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Higher education student and staff mobility project
Date du début: 1 juin 2014, Date de fin: 30 sept. 2015 PROJET  TERMINÉ 

The ERASMUS project at the University of Worcester is deeply embedded in international activity which involves increased recruitment of degree-seeking students, efforts to 'internationalise' the campus (e.g. with cultural events, awareness of cultural/religious requirements, inclusion of worldwide publications and case studies in module reading lists etc.). The funding provided by ERASMUS for the academic year 2014-2015 has enabled us to generate and expand international activity in Europe. This has occurred in many ways for staff and students. For students, 23 undertook periods of study predominately in the area of Business. This subject area has benefited from an increase due to the inclusion of a semester abroad as a mandatory requirement in the International Business degree course. This indicates the importance of studying abroad to this subject area, particularly in terms of future employability. Another popular area is Outdoor Adventure Leadership and Management, which is successful due to the close mapping of modules between the University of Agder (Norway) and the University of Worcester, which reduces a significant amount of workload for students in preparing for exchange. 3 students also undertook traineeships in Nursing where they undertook activity in contact with Dundalk University (Ireland) and Lillebaelt (Denmark). Another student completed a graduate placement. Feedback from students as communicated 'in person' (many of them attend drop-in sessions organised by the International Experience department after their exchange period) and through the participant reports is largely positive. Students report a greater sense of confidence and focus, the opportunity to consider their future career options and benefits to their outlook on life (i.e. they have become more aware of cultural differences, appreciative of their ability to make international contacts etc). However, there has been some negative feedback from some students undertaking study in the area of Business regarding the availability of modules in English. Some students have reported choosing their modules well in advance of their departure but on arrival being told that a module was unable and requested to complete a 'project' based on information normally provided for postgraduate students with little direction/supervision. In the short-term, we have attempted to resolve this by offering support and guidance via email, coaching about the differences in learning and teaching in European Universities and offered them the opportunity to 'pick-up' a module on their return. For the long-term, new agreements have been created with partners who are able to reliably provide a sufficient number of courses in English. We are confident that this will resolve this issue. We are also aware that the internal process for students to go on exchange which depended on them meeting several members of staff in different departments across the University was time-consuming (for both staff and students) and did not necessarily explore adequately some of the challenges of international mobility. For the year 2015-2016, this process has been entirely written to echo wider University processes (to avoid duplication/inaccurate information being held about students' modules), embrace electronic record-keeping and introduce an interview (this will be conducted by the Exchange Coordinator and an academic member of staff). For staff, the greatest number of mobilities undertaken were staff teaching assignments. Staff members find this to be a very fulfilling area of their work which allows them to share methods of teaching and learning, meet international colleagues 'in person' and discuss future possibilities. 3 members of staff also engaged in Staff training mobilities to enhance their work within an Academic Support Unit. Further to this, OS funding was used predominantly to create new or disciplinary-specific partnerships with new Universities especially in Romania, France, Netherlands, Malta and Germany. At the University of Worcester, we are particularly concerned with using STA, STT and OS to create opportunities for student mobilities and these assignments have been particularly effective at generating experiences in areas which have previously been under-explored such as Education, Social Welfare and Psychology. We have also been strategic in re-visiting established partnerships to explore if they can offer additional disciplines taught in English for students, such as adding Sport to the partnership with TU Dortmund, which has been a cost-effective use of the funding available. These connections offer academically appropriate, exciting and enticing experiences for students. It is also worth noting that for the year 2015-2016, the internal process for selecting staff for ERASMUS mobility has been re-written, to better communicate the transparent system to identify and choose mobilties that fulfill the strategic objectives of ERASMUS and the University.

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