News & Events

Guest Lecture - The Role of IT for Effective Logistics & Operations at LIDL by Mr Spiros Karasavvidis

03/11/2017

The Principal of the International Faculty participates in ‘The Greek British Symposium’ in Nafplion

Mr Yannis Ververidis, Principal of the University of Sheffield International Faculty CITY College, joined The Greek British Symposium as guest speaker together with other distinguished panelists. The event was organised by the British Embassy Athens, the British Council and the Delphi Economic Forum and took place with great success in Nafplion, 19-21 October 2017. Mr Yannis Ververidis, Principal of the International Faculty Mr Ververidis participated in the panel discussion on ‘Maximising UK-Greece partnership opportunities, including tourism, education’, together with other experts, shared his views on the topic and provided invaluable insights. Mr Yannis Ververidis, Principal of the International Faculty The two day conference brought together leading public policymakers, businesspeople, academics, media and cultural figures from both countries – all experts in their field - to debate current global, regional and bilateral issues and trends, and create networking opportunities. The forum’s themes included change in Europe; security; reform; growth; and the future of bilateral relations, including trade and investment and human mobility. The Symposium concluded with suggested solutions on contemporary issues, generated new ideas, and promoted constructive dialogue between the two countries.

02/11/2017

Dr. Patsala invited as a Keynote Speaker to the TESOL Macedonia-Thrace Welcome Back Event

The University of Sheffield International Faculty, CITY College and the English Studies Department have initiated yet another academic year in a productive and promising showcasing of their activities. With an emphasis on our on-going collaboration with the local community of Thessaloniki, Dr. Paschalia Patsala, Head of the English Studies Dept., was invited to a deliver a Keynote Speech at the TESOL Macedonia-Thrace Welcome Back Event through her presentation “Picturing Public Engagement: Its relevance to education, its impact on society.” This presentation was dedicated to the staff and students involved in the Public Engagement Scheme of the English Studies Department, which has envisioned education as a transformational experience for both academic staff and learners. This programme, which includes English language lessons offered to high-school students coming from financially weak families, is in line with the mission of CITY College to prepare students for an active presence outside and beyond the university, to mould responsible citizens, who feel accountable to their local and wider community and who share with a firm understanding of their personal and local identity. More precisely, Dr. Patsala’s presence at the event aimed at disseminating and consolidating the educational practices pursued at the International Faculty, and, pivotally, at articulating our Institution’s identity as shaped through its global focus but also its commitment to the society.  More specifically, the aim of Dr. Patsala’s presentation was threefold: Firstly, to inform and engage the public in the English Studies Dept. Public Engagement Scheme—an initiative organised, realised and run by staff and students of the Department;   Secondly, to situate this particular initiative within a wider and global shift that has been changing the texture of education universally, namely an understanding of teaching and learning as civic and community-driven and not solely student-centred; and   Thirdly, based on the experience built on “Engaged Learning,” to sensitise and encourage other individuals, institutions, and organisations to identify in a cautious and consistent manner communities in need, in order to contribute themselves to further educational initiatives that will benefit specific vulnerable groups in the community. The English Studies Department would like to wholeheartedly thank the Board of TESOL Macedonia-Thrace Northern Greece for their invitation and the opportunity to demonstrate how teaching a foreign language to a vulnerable population can have a valuable impact, finding new approaches to foreign language teaching, or simply brightening people’s lives!

31/10/2017

Lecture - Introduction to Digital Marketing by Mr George Fassas

31/10/2017

Official launch of The University of Sheffield Executive MBA in Tbilisi

On 12 October 2017, The University of Sheffield International Faculty, CITY College held the official launch of the Executive MBA programme in Tbilisi. The event took place with great success at the Radisson SAS Hotel. Mr. Yannis Ververidis, Principal of the University of Sheffield International Faculty, CITY College opened the event and warmly welcomed all guests while Mr. Tamaz Marsagishvili, Deputy Minister of Education of Georgia honoured the event with his presence and also addressed a short welcome. During the opening of the event welcome addresses were also delivered by Ms Mariam Jashi, Chair of the Education, Science and Culture Committee of the Georgian Prliament, Mr Dimitrios Karabalis, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to Georgia and Mr Zaza Purtseladze, British Council Georgia Director. The event was well-attended by officials and representatives of the civil and business society. Welcome speeches were followed by the signing of a ‘Memorandum of Cooperation’ between Mr. Ververidis and Mr. Marsagishhvili. The event concluded with a short reception. The University of Sheffield Executive MBA has already started running in Tbilisi adding Georgia as its seventh destination in addition to Thessaloniki (Greece), Belgrade (Serbia), Bucharest (Romania), Kyiv (Ukraine), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Yerevan (Armenia). The International Faculty aspires for this development to prove to be a very important contribution for the executive education in the country of Georgia and for the international outlook of the Executive MBA programme.

