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Higher education student and staff mobility project
Start date: Jun 1, 2014, End date: May 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Context/ background of the project: NHTV opted for profiling itself as an international institution for higher education years ago. The basis of this choice lies in the international curriculum, in which the content of the programme and practical cases are placed in an international perspective. In the meantime, the greater part of our programmes are delivered in English or have an English variant, half of the students attend English-taught courses, and more than 50% of students do their work placements abroad. For student exchanges we strive for a balance: outbound student mobility enhances international experiences of students, and inbound students contribute to study groups consisting of various nationalities (international classroom). Objectives: NHTV’s strategy prescribed that per 31 December 2015 60% of students earn at least 30 ECTS abroad by doing a work placement, graduation project, double degree or participating in an exchange programme. Without the Erasmus+ programme this would not be possible since an international experience is expensive for students. Number and type/profile of participants/ Description of undertaken activities/ Results and impact attained: NHTV encourages an international experience because students will broaden their horizon, grow as a person, both personally and professionally. They will get to know a new culture and improve their language skills. International experience is also an advantage for finding a job at Higher Educational level. Erasmus+ for studies – all NHTV students who participate in an exchange/ double degree programme within an Erasmus+ country which cannot be their country of origin and who comply with the requirements of the programme can apply for an Erasmus+ scholarship. We realized 91 participants within the Erasmus+ programme for an exchange/ double degree during the academic year 2014/2015. During the academic year 2014/2015 130 NHTV students went on an exchange/ double degree abroad. This number is low in comparison with the academic year 2013/2014 (174) and the academic year 2015/2016 (177). For some reason we were faced with a lower number of applicants and we also received cancellations which resulted in a lower amount of participants. In order to increase the number of students going on an exchange/ double degree abroad we needed to increase the amount of partner institutions but also change our way of promoting the possibilities. Our mobility management system (MoveON 4) made it possible to create a world-map which represents all NHTV’s partner institutions with extended information and experience reports. The experience reports give in-depth information from students for students and really helps in the decision making process. Erasmus+ for placement – all NHTV students who perform a placement abroad within an Erasmus+ country which cannot be their country of origin and who comply with the requirements of the programme can apply for an Erasmus+ scholarship. We realized 205 participants within the Erasmus+ programme for placement during the academic year 2014/2015. During the academic year 2014/2015 approximately 1500 NHTV students performed a placement, 45% of these placements where performed outside of the Netherlands (673). From the students who performed a placement outside of the Netherlands 30.5% received the Erasmus+ scholarship. Erasmus+ for staff/ lecturer exchange – during the academic year 2014/15 a total number of 14 staff members of NHTV went abroad for a staff/ lecturer exchange with an Erasmus+ scholarship. For my promotion I went to all the academy directors but in order to really be attractive the budget is too limited. Each academy of NHTV has an international coordinator and they help with selecting staff members for a staff/lecturer exchange (e.g. staff members who never received the Erasmus+ scholarship are given preference). Some academies strive to arrange for a staff/ lecture exchange for every staff member once every 5 years, NHTV staff members are mobile but it is hard to find a balance in promoting the Erasmus+ programme and the actual budget. Longer-term benefits: In 2017 the new strategy is presented and presumably the percentage of students who earn at least 30 ECTS abroad will be raised (from 60% to ?). Therefore it is important to expand the international network of partner institutions which will result in a higher number of exchange/ double degree places available all over the world. This will result in a higher number of mobilities and thus an increased demand for the Erasmus+ scholarship. It is already important for students to have an international experience on their resume at the moment but we believe this will be increasingly important in the future.
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