WORKSHOP 1 Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility: opening up new opportunities for international cooperation Dpt. of European Educational Programmes Sophia Fourlari, Konstantina Tolia, Giorgos Veis DEEP-2017 ©

What is the International Credit Mobility: International opening of Erasmus 135,000 grants for 6 years (for all EU) Mobilities for students and staff from/To Programme and Partner Countries Managed by National Agencies of Programme Countries Management of Mobilities: European HEIs apply on behalf of the partnership to their National Agency 16 or 26 months to organize mobilities Budget = Organisation support, living allowance, travel

Why this workshop? Let’s give it a try altogether! A new programme To highlight the pros and the cons of the Erasmus+ International Credit mobility adventure To exchange experiences To review attitudes towards critical issues of the Erasmus+ mobilities To suggest ‘solutions’ to difficulties To talk on ‘whatever’ on Erasmus+ Let’s give it a try altogether! 3

Our discussion focused on Partnerships under Erasmus+ ICM Recognition of mobility and courses attended abroad/concerns on ECTS awarding Erasmus+ International Mobility: Special services needed Difficulties of the International Student and Staff Mobility under Erasmus+ …and on your thoughts on Erasmus+ ICM 4

How did we work ? Participants were split in 2 groups - Exchange of thoughts on the 4 points (pros and cons, problems, good practices, possible solutions) - Resume and presentation by the representatives of the groups How do we work things out in AUTH? Presentation, discussion, questions & comments All our other thoughts put together 5

The 1st thing you think of… Yellow group Study Research Experience Exchange Different opportunities about mobility in different countries Lots of work for us – Good for students Experience sharing Cultural sharing Green group Non – EU Recognition of credits and examinations Student exchange Increasing capacities New Options

Partnerships under Erasmus+ ICM   How you do it/Good practices Former Erasmus Mundus partners Prior long-term partnerships Individual suggestions from Professors/colleagues from other Universities Difficulty with contacts out of Europe Usually the initiative comes from a partner university Erasmus Officer tasked to create partnership Some kind of unofficial board when a new partnership is proposed Agreements may start running with staff mobilities and then with students Preference to partners with similar accreditation system to ensure the recognition of the courses Further thoughts: Risk assessment of a future partnership/ranking of the university or other official lists/external evaluation of a University

Recognition of mobility and courses attended abroad/concerns on ECTS awarding Use of learning agreement prior to the mobility Academic records including ECTS credits Difficulty to gain 30 ECTS / Recognition of courses if they have passed the 70% of the courses Credits for research work (master thesis, undergraduate thesis) / Some universities encourage it, especially in case of small mobility duration Other universities are discouraging the realization of thesis due to the difficulty of recognizing ECTS Special examination committees at each Department / Special examination board for each course Faculty boards which decide the courses that will be declared / They meet after the end of the mobility so as to recognize ECTS- “Conversion charts” The recognition of the courses is not always obligatory e.g. in Germany) whereas in some case it is a mandatory (e.g. Turkey).  

Erasmus+ International Mobility: Special services needed Individual arrangements Extra support for students with special needs/medication/company (they fill in different applications), Counseling service, Health care service, Student club specializing to students with special needs, Set up of the campus accordingly Registration, airport pick up: there is a branch of the students’ network to help them, they pay with the lump sum for extra costs (e.g. taxi costs etc), they give money to students to participate in events abroad and in exchange they help the local students Web-base with information regarding the country International data-base for future partnerships/communication platform with info for students/courses etc.  

Difficulties of the International Student and Staff Mobility under Erasmus+ Visa issuance Allocation of travel expenses: It’s not possible to send money in advance in case expensive tickets are bought) Difficulty in finding partners Transparent selection process Low number of outgoing students (e.g. Germany) vs. other universities that have the opposite problems (low number of incoming students - e.g.Turkey)

Department of European Educational Programmes Thessaloniki, Greece E-mail:  eurep-projects@auth.gr Web: https://eurep.auth.gr