Search for European Projects

Higher education student and staff mobility project
Start date: Jun 1, 2014, End date: Sep 30, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Higher education is currently undergoing a coordinated reform not only within Slovakia but throughout Europe as well, due to the pressure and confrontation of economic and social crisis, unemployment, demographic changes, migration, extremism and other phenomena. Higher education then tries to stand as a contrary to all these issues and to create an atmosphere of mutual understanding, exchange, and cooperation, to make room for the fast development of new technologies and sustainable development. The increasing demand in quality and relevancy of teaching and the support of employment have become a requisite and a current challenge. Comenius University as a national higher education institution is the base point of science, research, education and culture in the Slovak Republic and it has the ambition to become a leading centre for European education and a university with international orientation. The university maintains study programmes and areas which are beneficial for our culture, education and international relations of the Slovak Republic, and which have no analogy within other Slovak universities. Comenius University supports study programmes aimed at national facts and traditions and broadens the extent to which departments of CU are involved in academic mobility programmes at the same time. Its ambition is to have at least 10% international students studying full time, (as of now, it is ca 5%), to create conditions for study programmes taught in foreign languages, mainly English at all study cycles, to have double degree programmes with prestigious universities, to expand its memberships in important international associations and to enforce its interests within. With internationalization in mind, which is the strategic tool for reaching the long-term goals, Comenius University, in major extent, utilises EU programmes for supporting mobilities for all target groups ? 536 students for study, 81 students for traineeships, 53 staff for teaching and 13 staff for training. As for the new target group ? graduates ? Comenius University cooperates with the consortium WorkSpace Europe. The former EU programmes ? Socrates and LLP/Erasmus with their popularity among students as well as among teachers and a relatively big availability at Comenius University have created a good position for launching Erasmus+ at CU. However, the administrators had to work very hard on warning about new aspects, programme rules and news which the programme has brought with it. The relative similarity in the title with the former LLP/Erasmus has kept the interest, but on the other hand led to many misunderstandings and preserving the former interpretations of rules. The first year was accompanied by problems (delays in launching the programme, unusually excessive documents, delayed financial support, incompatibility of programme rules with IT platform used for staff mobilities, functioning according to the national legislation) which we, by small degrees, overcame at the end. Although aforementioned problems have been displayed in the quantitative indicators (we have not 100% fulfilled the plan) we are happy to ascertain that the interest in the programme has not declined and that a whole spectrum of faculties is involved, including theological. We implemented the programme at all study cycles, including full time foreign students, 8 students with special needs and 33 student with disadvantaged background. Apart from the general goals, we are successful in supporting other particular interests of Comenius University thanks to Erasmus+ programme, such as supporting the teaching of Slovak language at Jyvaskyla University in Finalnd within the staff mobility for teaching, and implementing a double degree ?Cognitive Science? with universities in Vienna, Budapest, Ljubljana and Zagreb since 2008.
Up2Europe Ads

Coordinator

Details