This was South West College's first foray into utilising funding through the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2014-2020. A relatively small college with around 1000 full-time HE students, most of whom studying on collaborative Foundation and Bachelor's degrees in conjunction with Ulster University and Queen's University, With a long history of successful funding through the Comenius and Leonardo initiatives the College's International office and team sought to further reflect an outward and forward looking College by building on a range of activities that suited staff, students and knowledge exchange, thereby supporting the development of our people and region in the global market through the ECHE. For example, The SWC Development Plan (2015-2018) has outlined International development as one of the six strategic pillars for the next developmental phase of the College. The strategy specifically outlines; “Encouraging an international outlook and awareness so that students and staff have the confidence to operate in a global environment" as a key task to consolidate and future proof the organisation as well as ensuring students and staff engage in development opportunities to maximise their potential. In the external environment, government policy developments are strongly influencing the College's vision and commitment for internationalisation. The Department of Employment and Learning Northern Ireland has introduced a new strategy, outlining a vision that Northern Ireland’s six Further and Higher Education Colleges will be recognised locally, nationally and internationally for their high quality education and training provision and their pivotal role for creating a vibrant economy. As outlined in the strategy "all aspects of colleges' activities in an international arena will be explored, including student and lecturer exchanges/placements, partnership arrangements with different countries and institutions.... ” Our aspiration puts increasing emphasis on international mobility, learning and knowledge transfer at the heart of future activity. Our vision for internationalisation is to extend our international partnerships and increase opportunities for transnational mobility. Specifically the objectives for internationalisation for the 2015-2020 period include; - Facilitate international staff and student mobility to encourage improved learning experiences and professional development; - Enhance the range of professional relationships with international Colleges, research institutes and public...to enable the import of high level knowledge from outside Northern Ireland; As part of our internationalisation strategy, the College recognises the importance of offering students and staff the opportunity to study and work abroad. Increasing our transnational mobility’s will extend the profile of the College in line with our international ambitions, while also enhancing the cross-cultural communication skills, employability and intellectual maturity of our students. Our specific aims for HE transnational mobility, and commitment to funding are to; - Increase the number of staff participating in staff exchanges, teacher training and job shadowing opportunities by 50% by 2020 with the aim of increasing knowledge transfer and enhancing pedagogical approaches. - Increase the number of students & staff with fewer opportunities participating in transnational mobility by 30% between 2015 & 2020. - Extend mobility opportunities into new curriculum areas and new countries which have not yet been explored in Erasmus+ projects. - Focus on increasing the number of Higher Education Students and Staff participating in transnational mobility to 100 individuals by 2020 In this first instance of utilising KA103 funding 18 mobilities were achieved out of 20, primarily relating to staff teaching (10) and training (6) placements, with 2 student work placement mobilities. Staff particularly from Hospitality, Tourism, Catering and ICT availed of the funding in these first two years primarily because of the nature of the inter-institutional agreements put in place and the support and interest of lecturers and management in these curricular areas. Teaching placements saw activities undertaken such as lectures being given, seminars led, etc. while training placements for our hospitality and culinary staff saw professional development gained from working in hotel kitchens, on the restaurant floor, etc. Such experiences undoubtedly led to innovation and improvement in teaching quality and access to resources, as well as improved cultural awareness, a re-energising of staff, the broader benefits of developing a wider professional network and all round professional competences. The enthusiasm and professional development of these staff will bring longer term benefits through successful dissemination to encourage a broader range of interest and commitment to extend to staff and students from other curriculum areas.