The representatives of Penza State University attended the international symposium Higher Education in Transition, which was organised by Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra (Portugal). The event was held online within two days (24 and 25 September 2020). It brought together higher education experts, teachers and researchers, who examined the worldwide transition of higher education to the distance mode due to the complicated epidemiological situation. The symposium participants exchanged positive experience in teaching classes using distance learning technologies, explored difficulties encountered and identified possible solutions.

On 24 September 2020, one of the sessions within the symposium was intended to the international consortium implementing the project “Enhancing Teaching Practice in Higher Education in RUSSIA and CHINA” within the Erasmus+ Programme. The presentations were made by Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna (Italy), Stiftung Universität Hildesheim (Germany), Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra (Portugal), and Ural State University of Economics (Russia). At the event, Penza State University was represented by Tatiana Razuvaeva, Head of the International Projects Department, and Tatiana Glotova, Associate Professor of the Department of Computer Aided Design Systems. They delivered the report “Transition to Online Learning at Penza State University: Challenges and Perspectives” and shared their own experience in online teaching.

The project coordinator Prof. Dr. Holger Kuße (Technische Universität Dresden) emphasised the importance of organising such conferences, as they offer opportunities not only for exploring personal practices of teaching staff, but also for discussing challenges and problems arising in the educational systems around the world and working out possible ways to address them.