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Higher education student and staff mobility projec..
Higher education student and staff mobility project
Start date: Jun 1, 2014,
End date: Sep 30, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
At the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, which has participated in the Programme since its inception, Erasmus has over the years acquired an increasingly strategic relevance for the learning and teaching of foreign languages and cultures – one of the distinguishing features of our Institution. “L’Orientale” has signed agreements with universities around the world, and the Erasmus Programme is highly appreciated for the opportunities to study, train and gain work experience offered to participating students. Traineeships mobility has dramatically increased (from 7 students in the academic year 2007/2008 to 135 in the academic year 2014/2015) and the participation of incoming students is also important. At “L’Orientale” students can study not only the Italian language and culture, but also languages and cultures of Europe and the other continents, some of which are taught only at our Institution and a few other universities in the world, incoming students can also attend courses in the social and political sciences and in ancient civilizations and archaelogy. The increase in bilateral agreements with China and other Far Eastern countries and the presence of the Confucius Institute at “L’Orientale” have enhanced the international character of the University, which has a vibrant international community. Today, “L’Orientale” aims to achieve three main objectives of the Erasmus Programme; one is general and two are more specific: 1. Promote, through cooperation and intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity, and foster social integration, equity, non-discrimination and respect for human rights; 2. Support the internationalisation of students and staff by promoting mobility and by widening the network of public and private institutions participating in the Erasmus Programme with whom to partner, to improve the quality of learning and to further internationalise education; 3. Offer students, through traineeships in companies and foreign enterprises, the opportunity to acquire the skills and knowledge a continuously changing labour market requires, and help them meet professional profiles suited to the requirements of a global economy, thus increasing employability.
In synthesis: for the academic year 2014/2015 162 students (outgoing) were selected for the Erasmus Study Programme and 135 students for the Erasmus Traineeship programme, for a total of 297 (of those, 5 from disadvantaged backgrounds were recipients of the additional grant). 246 students were female, 51 were male; this distribution reflects the ratio between male and female students at "L'Orientale". Academic staff participating in the Mobility: 17 (6 female, 11 male).
The results of the programme are undoubtedly satisfactory in terms of both quantity and quality: the number of participating students and teachers exceeded the number of Erasmus grants and for this reason the University co-funded the mobility, in particular for traineeships and staff mobility, and increased the funding for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In terms of quality the principles and provisions of the ECHE and EPS were fully respected. The University was committed to providing information, assistance and educational tutoring for incoming and outgoing students, and promoted the recognition of educational experiences abroad, in particular through the implementation of the Diploma Supplement for both outgoing and incoming students.
Overall, the institutional impact of Erasmus+ is strong and it positively increases motivation. Erasmus+ has enhanced the importance of intercultural dialogue for our home students and improved their knowledge and the skills needed to act more autonomously, so students can plan and carry out their learning more independently; after the mobility students are more able to find solutions in difficult or challenging contexts and have greater self-confidence; they are more open-minded and more able to cooperate with people from other backgrounds and cultures.
The main strategies used to implement the Erasmus+ programme were: assistance and grassroots information to outgoing students, facilitation of ECTS assessment after mobility; assistance, reception and grassroots information to incoming students, free Italian language courses, Tandem Programme, which provides mentoring or the pairing with an Italian student to incoming students, to facilitate their integration in the academic life and in the city. Volunteering home students were also selected to provide additional educational tutoring to incoming students. The University also offered a series of collaborating services, including the International Relations-Student Mobility Office and the Office of Admission and Enrollment, the Orientation and Mentoring Office (SORT) and the Orientation and Student Disability Office (SOD).