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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
The „Higher education students and staff mobility” project implemented by Wrocław University of Science and Technology in 2014/2015 allowed 513 outgoing scholarship holders and 259 incoming students to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Erasmus+ programme. It also allowed our university to realize the assumptions contained in its internationalization strategy, to increase its visibility on the international arena and to gather the experience necessary for the implementation of further projects, e.g. mobility with partner countries.
The aim of the project was mainly to increase the professional competence of participants - students, graduates and both teaching and administrative Staff of WUST. By participating in the exchange and the opportunity to stay in foreign partner institutions to carry out the mobility programme, the scholarship holders were able to expand their knowledge and skills, confront their competences with the requirements of the international labour market, benefit from the exchange of experiences and good practices. It is worth noting that participation in the programme equals the possibility of increasing linguistic competence by attending classes conducted in a foreign language or by working in an international environment - but above all the experience of staying in the new cultural setting. In case of staff, established professional contacts often resulted in attracting partners for new initiatives and joint research projects, as well as strengthening cooperation. Students and graduates emphasized the positive impact of the exchange period and the experience they gained on increasing their competitiveness on the labor market and their so-called soft skills. For WUST, participating in the project for many years resulted in the acquisition of new partners, and encouraged continuous development of an attractive range of courses in English.
Recruitment of students and graduates and qualification of employees for Erasmus+ mobility is carried out at each of the faculties of our university. Additionally, we also encourage the employees of the library, the Foreign Languages Department, the Humanities Department, deans' offices and other administrative units to take part in the programme. The profile of the scholarship holders is therefore diverse and covers all specializations offered at WUST (various areas of science and engineering, architecture and town planning, computer science, management and economics), as well as humanities, foreign languages, librarianship and other areas.
In addition to activities connected with the direct implementation of the planned mobilities abroad, great attention was paid to the process of organizing reception of foreign students at our university. In our opinion, it is indirectly reflected in the large number of foreign students hosted at our university under the Erasmus+ and other exchange projects, as well as increased internationalization of the university. It should be emphasized that each of the faculties offers a wide range of elective courses in English. It is without any doubt the basic indicator of the attractiveness of higher education institution among foreign students and the strongest factor influencing their decision concerning the selection of the host institution. Additionally, in cooperation with the Foreign Languages Department of WUST (and one of its units, the Polish Language for Foreigners Department) we organized free Polish language courses and Polish culture and history classes for our incoming students. These courses have been organized for many years and are very popular among the participants. They can also take advantage of the offer of Foreign Languages Department and sign up for a free language course, as well as participate in sports activities at Physical Education and Sport Department . In cooperation with the Erasmus Student Network section resilient at our university we organize, co-finance or support a number of initiatives aimed at better integration of foreign students at WUST with the academic community. These include the introduction days, sightseeing tours, social events and other ventures.
The analysis of reports the participants submitted after the mobility showed that for the vast majority of scholarship holders, participating in the Erasmus+ programme and the possibility to carry out part of their studies or gain work experience abroad resulted in growth in their professional skills, as well as their soft skills (the ability to adapt to the new conditions and different cultural context, problem solving, analytical thinking, openness to new challenges). Erasmus+ mobility strengthened a sense of confidence and belief in their own abilities in students and graduates of WUST. Teaching and administrative staff on the other hand stressed above all the opportunity to broaden their professional contacts, gain valuable work experience in a new cultural environment and the exchange of good practices.