New Swiss Virtual Campus projects, 4th and Last Call
Criteria, Schedule and Selection Procedure

1. Last call of the Swiss Virtual Campus

1.1 Mission

With this last call the Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) expressly supports the implementation of eLearning courses in regular university curricula and their use as a partial or total substitution for „ex-cathedra“ offerings. Individual learning responsibilities are fostered within international attractive courses that will be integrated in the Bologna process.
In the eLearning Vision of the SVC, the latest findings of research and development will be applied in the implementation of educational design methods and state-of-the-art interactive and cooperative scenarios. Recognized authorware and platforms will be used to boost the production of eLearning resources and the efficiency with which they are produced and used.

1.2 Modification of former Strategy

During the first two project phases 50 courses were funded and supported. Most were successful, but there were some disappointments, caused, for example, by collaboration difficulties or an unfortunate platform choice. Such observations have lead to the modification of the strategy for the last series of projects. Successful projects will:

• Avoid teams that are too large
• Emphasize the integration of blended learning and distance teaching scenarios into the curriculum
• Be smaller and receive less SVC funding, an amount that should be not higher than 150’000 CHF
• Be supported by the CCSP (which are being co-financed by the SVC, as with the 3rd Series of projects).

1.3 Strategic aims

The 4th SVC phase will focus on the following strategic aims:

• Support of the introduction and the working of the Bologna process
• Managing the heterogeneity of new student education level, for universities in particular with the new “maturité”
• Development of modules that can be used in further diploma and post-diploma courses
• To foster strategies of institutions that aim at operating eLearning software and cultivating eContent in the long run in order to use extensively the material and services developed
• To foster module transfer between the different Swiss institutions of Higher Education.

2. Invitation of Proposals

The institutions of Higher Education (Universities, Universities of Applied Sciences, Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology) are invited by the Steering Committee of the SVC to apply for the financial support for eLearning projects of at most CHF 150’000 per project (including overhead for CCSP’s), with some flexibility from CHF 100’000,- to 200’000,- (including overhead for CCSP’s). Amounts of more than CHF 150’000,- will have to be justified by, for example, a commitment to efficiency and additional concrete results, by a higher contribution of real money by the proposers, etc.

2.1 Selection procedure

The selection of Initial Proposals (first phase) and Completed Proposals (second phase) will be managed as follows:

*A-Projects will be accepted if they submit a Completed Proposal including the requested detailed Financial Plan, the Letters of Support from the partner institutions and the Letters of Intent before September 5th, 2005.
B-Projects will be invited to improve their Initial Proposals according to conditions and questions and will be re-evaluated. The Completed Proposal should be submitted, together with the requested detailed Finance Plan, the Letters of Support from the partner institutions and the Letters of Intent before September 5th, 2005.
C-Projects will be rejected and will not be invited to submit a Completed Proposal.

2.2 Participation condition

To be evaluated, Proposals must fulfill the following conditions, according to the “Ausführungsplan” (pdf, 10 pages, 180KB) / “Plan d’exécution” (pdf, 10 pages, 150KB) 2004-2007 of the SVC:

1. Network of at least three partners from institutions of higher education.
   - Initial Proposals: three partners from three different institutions named
   - Completed Proposals: Letters of Intent from the partners
2. The project must receive (real and virtual) financial support from the institutions involved (matching funds of 50% and more)
   - Initial Proposals: Letter of Support from the Rectorate/CCSP of leading institution, cost estimate with matching funds
   - Completed Proposals: Detailed financial plan and Letters of Support from the partner institutions
3. The Project Leader must be a professor or have an equivalent position in UAS.

Universities, UAS and ETH/EPF can take part in the SVC under the same conditions.
(Universities with funding from SER, UAS with funding form OPET and ETH/EPF with funding from ETH/EPF).
Partners from foreign universities and from other institutions in the relevant area may also participate, but will not receive SVC funding.

2.3 Evaluation Criteria

The Proposals that fulfill the above conditions will be evaluated by the following criteria:

1. Attractive and effective pedagogical concept
   a. Integration into the curriculum and institutional framework
   b. Adequate integration into course structures
   c. Clear learning goals, adequate use of media to support contemporary pedagogical methods
2. Attractive product, that can be used in other educational settings
   a. Specific description of the development and use of attractive products and services within the project
   b. Modularity of the course structure, enabling the re-use of modules and/or learning objects
   c. Use of a platform/software with the possibility of multi language support, widely used and hosted by an institution with a long term commitment
3. Sustainable development and use
   a. Strong commitment of competent partners from at least three different institutions to participate in the design and use of the product and to integrate it in their curricula (ECTS-points). Integration in the eLearning strategies of the involved institutions and commitment of CCSP of the leading house
   b. Realistic project management plan with clear project goals, development phases, milestones and a plan for future use and implementation with normal teaching assignments
   c. Good cost/benefit relationship of the production and use of the product.

As a general rule, applications should be in English, the language used in the SVC SC.

List of documents

• Criteria, Schedule and Selection Procedure for new Swiss Virtual Campus Projects, 4th and last Call
  "SVC_4thSerie_EC_FV.pdf" (pdf, 4 pages, 76 KB)
• Application for new Swiss Virtual Campus projects – 4th Call Official Form Sheet for Initial Proposal
  "SVC_4thSerie_AF_FV.doc" (Word Document, 8 pages, 280 KB)
• Ausführungsplan and Anhang (basic documents for Universities in German)
  “Ausführungsplan” (pdf, 10 pages, 180KB)
• Plan d’éxecution and annexe (basic documents for Universities in French)
  “Plan d’exécution” (pdf, 10 pages, 150KB)

Contact

For more information please contact your local CCSP or the SVC coordination:

Swiss Virtual Campus
Christian Hohnbaum, Coordinator
christian.hohnbaum@crus.ch
+41 31 306 60 47
Sennweg 2
3012 Bern

Abbreviations

CCSP: Competence-, Service- and Production Centres
ETH/EPF: Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology
SUC: Swiss University Conference
SVC: Swiss Virtual Campus
SVC SC: SVC Steering Committee
UAS: Universities of Applied Sciences
OPET: Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology
SER: State Secretariat for Education and Research
ECTS: European Credit Transfer System