30/10/2017

An exciting Professional Development Seminar by Ms. Maria Theologidou in the English Studies Dept.

In order to match the International Faculty English Studies Department’s enthusiasm for the beginning of the new academic year, this year’s Personal and Professional Development Seminar Series was launched on Tuesday, October 24th, on a playful note, as the title of its first presentation "Are you blogging to me?" suggests. More specifically, Ms. Maria Theologidou shared with us her experience as an avid blogger, introducing the audience to ways in which blogging can be used as a means of inspiration in the EFL classroom as much as it can be employed as a means to elicit, enhance and evaluate students’ language skills. Specific suggestions were also offered related to types of activities that could be used in the classroom context or even the lecture hall. Ms. Theologidou is a Part-time Lecturer in the English Studies Departmentof the International Faculty CITY College; she is also the General Secretary and e-bulletin Editor-in-chief for TESOL Macedonia-Thrace Northern Greece and an EFL teacher. We would like to sincerely thank Ms. Theologidou for her illuminating and, above all, fun contribution, as well as Dr Kelly Pasmatzi and Dr Vicky Papachristou, the coordinators of the Personal and Professional Development (PPD) Seminars. The PPD Seminar Series in the English Studies Department comprises of tri-weekly seminars that are targeted at broadening the ESD staff members and students’ horizons and enhancing their academic, personal and professional skills. These are meant to further expand the knowledge areas addressed by the Department’s curriculum and to offer students a varied skill set.  

27/10/2017

Prof. Ketikidis participates in EBAN Summit 2017 in Munich

Prof. Panayiotis Ketikidis, Vice Principal of the International Faculty, CITY College participated in EBAN Munich Summit that took place with great success in Munich, 16-17 October 2017. EBAN, one of Europe’s largest and most influential events for institutional investors, and business angels, brought together participants from all over Europe, Africa, the Middle East, China and the Americas. On the first day of the summit Prof. Ketikidis, who is also CEE Community Vice President of EBAN, delivered a successful presentation on ‘The Different Types of Investors and How to Approach Them'. Entitled ‘Harnessing the Power of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Investment: People, Planet, and Profit with Passion and Purpose’ the event featured outstanding speakers who joined together with angel investors, venture capitalists, angel networks, entrepreneurs, and policy. What is EBAN EBAN is the pan-European representative for the early stage investor gathering over 150 member organizations more than 50 countries today. Established in 1999 by a group of pioneer angel networks in Europe with the collaboration of the European Commission and EURADA, EBAN represents a sector estimated to invest 7.5 billion Euros a year and playing a vital role in Europe’s future, notably in the funding of SMEs. EBAN fuels Europe’s growth through the creation of wealth and jobs.  

25/10/2017

The International Faculty CITY College at the 6th Thessaloniki International Symposium in World Affairs

The International Faculty CITY College supported for another consecutive year the Thessaloniki International Symposium in World Affairs that took place with great success, on 22 October 2017 at Olympion theatre in Thessaloniki. Themed ‘Between the promise of change and the despair of new conflicts’ the Symposium featured a number of distinguished speakers who shared their insights on the topic. The Mayor of Thessaloniki, Mr Yannis Boutaris, addressed the symposium. Welcome addresses were delivered by Mr. Dimitris Keridis, Director, Navarino Network, Mr Stavros Andreadis, Chairman, The Cultural Society of Entrepreneurs of Northern Greece and Mr. Norbert Beckmann-Dierkes, Head of Greece Office, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The International Faculty was represented at the event by Mr Petros Golitsis, Lecturer in the Business Administration and Economics Department who moderated the panel discussion on ‘Europe: Is the crisis over?’, while Professor Philip McCann, Chair in Urban and Regional Economics at the Management School of the University of Sheffield, UK who also participated in the panel gave an insightful presentation on ‘Regional shocks and the geography of discontent’. Speakers included Haris Georgiades, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Cyprus; Laza Kekic, The Economist Intelligence Unit; Denis MacShane, former Minister of State for Europe of the Labour Party; Wolfango Piccoli, Teneo Intelligence; James Renton, Edge Hill University; Jamie Shea, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), etc.   Prominent representatives of politics and the academia from around the world analyzed crucial questions in fields like economy, growth and security on regional, European and global level.   Many students from the International Faculty CITY College supported the organisation of the event and also attended the all day event.  The Symposium was organised by The Northern Greece Entrepreneurs Cultural Society and the Navarino Network and shed light on issues of radical Islam, innovation and growth, new security challenges, European crisis, Greece and Cyprus’ crises. 

