Gabriela Pleschova

Comenius University Bratislava · Faculty of Philosophy

Concerns about the quality of teaching and learning in higher education have given rise to teacher development programs and centers around the world. This book investigates the challenges and complexities of creating instructional development programs for present and future academics. Using case studies from a variety of countries including Estonia...

Purpose – Mentoring has been increasingly used in educational development to facilitate transfer of knowledge from programs for higher education teachers to their pedagogic practice. However, studies are missing which would critically assess the outcomes of mentoring in programs for university teachers. The purpose of this paper is to systematicall...

The Chinese view of hard and soft power in foreign policy differs from the Western understanding of these terms. The authorities’ hard-power practice of mobilizing expatriates to back up Chinese diplomacy and suppress critics overseas undermines China’s soft-power efforts in the West. The street clash that occurred during President Hu Jintao’s visi...

This study examines the prospects for new European Union (EU) member countries in pursuing their foreign policy objectives in relations with China. Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia cherished an idea of making China an alternative economic partner. However, after 1989, China perceived these states as minor, almost unimportant partners, regardles...

This study provides an empirically grounded definition of peer learning within classroom settings. By analyzing class recordings and collecting perceptions from both teachers and students across 15 Bachelor’s and Master’s sessions in the humanities, social sciences, and medicine at a European Union university, this research underscores the critical...

This paper discusses a sustained effort to introduce and make richer educational development opportunities for colleagues in Slovakia: a community that has common experiences, needs, expectations, access to opportunity and social interactions that follow mutual interest. In this paper, I reflect on the challenges and lessons learnt over two decades...

This study investigates the meso level impact of an academic development programme on internationalisation. We demonstrate the relevance of the framework of grassroots leadership in higher education in the Central European context and show how individual programme participants acting as grassroots leaders influence departmental attitudes and practi...

This article presents the rationale for having a symposium on internationalisation of higher education (IHE) and introduces the collection of articles. It details examples of two universities from Central Europe to illustrate uneven development in inter-nationalisation, including the achievements in and barriers of internationalisation. The paper s...

This study reports on the outcomes of internationalising a course on Nutrition for medical students. Two interventions towards internationalised learning experience included: 1) introducing new readings and activities that invited students to consider geographical and cultural factors of dietary recommendations and 2) asking students to suggest an...

This book explores China’s policy towards the European Union, using the case study of four member states from Central Europe: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. Gabriela Pleschová documents China’s strategic approach to engaging with these countries bilaterally and multilaterally, through intensified diplomatic and soft-power campaig...

This study explores how trusting relationships between PhD students and their significant others contribute to the success of academic development programs, and how these programs affect trust in significant others. It introduces a definition of trust and distrust in academic development as synthesized from trust research in other disciplines. The...

This study investigates whether reflective journals can stimulate students to reflect on their learning and ultimately to make a conceptual change in understanding international relations concepts and problems. The article reports on the experience of using journaling in two courses by triangulating data from analysis of student journals, assignmen...

In this study we examine the factors that lead educational programs to achieve their outcomes, in this case helping participants to improve their teaching through becoming more learning-centered and reflective practitioners. In comparing the results from programs with similar aims with evidence from our program we find teachers’ pedagogic environme...

A policy paper discussing the state of V4 China relations and recommending policies and actions to be taken

The purpose of this article is to discuss the need of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) to provide services for its members to assist them in the provision of teaching and learning supports for their students. Moreover, this article outlines what the newly established ECPR standing group, Teaching and Learning Politics, can do t...

This position paper is an outcome of the European Science Foundation’s Exploratory Workshop ‘The Impact of Training for Teachers in Higher Education’ held 18–20 March 2010 in Bratislava with the participation of 20 international academics engaged in both teacher training and researching teaching and learning in higher education. One of the conclusi...

In this paper we examine the state of teacher training for political science PhD candidates in the European Union and make a comparison with the situation in the United States. We investigate the determinants of supply and demand of teacher training. On the supply side, we suggest that research orientation and quality assurance are factors that mig...

Residing in the region for more than fifteen years, Chinese settlers have become a part of Central European societies. They have established various careers as traders of consumable goods, petty workers in shops, stands and facilities as well as managers of restaurants and buffets, among other things. Chinese children in Central Europe are either b...

Since the beginning of 1990s Chinese minority has established itself as a steady part of societies in Central Europe. In Slovakia, approximately two thousand Chinese form a small but visible community. Within recent priorities of the Slovak government and the European Union these people have been trapped in between contradicting policies. Firstly,...

In this paper I examine the impact of innovative activities on students’ and teacher’s engagement with the subject. I present one example of an unusual task which has been used when teaching political science, namely an interview with a person actively working in the area of foreign policy. I confirm the view that unusual activities may make studen...

This paper proposes the formation of a group of US departments of political science and the European Political Science Network (epsNet) to discuss trends in higher education and their consequences for the discipline. The practical purpose is to create a facility in which epsNet will help American students who are interested in studying in Europe to...