What has happened so far?

The project Cooperative E-Learning in so called ‚rare subjects’ – better known as E-Master Scandinavian and Finnish Studies was developed by the Department for Scandinavian and Finnish Studies (ISF) at the University of Cologne and combines in a unique way the challenges of teaching and learning in an international digital environment.

The project was originally created for Master students. In 2012, it was noticed that the number of Master students at ISF had decreased to about one third of the former number of the Magister’s graduates. One of two outstanding reasons given in evaluations was that the current specific teaching offer for Master's students was not extensive enough. The project therefore was designed to link national and international courses offered by Scandinavian and Finnish departments in an innovative way and to implement e-learning in the Master's programmes in an optimised way. 

In 2013, the department successfully participated in the first call for proposals for the funding line „Innovationen in der Lehre (Innovations in Teaching)" at the University of Cologne and was able to kick off the project.

A cooperation with German and foreign universities was established and an e-learning-based study platform was created. The network currently consists of four German Departments for Scandinavian Studies as well as the Department for Finnish Literature at the University of Turku and the Département d'Études Scandinaves at the University of Strasbourg. 

The study platform offers medialized lectures and e-seminars. Thus, the respective local teaching programme of the cooperation partners is expanded. Since the beginning of the project in 2013, several completely digitally realized courses and lectures were developed by the staff of the project and our network partners. Some of these seminars or lectures have been taught several times in the meantime. 

Normally, the courses and lectures are offered by one of the cooperation partners in Germany or abroad. In the winter semester 2016, an international, collaborative course could be included in the program for the first time, in which the University of Cologne cooperated with the University of Uppsala, Department of Art History. In addition to the efforts of the existing network partners, the platform will continue to be filled by cooperating with further departments of Scandinavian and Finnish Studies. A total of about 230 students have already taken part in the courses (with the status of winter term 2019). Considering that most departments have an average of 10 Master's students, one can speak of a success story here.

In addition to the courses offered and networking, the project has been and is being presented at conferences and the staff members take part in further training courses in the field of e-learning and digitisation of higher education. In order to increase the level of awareness, an image video was produced to present the project. At the same time, the staff members advise other institutions and departments at the University of Cologne on the realisation of similar projects or on the potential of digitization. In addition, the project is evaluated at regular intervals to ensure consistent quality. 

An evaluation in 2016 was used to produce a manual of the project, which can help other "small subjects" to understand how a similar project could be structured.

In 2020, the project was fundamentally revised. This includes a renaming, as the old name was no longer appropriate. The new network name is

j o l n e s   –   Joint Learning in Northern European Studies

In addition, a video series on career prospects for graduates of Scandinavian and/or Finnish Studies was published. In it, alumni/ae report on their studies of Scandinavian or Finnish Studies and their future career. First-year students will thus gain an insight into the subject and can decide whether this study programme is something for them.

First steps were also taken to ensure that the courses and the online presence are gradually becoming more accessible.

What happens in 2021?

In 2020, as well as in 2021, we succeeded in obtaining funding through the German Academic Exchange Service for summer term 2021 respectively winter term 2021/22 and summer term 2022. This means that we are part of the EduVenture Cologne project and can offer all in all four transnational courses that are funded through it.

It is planned that the courses offered within the j o l n e s network will no longer be open only to Master students, but also to advanced BA students.

Currently funded by the Faculty of Arts, University of Cologne.

Previously funded by central resources for quality improvement and other sources by the Rectorate, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the Department for Scandinavian/Finnish Studies, University of Cologne as well as the Ministry of Culture and Science in the State of Northrhine-Westfalia.

Total funding period: 05/2013 - 10/2022

Funded by: