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Higher education student and staff mobility project
Date du début: 1 juin 2014, Date de fin: 31 mai 2016 PROJET  TERMINÉ 

Mobilities relating to this period have been solely devoted to staff mobilities, both for teaching but notably a surge in the interest for mobilities connected with training. We have extended our relationship with the music colleges in Estonia through this collaboration, involving quite broad academic areas concerning ergonomics and percussion pedagogies. We have also made new connections with music colleges in e.g. the UK and Germany, as well as reconnecting with colleges with whom we have had previous mobilities, in Portugal. Four of seven of the mobilities have been conducted by staff doing mobilities for the first time. The total dominance of staff mobilities is attributed to the great interest of the staff to gain more knowledge in the practices of similar colleges and programs (of which there are to our knowledge very few in Europe), as well as the variations and priorities of other colleges and educational organisations and systems in other countries. In some cases the mobilities have centered on specific collaborations with key academic staff at the receiving institution, but more often the interest has focused on student-centered learning and the conditions for course delivery and instruction. The total absence of student mobilities has several factors to it. One of the most obvious is the overall situation of our students, who often have part-time work, family and mortgages etc while studying. Many of them are employed during study and several gain new jobs even before graduating. As such very few are "free" enough to be able to conduct an overseas study period of any greater length of time. At the same time SMI should develop strategic partnerships with key HEI's with whom it would be possible, feasible and reasonable, to conduct student mobilities for study and practice. Unfortunately the current economic situation with SMI has not allowed for the staff resources to this area to be a priority. Therefore it is only in the event that a student requests more information on the possibility of a mobility that we are able to survey the individual possibilities that may be on offer according to the student's major subject (primary instrument) and choice of country/HEI to visit. Unfortunately we are still to succeed in pursuing a student mobility to the point of one being conducted. Indeed we only have had a handfull expressions of interest, none of which have come to the actual submission of an application. Overall the staff are very satisfied with their mobilities. Some of them have conducted teaching mobilities and in doing so have both disseminated their own pedagogical practices, received valuable feedback and confirmation on their delivery and methodology and developed new networks and collegial contacts that have continued to bear fruit even after the mobility was completed. For those that have conducted mobilities for training, there has been a considerably increased awareness for our own pedagogical practice as well as a positive experience leading to continued contact between the staff of both institutions. We envisage through this continued contact that there will be new invitations for networking and collaboration, as well as hopefully developing partnerships that would open the path for student mobilities to be developed.

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