Studying in Europe – Enhancing Student Mobility Conference | Lille 6 & 7 October 2008 Studying in Europe – Enhancing Student Mobility The Scottish experience Liam Burns

Project context Funded by the Scottish Government 1 outgoing student for 2 incoming students (Erasmus) Engage students’ associations in promotion of student mobility Raise awareness of the European dimension (Bologna Process)

Project outputs Conference: Studying in Europe – Enhancing Student Mobility Booklet: Wee Book of Studying in Europe Training and information to students’ associations “Europeanisation” actions Recommendations to the Scottish Government Conference Strategic conference to gather stakeholders of student mobility: British Council (national agency for the EU Lifelong Learning Programme); Universities Scotland, Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Government, European Parliament From universities: student officers, Erasmus societies, staff from international offices, academics Informative session (benefits and opportunities) in the morning: what does the Bologna Process mean for Scotland, for students; what the EU has done fir its students; EU funding programmes for mobility Workshops on barriers to mobility: funding, languages, recognition, cooperation within HEIs Action plan derived from the conference: will feed in recommendations to the Scottish Government European Student Working Group: attendees and other stakeholders – to help implement the project at local level for various tasks (e.g. organise pub quiz for Europe Day; draft the Studying in Europe booklet; input for Bologna with Student Eyes etc.) Booklet Co-written by the European Student Working Group (student officers, academic, international office) Distributed during Freshers’ fayres throughout Scotland (i.e. mainly aimed at first-year students but can be made available to other students during the rest of the year) Training and information Training has been provided to student officers during the summer to empower them to promote student mobility – what their students’ associations do to promote student mobility? Mainly focuses on raising awareness on the benefits of mobility, what the barriers are, and the activities they can carry out to communicate to the student body and gain more information within their HEI Welfare Pack: NUS Scotland produces a Welfare Pack to help students’ associations (student officers and staff) respond to various student welfare queries. The new edition will comprise a outgoing mobility component Recommendations By the end of the project, we will submit a series of recommendations to the Scottish Government with the cooperation of the European Student Working Group Europeanisation - To operate a cultural change, we think it’s vital to expose our students to the European dimension by any means e.g. European pub quiz. This is why we are organising a study trip to Brussels for our European Student Working Group so they have a better understanding so concrete exposure to the EU stakeholders.

Project rationale Empower Connections Best practice Empower students’ associations Sustainability at the heart of our work given the nature of our funding and the nature of student officers’ terms – we are therefore making sure training and information can be repeated year after year so that students’ associations are effectively engaged in their HEIs (e.g. encouraging them to create Erasmus societies to then become members of the Erasmus Student Network) We have some examples of students’ associations taking up mobility promotion with or without the support of the universities’ international offices. Connections between all stakeholders of student mobility We believe that part of the low uptake of mobility opportunities lies in a poor information flow to students. We are therefore working towards creating links between international offices and students’ associations so that they build links, share information and even co-organise events At national level, we also ensure our NUS has a voice in committees and groups and nurture connections to be influential – e.g. Bologna Stakeholders Group, Europe Unit Best practice HEIs all have different experiences regarding student mobility. We are aiming to facilitate sharing of best practice between them, particularly between students’ associations and international offices. An event will soon take place (Mobility Café)

Future work To the wider student body Further best practice and connections Internationalisation agenda Wider student body to operate a cultural change and make mobility an automatic reflex, we need to work with the wider student body and get involved in more grassroots promotion events and actions Best practice and connections We need to keep facilitating best practice We need to engage with stakeholders in their work to promote student mobility (e.g. work with ESN, monitor work of embedding mobility in the curriculum etc.) Internationalisation agenda We are going to look at the overall internationalisation agenda by working on the quality of experience of international students, and use the international added value they represent to operate a cultural towards international education on campus and make outward mobility a cultural reflex