Tag Archives: Erasmus

How can we promote ourselves internationally?

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 Symbolique 2006

The European Commission has published a Communication on ‘European higher education in the world’. This communication provides recommendations on how higher education institutions can work strategically to promote themselves outside Europe. This will document will also be a useful strategic reference point for future applications to the Erasmus+ funding stream, which will offer over €400 million per year for collaborations in education, training, youth and sport.

Further details at http://ec.europa.eu/education/higher-education/doc/com499_en.pdf

Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2014-2020

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Staffordshire University submitted an application for an Erasmus Charter for Higher Education for the years 2014-2020. If the Unviersity is successful, it will mean the University is eligible to apply for funding under the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport supports –Erasmus for All. The University had the same status for the 2007-2013 Lifelong Learning Programme.

The Erasmus for All programme has not yet been adopted by the European legislators. However, the Commission published the call for proposals in order to allow for a smooth implementation of the Programme as soon as its legal basis has been adopted.

The Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) provides the general quality framework for European and international cooperation activities a higher education institution (HEI) may carry out within the Programme. 188 UK institutions have applied for an ECHE under this call, with a total of 4,577 applications submitted in total across the EU.  A published list of institutions selected will be provided in December, we should be informed of our individual application result in November.  Further information is available at http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/funding/2014/call_he_charter_en.php.

European Commission praises Staffordshire University Work Based Learning project

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 Work Based Learning Qualifications (WBLQUAL) http://wblqual.com  examines how Employers, Learners and Higher Education Institutions can benefit from working together to provide quality and affordable bespoke workplace learning to employees to a curriculum that is negotiated by the learner, the employer and the university (a tri-partite relationship).  

 This innovative project funded by the EU’s ERASMUS programme with partners from Italy, Poland, Latvia and Denmark was led by Staffordshire University’s Rosie Borup. The project ran from October 2010 to November 2012. In evaluating the project the European Commission commented on the ‘high quality of the research results (which are) easily accessible via the webpage of the project.‘, and that ’The great care with which the project has been implemented is noteworthy.’

 It is accepted that there is a cultural gap between the worlds of academia and industry. Universities can see themselves as set apart from the commercial pressures that industry is accustomed to, and they can consider that their interaction is best kept to the theoretical context and research.

 However there is much to be gained from a closer collaboration between Universities and Industry, and especially the engagement of Universities in Work Based Learning.

In the main Universities have offered Work Based Learning ‘courses’ which are traditional in terms of content and delivery, with little or no recognition of the tri-partite relationship between learner, employer and Higher Education Institutions. Employers have criticised academia for not adapting to their needs, and being inflexible in their approach.

 This project explored the issues which  concern academic institutions.

 The project web site offers

 Information for employers regarding how Work Based Learning can be used as an affordable tool for staff training

  • Information for learners highlighting how Work Based Learning can be flexible enough to fit around their day job
  • Research for HEIs interested in   offering Work Based Learning courses and how they can be implemented
  • Video summarising key issues and results
  • Country-specific case studies

Work Experience for Young Entrepreneurs sets them apart in Job Market

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As youth unemployment rises for another month, young people across Europe are looking for unique training options to make them stand out from the crowd. The European Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Program (EYE) might just provide the way in. As part of EYE Staffordshire University’s spin out company flux has been able to provide young student Manuel Moreno from Andújar, Spain with the opportunity to work with them on a social media project.

flux is an innovative design company that takes emerging talent from Staffordshire University to generate contemporary ceramics. Manuel’s Brussels based role was to promote the FLUX brand internationally.

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Manuel said “The most important thing that I’ve learnt is that everything is possible with effort and being persistent. This project was born as a dream and now is becoming a reality little by little.”

The post was part of the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Program (EYE), a business exchange programme, offering new entrepreneurs the possibility to work for up to 6 months with small businesses by covering travel and living expenses. Schemes such as this can be vital to ensure young people have financial support whilst they gain work experience to make themselves marketable to future employees.

Manuel feels placements like this are good to give young people the experiences of living and working abroad at least once in a lifetime. He added “It helps you to grow up not just in a professional way but also in a personal one.”

For Manuel the scheme has already been a success story as his contact has been extended for a further 8 months.

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flux director Glynis Whiting feels that these schemes are an excellent way for young people to enter the business world, “there is no doubt that the international experience offered by the host entrepreneur via EYE is invaluable in building confidence and a wide range of contacts which will be of use for the new entrepreneur in getting their business off the ground, or indeed in their wider future career portfolio.”

This was flux’s first taste of the EYE scheme. It has been so successful that flux has applied again. Glynis added “We are especially pleased that our next EYE placement will be a Staffordshire University student graduating this year in photography and entrepreneurship, which I hope will be the first of a programme with new entrepreneurs from Staffordshire.”

Further details on flux www.fluxstokeontrent.com

More information on EYE http://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu/

 

 

Call for Proposals: Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2014-20

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The European Commission has launched a call for proposals for the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2014-2020 under the proposed programme for education, training, youth and sport.
 

The Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) provides the general quality framework for European and international co-operation activities a Higher Education Institution may carry out within the Programme. It is a prerequisite for HEIs to organise student mobility and teaching and other staff mobility, to carry out Erasmus intensive language courses and intensive programmes, and to apply for multilateral projects, networks, accompanying measures and to organise preparatory visits. Renewal of Staffordshire University’s Erasmus Charter for HE will be applied for at an institutional level.

The 2014-2020 EU programme for education, training, youth and sport supports, among other policy objectives, the European modernisation and internationalisation agenda in higher education. The Programme will cover the period 2014-2020 and replaces seven existing programmes, including the Lifelong Learning programme (LLP) which will end with the academic year 2013-2014.

For further information contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk