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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: May 31, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
Internationalization is a prioritized area in the Mid Sweden University Educational Strategy 2011-2015, extended through 2017. Mid Sweden University’s ECHE, aligns well with this priority, describing our goal of making the university “more international.” The ECHE states that “Mid Sweden University has decided to integrate internationalization into all activities. It should be obvious and visible on many levels, internally and externally, offensive, and active.” In practice, this includes, but is not limited to: integrating international and national students in all phases of university life, encouraging teacher and staff visits and exchanges to strategically chosen partner universities, simplifying the exchange process for outbound students, increasing opportunities for internationalization at home (IaH), and shorter mobility periods. One of the current, main objectives of internationalization at Mid Sweden University is to increase the number of outgoing students, and the Erasmus+ project 2014-2016 is the foundation of this is priority.
We believe that increasing the number of outgoing students is based on several factors. One of the main factors influencing the number of outgoing students is the numbers of outgoing teachers. Teachers returning from a successful exchange inspire students to go abroad, or to become involved in IaH. Another factor is timely and clear information about Erasmus+, followed by appropriate support throughout the process. The solidity of the University’s Erasmus+ partnerships are the foundation of this work. The partnerships need to function well and offer courses/research areas well aligned with those at Mid Sweden University. As described in the ECHE, to help meet this goal, the University has a deliberate process when signing new Erasmus+ agreements. In summary, we believe that fewer, but well matched agreements can increase both the numbers and the quality of the cooperation. Continuing to evaluate our agreements will help reach our goals, and as we can see in our results from this Erasmus+ project period, we are moving in the right direction.
In terms of outbound student mobility, Mid Sweden University continues to review our study programs to identify mobility windows in order to simplify the process and increase mobility. The university is also prioritizing improved communication with students interested in studying abroad. In 2014, the International Office along with the two head of international cooperation at the faculties, and a representative from the Communication Department, developed a Communication plan for Outgoing Students, with the goal of increasing the number of outgoing students. This plan was evaluated/ updated in 2015. The plan improved the process of information to outbound students and there has already been an increase in the number of outgoing students within the Erasmus+ framework. Since 2014, there is an increase in the number of outbound students on Erasmus+ studies, from 23 in the academic year 2014-15 to an expectation of approximately 50 students in 2016-17 (27 nominated students for autumn 2016). In other words, we expect to double our outbound students within Erasmus+ between project calls 2014-16 and 2015-2017. The number of outgoing students on traineeships have decreased slightly. This is due to an increase in the number of students choosing to complete their traineeships outside of Erasmus+. Furthermore, our focus during this project period is outgoing teachers and students on studies, rather than trainees.
In terms of teacher participation, they are increasingly encouraged by their faculty’s head of internationalization to participate in exchanges and contact visits at selected partner universities. The head of international cooperation at the faculties, along with the Head of Departments’ as well as researchers at the departments, identified appropriate existing partner institutions where potential to broaden the cooperation exist. Several contact visits were also made on teachers and researcher’s own initiatives, based on their own research contacts. This has led to a number of successful teacher exchanges, which in turn, has led to both increased teaching mobilities (inbound and outbound) as well as student mobilities to and from these universities.
The student participant profile remain similar. Students enrolled in programs with clear mobility windows are most likely to study abroad. Student awareness and well established agreements exist. Perhaps most important, these students are encouraged by their teachers and coordinators to take advantage of the opportunity to go abroad. This both inspire students and simplifies the process for all involved.
A long term goal is to close the gap between incoming and outgoing Erasmus+ students; a benefit we aim for in the long run for more balanced agreements and stronger cooperation.