Work Package 5: Centres of Internationalisation

As a part of the Erasmus+ B-International journey, participating institutions have worked on establishing international Centres on campus under Work Package 5. From LUMS we have had Zainab Masood, taking the lead on the Work Package, to ensure that the Centre is ready by the time of its soft launch, somewhere in late September/early October 2021, and by the final launch which is scheduled to be in January 2022.

All four participating institutions from Pakistan have furnished a room along with appropriate furniture to house the Centre and will incorporate it as part of its technical maintenance plan. The purpose of these centres is to provide an exclusive provision for students and members of the international virtual community. In order to do this, all four institutions have been provided with state-of-the-art smartboards for immersive and interactive learning experiences, as well as 25 laptops for member use and a laptop for training facilitators and guest speakers.

These gadgets and instruments are supported by the Screen-O-Matic software. Moreover, there are also virtual reality sets which will facilitate institutions to work on virtual exchange opportunities with differing learning experiences and environments from around the world. Not only this, but students will also be able to share their experience of the local environment for better learning and exposure of the local community to the outside world.

Hence, the Centre will be the heart for national and international activities and events. It will be the hub for all students to go to and associate with peers nationally and internationally, as well as equipping institutions with resources and skills development.

It is also pertinent that each institution nominates a member of the staff, known to be the Centre Manager, to oversee the establishment of the infrastructure and foundation of the centre, including activities, conferences and events that will be carried out in it. From LUMS we have Florian Rauchfuss who is our dedicated resource that will be working on the project and the centre along with Zainab and the rest of the international team.

Considering how covid has had an impact on all of us, it is commendable to say that most of the centre equipment has been procured. The process for this has been carried out via each institution’s own procurement departments. As of now, we have the smartboard, laptops and the software installed on the equipment. However, we are waiting for the VR sets to arrive, which because of covid has gone through certain delays, however we will be receiving them very soon.  

With the Centres getting ready for its final launch in January 2022 we at LUMS are excited to work on ideas for international activities that the Centre could cater to and hence execute our plans effectively and efficiently!

By: Office of International Affairs, LUMS (Gulmeena Roghani – Senior Program Officer Global Engagement, Office of International Affairs)