2. Aims of session:
• Recognise the value of incorporating an option
for outward mobility into our degree
programmes
• Advise Middlesex students on how to access
the exchange programme
• Explore a student’s experience of an overseas
exchange
3. Making exchanges part of our
academic practice…
• What do you know about exchange and
mobility, and what are the grey areas ?
• To what extent do you think promoting exchanges
may be part of your academic role ?
• How would you develop an exchange/partnership –
and are there areas you are considering ?
• What would be the advantages for your
subject/programme ?
4. Strong history of student and staff mobility:
• In 1980’s Middx marketed as
“Middlesex, The European
Polytechnic”
• The then Director, Ray Rickett, was
one of the original members of the UK
ERASMUS Council.
• Across the University opportunities
for study abroad on most
programmes: 130 partners
• Erasmus supported exchange
scholarships for students and staff and
some curriculum development
5. STUDENT EXCHANGES OVERSEAS
Our partners abroad
No. of No. of Other No. of
Erasmus Country institutions Erasmus Country institutions Country institutions
Austria 6 Lithuania 1 Australia 4
Belgium 1 Malta 1 Brazil 2
Bulgaria 1 The Netherlands 6 Chile 1
Cyprus 1 Norway 2 China 2
Croatia 1 Poland 2 Dubai 1
Czech Republic 3 Portugal 3 Israel 1
Denmark 4 Romania 1 Japan 2
Estonia 1 Slovak Republic 1 Mauritius 1
Finland 8 Slovenia 1 Russia 1
France 9 Spain 11 South Korea 1
Germany 10 Sweden 5 United States 13
Greece 4 Switzerland 1 West Indes 1
Hungary 2 Turkey 5
Iceland 1
Italy 8 TOTAL 100 TOTAL 30
6. Funding
• Who goes ?
• Is there a ‘profile’ or a demographic of the
‘Erasmus’ student ?
7. Added value…
• Employability and benefits of exchange:
65% of international employers indicate that having overseas
professional work experience makes graduates more employable.
(CIHE 2008)
• Exchange a Middlesex USP for our ‘New
Direction’ ?
• Top 10 UK Institutions for outgoing Student No’s
2010/11
1. University of Nottingham 6. University of Exeter
2. University of Bristol 7. University of Edinburgh
3. University of Leeds 8. University of Bath
4. University of Manchester 9. University of Warwick
5. University of Sheffield 10. UCL
8. YEAR ERASMUS INTERNATIONAL
Term Term Full
1 2 Year Total Term 1 Term 2 Full year Total
2005-6 6 16 1 23 5 14 1 20
2006-7 16 20 8 44 6 16 1 23
2007-8 9 8 11 28 5 13 9 27
2008-9 13 9 18 40 6 4 22 32
56
2009-10 7 20 29 (+5*) 9 7 5 21
45
2010-11 4 7 34 (+1*) 4 16 15 35
9. Challenges
• decline in language studies;
• cultural inertia, lack of interest in languages (lazy assumption that
‘everyone speaks English’);
• absence of institutional strategic commitment, aversion to incurring
costs in setting up and managing exchange links, or managing incoming
students;
• lack of interest at departmental level and inflexible curricula; difficulty
matching study abroad to home modules, especially where ‘long thin’
modules are interrupted half way to allow a semester abroad;
• student perceptions of added costs;
• part-time students with external or family commitments; part-time
employed students reluctant to give up jobs;
• placements: difficulty in getting students with little or no foreign
language skills to pass interviews and gain sufficient foreign language
competence;
• placement employers’ reluctance to undertake perceived costs, risks
and responsibilities.
• London specific – nature of London students – home, job, etc
10. Key points (The Leuven Agenda)
• Greater stress on employability, learner centred learning,
increased student involvement in University governance.
• By 2020, all Universities should have achieved the
objective of 20% of graduating students having taken part
in a placement or study period in another country (does
not have to be an EHEA country) as part of their
programme in the University.
• NB: Students transferring in from another country do not
count (even if the programme there is a MU franchised
programme). This 20% mobility should be achieved in
both first (Bachelor) and second (Master) cycles.
13. References
Commission Communication – ‘Erasmus for All’:
http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus-for-all/doc/com_en.pdf
Europe 2020: http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm
Horizon 2020:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm?pg=home&video=non
e
Agenda for the Modernisation of Europe’s higher education institutions:
http://ec.europa.eu/education/higher-education/agenda_en.htm
Leuven Communiqué:
http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/conference/document
s/leuven_louvain-la-neuve_communiqu%C3%A9_april_2009.pdf
Bucharest Communiqué:
http://www.ehea.info/Uploads/%281%29/Bucharest%20Communique%202012.
pdf
Mobility strategy for the EHEA:
http://www.ehea.info/Uploads/(1)/Mobility_Strategy_DRAFT%20FOR%20ADOPT
ION.pdf
Bologna Process Implementation report (2012):
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/thematic_reports/13
8EN.pdf
Students studying abroad and the EHEA: Briefing for students’ unions (NUS 2009,
p.7): http://resource.nusonline.co.uk/media/resource/studentsabroad.pdf.
