From October 12 to 16, Brussels hosted the inaugural Higher Education Transformation Week (HET Week). The primary objective of this international conference was to showcase the tangible results and lasting impacts of projects funded by the Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships (KA2) program. Bringing together more than 40 international university consortia, alongside academic staff, students, policymakers, and education experts, the event provided a dynamic platform to present innovative approaches, exchange best practices, and explore diverse pathways toward modernizing higher education.
The conference was structured around eight core thematic areas, featuring more than thirty pioneering projects. These areas included:
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Innovation in Teaching and Learning
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Digital Transformation and AI
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Future Skills
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Inclusion and Democratic Engagement
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Sustainability and Green Transition
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Mobility and Institutional Cooperation
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Mental Health and Wellbeing of Students and Staff
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Urban Development
Prominently featured among these initiatives was the TEFE consortium project (and its follow-up, TEFE A+), led by its main coordinator, the Institute of English Studies at the Faculty of Arts, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. The delegation comprised faculty members Dr. H. Lohrová, Dr. A. Prošková, Dr. T. Jajtner, and Dr. M. Hanzalová, who were joined by international project partners Dr. J. Scharfenberg from the University of Passau and Assoc. Prof. I. Lazár from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.
Representing the first thematic track, “Innovation in Teaching and Learning,” the consortium partners delivered a well-received workshop titled “Towards a Sustainable Collaborative Model of International Teaching Practice.” The core message of their presentation argued that students’ teaching placements abroad should no longer be treated as an exceptional benefit or a short-term trip. Instead, they must become an established, fully recognized, and sustainable component of higher education curricula across Europe.
Backed by six years of hands-on experience across both consecutive projects, these insights represent far more than mere academic theory. They are fully operational, field-tested tools and methodologies. To date, the TEFE consortium has developed the internationally acclaimed TEFE Competence Framework and a comprehensive methodological Toolkit. In doing so, it has successfully established a highly effective teacher-training model that demonstrably enhances intercultural communication, global citizenship, and professional reflection among future English language educators.
The invitation to HET Week and the enthusiastic response to the workshop reaffirm that the Faculty of Arts of the University of South Bohemia enjoys Europe-wide respect in internationalizing teacher education, and the TEFE project has had and, hopefully, will have a long-term impact on the reform of teacher training within the EU.
