V-LEAD-X – INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING:
The V-LEAD-X project (Virtual Learning Engagement and Academic Development through Exchange and Collaboration) won second place in the Teaching Internationalisation category at the international Profformance Awards for Excellence in Teaching ceremony, held in Budapest on 16 October 2025. The project is led by Professor Violeta Vidaček Hainš, PhD, with Dr Antonela Devčić, Dr Karolina Kokot and Professor Marina Klačmer Čalopa, PhD, as project collaborators.
V-LEAD-X combines virtual mobility through COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) with a sustainable approach based on ongoing student symposia in the United States and at UNIZG FOI, as well as student conference sessions at CECIIS.
HOW IS COIL IMPLEMENTED AT FOI AND WHAT EXACTLY IS COIL?
COIL, or Collaborative Online International Learning, has been continuously integrated into courses at UNIZG FOI through partnerships with students from the following institutions: Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, since 2018/2019; University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, since 2023/2024; University of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, since 2024/2025; University of the Aegean, Greece, since 2025/2026; Thapar School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Punjab, India, since 2025/2026.
Throughout the semester, students hold online meetings and work on project assignments in international teams. Their final presentations and reflections include comparisons of human resource management practices and communication styles across different cultures.
The student perspective was presented by Niko Rastija, a participant in the 14th Student Symposium on Intercultural Learning, held at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Indiana State University, Indiana, USA. He also presented at the 16th Student Session of the Central European Conference on Information and Intelligent Systems (CECIIS 2026).
STUDENT ACTIVITIES ENSURING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF COIL
The Student Symposium on Intercultural Learning and the CECIIS Student Session are complementary activities that ensure the sustainability of COIL as a teaching and learning methodology – Collaborative Online International Learning.
The Student Symposium on Intercultural Learning has been held annually since the 2010/2011 academic year in cooperation with universities in the United States. Similarly, the Student Session of the international CECIIS conference has been organized annually since 2011.
