“APELE Talks” Conference during the #Erasmusdays2020
On 15 October 2020, at the #Erasmusdays2020, the University of Bari organised an online meeting entitled “#Talkingabouterasmus-apeleproject”, to illustrate the results achieved during the first year of the APELE project. The event was organized by the Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Communication (FOR. PSI.COM), of the University of Bari “A.Moro”, in collaboration with the partners of the APELE Project Consortium: the Universities of Akureyri (Iceland), Copenhagen (Denmark), Patras (Greece), ARMES (Italy). The event, coordinated by Prof. Rosa Gallelli, scientific representative of the APELE’s University of Bari Team, was attended by UNIBA lecturers: Loredana Perla, Alberto Fornasari (representing the UNIBA Permanent Learning Centre), Alessia Scarinci, Pasquale Renna. As guests, attended the lawyer and assistant professor at the University of Salento Monica McBritton; the director of Caritas Diocesano, Don Vito Piccinonna; representatives of the Italian Language School for Foreign Students “Igino Giordani” from Bari.
During the event, after the greetings from the Director of the FOR Department “PSI.COM” UNIBA, Giuseppe Elia, and by the Magnificent UNIBA Rector, Stefano Bronzini, had a speech also Tommaso Busini, an international expert of EU projects implementation, and Silvio Vacca, in charge in Puglia Region for project activities related tothe target group of the project.
The Scientific Coordinator of the APELE Project, professor of the department of Humanities and Social Studies of the University of Akureyri, Markus Meckl, briefly illustrated the motivations of the APELE project and the main objectives that the working group is pursuing to finalize the final result.
The meeting recorded a very good participation by external users, over the almost three hours of the live web. The main key themes of the project were addressed on: how to face and solve in an innovative way the enhancement of previous experiences (of a non-strictly formative and curricular nature, but – more generally – educational and skills, both professional and non-professional), for the benefit of people who have not completed the cycle of university studies. The APELE project also focus on the formal obstacles and procedural difficulties foreign migrants faces for a rapid legal recognition of titles obtained in their countries of origin.
The APELE project has the ambitious objective of introducing a more effective methodology for the accreditation of previous skills acquired; one of the objectives of the project will be to implement the methodology, on an experimental basis, in the four universities part of the project consortia.
During the meeting, speakers also talked about the innovative experience of the center for continuing training of the University of Bari, a service structured to support foreign people, who arrive in Italy for humanitarian reasons or political persecution, to receive the information useful for possible reintegration into the training and higher education programs offered by the University of Bari.
In the final part of the event, Prof. Mc Britton focused on the issues of integration rights and policies for migrants, with particular attention to the case of Puglia. In closing, the volunteers of the Italian language school for foreigners “Igino Giordani” from Bari presented how this experience was born and developed over time, thanks to which many foreign people were able to learn Italian; a service offered as free of charge or financially supported by the generosity of private citizens and by the Diocesan Caritas of Bari.