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TEOS

Transcultural European Outdoor Studies: An experiential MA
The international master in Transcultural European Outdoor Studies (TEOS) was developed in collaboration by three members of the EOE Higher Education network Compass. The degree was an Erasmus Mundus Master Course (EMMC) jointly delivered by the University of Cumbria in Ambleside (England), the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in Oslo (Norway) and the University of Marburg in Marburg (Germany). Many students received bursary funding from the EU Erasmus Mundus programme.

Objectives of TEOS
The TEOS programme was challenging in every way: academically, socially and personally. The programme enriched the intellectual life and prepared students for a variety of professional careers.
1. Teaching of the individual national scientific disciplines, discourses, traditions and practices of the subject of Outdoor Learning.
2. Theoretical and practical study of transitions, thresholds, borders and connections between concepts and traditions of outdoor pedagogics typical for the individual countries: Outdoor Education in England, Friluftsliv in Norway and Erlebnispädagogik in Germany.
3. Promotion of job-relevant attitudes of transculturality based on the formal and informal learning taking place especially in the half-year stay in each of the countries of the three participating European universities.

Outcomes
112 students from 42 countries and six continents, three quarters female, and aged between 22 – 36 completed the programme. All the elements of the TEOS experience of studying, living and travelling together in three European countries became integral to the subject of the degree and the learning of the student.

Each university co-ordinated a jointly taught module in their semester and facilitated a journey programme. In addition, students attended the national MA programme in each university for a semester. They then completed a dissertation in the university of their choice. The EM funding also supported visiting scholars and sixteen from five countries and three continents joined the programme over the six years.

On graduating students have carried on studying at masters and doctoral levels, become teachers, lecturers, guides, consultants and hosts in many countries, both their own and new countries of residence. Many continue to travel and keep closely in touch with their cohort.

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