Notes de l'éditeur
Quick overview of our aims
2.05-2.10 onto flip chart or type onto slide2.10-2.15 drawing out main questions – making sure we respond to those during the session
Middlesex University has a strong international profile. With over 10,000 students studying on Middlesex programmes across the world, two international campuses and 23 % of our students in the UK coming from overseas, ensuring a global curriculum is vital to us. But in addition, our commitment to the employability of our graduates, wherever in the world they seek employment, means that we have a particular interest in developing appropriate curricula for this purpose. In doing so, we have engaged with the need to tackle issues of the recognition of qualifications across the world, and of finding ways to deal with the sensitive matter of local cultural variations in professions while at the same time pursuing high standards and common outcomes for the learners.In the healthcare field, we have been active in a number of ways in pursuing the task of developing trans-national approaches to education. Much of this work started from encouraging the mobility of staff and students through exchanges. We have a long history of student and staff exchanges. These have been mainly with European countries, encouraged with financial support from the European Union. Not only has the EU funded student and staff mobility, but it has also supported development of the curriculum with particular emphasis on developments that would lead to enhanced mobility of the work force across national borders within the Union. Middlesex University, St Martins, LancasterTromso NorwayRed Cross University College: Stockholm, SwedenSatakunta Polytechnic: Pori, FinlandUniversity of Madrid: Madrid, Spain – then MalagaUniversity of Athens: Athens, GreeceJagiellonian University: Krakow, Poland
2.20In view of new direction, not new, also integral to what we do and a USPDevelop global perspectivesJohn to add in info on current MU outgoing studentsInternational experiences are valued by employers, and we alsoOur outgoing International Student mobility has dropped across the UKIncoming we have many International studentsNeed to look at ways of developing this – The leuven agenda 2020 EHEA Europena Higher Education Association) aims to improve employability, and by 2020 we have an EU target that 20% of graduating students will have undertaken a placement or study period in another country.
There is evidence that study abroad and/or work placement brings other benefits to students, including a better degree classification, improved key skill competences, enhanced confidence and potentially also better employment prospects, as employers look favourably on graduates with what is perceived to be added value in relation to potential recruitment. Students studying abroad and the EHEA: Briefing for students’ unions (NUS 2009, p.7): http://resource.nusonline.co.uk/media/resource/studentsabroad.pdf.Look at top 10 UK institutions for outgoing students – Russell Group dominated which speaks for itself – they see the value, and we could maximise upon our excellent reputation for exchange with our many EU partners
The European dimension and mobility Mobility is central to the Bologna Process and presents a challenge to UK HEIs. The Leuven Communiqué 2009 declared that “mobility shall be the hallmark of the European Higher Education Area” and agreed that “in 2020 at least twenty per cent of those graduating in the European Higher Education Area should have had a study or training period abroad”. This is known as the Leuven 20/2020 target11.In order to achieve this target it is vital to establish a culture of mobility, in which a study abroad experience and/or a work placement abroad becomes the norm. Successful creation of a mobility culture is necessary in order to counter the tendency towards an inward looking and insular mentality among a substantial proportion of the home student population, in contrast to the increasingly diverse and international context in which their careers may unfold, given the wider trends in the global economy and its impact on the local environment. An essential first step is to promote the benefits of mobility.
The European dimension and mobility Mobility is central to the Bologna Process and presents a challenge to UK HEIs. The Leuven Communiqué 2009 declared that “mobility shall be the hallmark of the European Higher Education Area” and agreed that “in 2020 at least twenty per cent of those graduating in the European Higher Education Area should have had a study or training period abroad”. This is known as the Leuven 20/2020 target11.In order to achieve this target it is vital to establish a culture of mobility, in which a study abroad experience and/or a work placement abroad becomes the norm. Successful creation of a mobility culture is necessary in order to counter the tendency towards an inward looking and insular mentality among a substantial proportion of the home student population, in contrast to the increasingly diverse and international context in which their careers may unfold, given the wider trends in the global economy and its impact on the local environment. An essential first step is to promote the benefits of mobility.
20% mobility target for student mobility extended to Doctoral candidates with the merger of the European Research Area with the European Higher Education Area. Increased support for mobility of doctoral candidates and junior researchers will come with the new ERASMUS FOR ALL programme starting in 2014.