25/10/2017

Entrepreneurs Talk 2017

Presentations of successful startups for our business students On Friday 20th of October 2017 four inspirational entrepreneurs participated as guest speakers in the ‘Entrepreneurs Talk 2017’ event that took place for a second year in a row at our main campus in Thessaloniki, as part of the unit “Entrepreneurship and Small Business”. Several start-ups presented their ideas, talked about the implementation of their business plan, shared their success stories and failures. The event kicked off with the presentation of ‘Athleda’, a networking platform for basketball players and scouts / coaches, by founder Lazaros Papadopoulos, a famous Greek basketball European Champion. ‘Social Green’ with Dimitris Ntempos gave insight to the reasons that lead to a dramatic failure for this very interesting project, related to recycling. ‘Movinn’ was represented by CEO Theoklis Tsirakidis. ‘Movinn’ provides excursions and rides opportunities at low prices. Finally, ‘GOODVIDIO’ was the last presentation, with founder Dimitris Kourtesis. This startup was founded by two alumni of the International Faculty CITY College who developed a tool that enables companies to promote their products (e-shops) through YouTube videos. There was plenty of time for Q&A at the end of all presentations. Students benefited from the opportunity they had to hear first-hand information, to meet the people behind successful startups and connect their academic knowledge with the everyday life of actually running a startup. The event was organised by our Career, Employability and Enterprise Centre and comes in alignment with the Centre’s core mission to bring our students and academia closer to the industry.

24/10/2017

Company Visit to Unismack (Wellaby’s) by Business students

In November 2017 all final year marketing track students will participate in a company visit to Unismack. This is a Greek company with innovative snack products. The company exports their products to over 11 countries and has become a success story. During their visit the students will visit the manufacturing facility, attend a presentation on the company, the brand, its marketing and communication strategies. They will also try their delicious products. The visit is part of the unit Integrated Marketing communications where the students will develop an Integrated Marketing Communications plan and a viral video/advert for the Wellaby’s brand in the UK market. A tasty project indeed. Students will be accompanied by their Integrated Marketing Communications unit leader, Dr. Ana Cruz.

20/10/2017

Professor Kefalas representing the International Faculty at the 8th Balkan Conference of Informatics

The presence of the International Faculty in the 8th Balkan Conference of Informatics was consolidated by two papers presented by our Vice Principal for Teaching and Learning, Prof. Petros Kefalas, in Skopje at the end of September. Prof. Kefalas’ contribution to this Conference also included his role as a Programme Committee Chairperson and Editor of the Conference Proceedings. During the Conference, Prof. Kefalas had the opportunity to present two distinct papers; the first one, entitled The Invalidity of Validating Emotional Multi-Agent Systems Simulations, was co-authored with Dr Ilias Sakellariou from the University of Macedonia. The paper discussed the issue of validating simulations that involve emotional agents. In the study of disaster management scenarios, such as emergency evacuations, simulations are developed to demonstrate the behaviour of people acting under emotional pressure. Prof. Kefalas and Dr Sakellariou argued for believability instead of validity of simulations of emotional multi-agent systems in such scenarios. The second paper, under the title Using Screencasts to Enhance Logic Programming Skills, was co-authored with Dr Ioanna Stamatopoulou, a staff member of the Computer Science Department of the International Faculty CITY College. This particular paper argued for the use of screencasting as a tool within a pedagogical context and highlighted its usefulness by exploring a number of techniques and methods in which it can be employed. In general, the Balkan Conference of Informatics (BCI) is a series of conferences initiated in 2003, targeted at bringing together experts and researchers from across the Balkans and beyond, working in the areas of Computer Science and Information Technology. The conference series is meant to ferment ideas, initiate discussion and disseminate the latest studies carried out in Informatics. Above all, the conference is meant to act as a platform of collaboration and intellectual confrontation for established scientists and young researchers of the Balkan region. 

20/10/2017

Language in Focus - International Conference 2018

www.languageinfocus.org lif2018@languageinfocus.org  

20/10/2017