The long-awaited face-to-face Transnational Project Meeting (TPM) scheduled for the Mentor Your Future (MYFuture) project has finally taken place!
Since the project started in September 2020, the project consortium could only hold the TPMs online due to the COVID-19’s travel restrictions and social distancing paradigms. After 14 months of working together, the partners could finally sit together in one room to discuss the current development of the project. The 3-day meeting taking place from 22 until 24 November was hosted by Afev in Paris, France. A total of 11 core team members of the project attended the TPM representing the 5 partners involved: Afev, NHL Stenden, University of Nicosia, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bulgaria, Coordinadora de Mentoría Social and ACEEU.
The main goal of the meeting was to recap and reflect on the main activities completed in the first year of the project and better plan the upcoming tasks. Some interventions were also included as a strategy to enrich the knowledge of the team members on the main topic of the project, mentoring in higher education. The consortium had the opportunity to gain external insights on the development and implementation of mentoring in the French higher education system from high-profile sources such as the Member of European Parliament in the Culture and Education commission in France, Ilana Cicurel, the representative from the French Ministry of Higher Education and General Director for Higher Education and Professional Integration, Brice Lannaud and Laurence Lefevre.
The face-to-face environment has brought a tremendous impact on the project consortium as it allowed the team to get together and discuss important issues directly and more effectively without technical disruptions that often happen during online meetings. Moreover, it has also strengthened the team spirits as each had the opportunity to learn more about each other beyond the screen. Aventia Wilona, ACEEU's project officer for the MYFuture project further confirmed that the Paris TPM was an authentic trust-building experience that would improve the efficiency and working relationships of the team.
The TPM ended with a solid plan on how to bring the project forward and generate more significant impacts as well as with the hope that the next TPM which is scheduled on April 2022 in Nicosia, Cyprus will take place according to the plan.
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