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

Edinburgh Napier University has a strong commitment to internationalisation and offering international opportunities to both its students and staff. The University has links with partner institutions from across the globe and for a number years it has exchanged students in Europe through the Erasmus programme. In 2013/14, the University received further funding from the Scottish Funding Council to improve the employability of its graduates and an area of focus was student mobility. An objective was set to increase the number and diversity of Edinburgh Napier students engaging in mobility programmes to improve graduate level employability with a particular emphasis on increasing participation in Erasmus exchanges given the funding available to support outbound students and the relative affordability of Europe as a study destination. Increasing outward mobility through the University?s Graduate Employability Project reflected objectives set out in the University?s Strategy 2020 and is explicitly mentioned in both the Internationalisation and Student Experience strategies. Through this project, the University wanted to increase the number of Erasmus outbound participants amongst Scottish-domiciled students and particularly those from a challenging socio-economic background. The University launched a marketing campaign to promote overseas study, increased its promotional activity of exchange opportunities and the increased the availability of mobility staff to meet with students across the University?s main campuses. It worked with academic colleagues to identify those degree programmes were Scottish-domiciled students were studying and were few European partner institutions were in place, it sourced and established new European study destinations for its students. The University reviewed its eligibility criteria for the Widening Participation grant and in 2014/15 sent 24 students from a disadvantaged background. The University sent 117 on a study exchange, 11 on an Erasmus traineeship and 13 members of staff to teach or train at a partner institution. For a small proportion of students, their Erasmus exchange was an obligatory part of their degree programme but others understood the longer-term benefits and were simply keen to participate. In the majority of cases, students on a study exchange undertook classes at a host institution and took classes to a minimum of 30 ECTS credits. Marks were converted into Edinburgh Napier credit and grades upon their return and issued on an official University transcript. Students on a traineeship also had clear learning outcomes which had to be met and against which they were assessed and staff (both teaching and training) went overseas for an average duration of 6 days to consolidate links with existing partners, gain international teaching experience and to learn from their peers and bring back best practice to Edinburgh. Feedback gained from participant reports shows that 90% and 100% of outbound students and staff respectively were satisfied with their time away. For students the impact is difficult to measure although the University is considering ways in which this can be done. The experience will have enhanced many graduate attributes but its impact on a student?s employability cannot be measured until they have graduated and completed the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education survey (DLHE). For staff, participation has led to a greater understanding and knowledge of partner institutions and encouraged and facilitated greater collaboration on both short-term mobility initiatives and potential research projects. It is hoped that Erasmus staff mobility opportunities will be promoted further as part of the University?s commitment to staff development and internationlisation. For some staff members it has increased their working knowledge of the Programme and its benefits and this should positively impact on outbound numbers in future years. The University was proud to welcome inbound participants from its partner institutions in 2014/15 also and feedback from this cohort has been similarly positive. Inbound participants help to diversify the University?s classrooms and contribute to the internationalisation of home students and non-participants.
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