects in 2022. One of these is the Combining Literacy and Life Skills (LILSKILLS) project, which is being implemented in collaboration with Assiut University and the University of Zurich, and is supported by the swissuniversities Development and Cooperation Network (SUDAC). LILSKILLS aims to complement the literacy programme developed at the Faculty of Education at Assiut University with the promotion of life skills.
Participants from both LECU and SINAN are keen to strengthen academic exchange. There was considerable interest in Swiss and international partner universities jointly developing and delivering modules as part of the follow-up project Peer Exchange Network in Teacher Education (PEER-Net). The project aims to provide lecturers and students with the opportunity to gain experience in international teaching and collaboration.
Publications
Bachmann, H. et. al. (2019) اساسيات التدريس والتعلم القائم على الكفاءة في التعليم العالي.
Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich.
Boulos, S.& Feixas, M. (2022) Learning across Borders in Teacher Education: Experiences with the Swiss-North African Academic Network (SINAN) Project.
DOK insight, Volume 2. Zurich University of Teacher Education.