Internationally active – professionally valuable. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Internationally active – professionally valuable.

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

Internationalization and increasing the attractiveness and competitiveness of European universities on the world stage is one of the most important goals guiding the creation of the European Higher Education Area.
To achieve this goal, however, active and committed participation of the employees of these universities is needed. Meanwhile, unfortunately, employees of many European universities are not interested in participating in this process or are very reluctant to participate in it. Only a small percentage of employees of European universities show initiative in working with foreign students, applying for foreign grants for research and scientific work, publishing the results of work in international magazines, trips to foreign universities to conduct research and work with students, or participation as hosts during study visits from other countries. This is obviously not a problem for all European universities, but unfortunately there are still many.
The main goal of the project is to increase the interest of European HEIs employees in participating in international activities implemented by their universities by developing a set of tools and guidelines dedicated to HEI staff until end of project. Materials developed under the project will be directed to HEI authorities on the one hand – giving them real and practical tips on how to motivate employees, and on the other hand to employees – helping to overcome barriers that inhibit their participation in international universities.
During the implementation of the project, following activities are planned:
1. Surveys among the HEI employees from countries participating in the project. An online survey containing questions about the motivation to participate in various international activities carried out at the HEI where they work, as well as questions about the most important factors preventing individuals from participating in such activities. Based on surveys, a report with results in individual countries will be prepared. Report will also contain a comparative analysis of motivation in individual countries.
2. Desk research on the best practices in motivating employees to participate in international activities carried out by their universities. In each project country, experts will select 5 universities where the largest percentage of employees take part in international activities. Then, systems that motivate employees to international activity will be analyzed.
3. Preparation of the publication. On the basis of the results of research under O1, a publication will be prepared, which will contain research reports under O1, as well as a set of guidelines for HEIs authorities on how to encourage and motivate employees to actively engage in international activities implemented by the university. Publication in the languages of all partners, available online.
4. Preparation of training materials dedicated to employees of universities. On the basis of research on the factors that most often prevent HEI employees from engaging in international activities of the HEI (other than the lack of time and resources), training materials will be developed in order to help overcome these factors.
We plan to organize training for people representing universities from each country participating in the project. These will be the persons responsible at their universities for recruiting employees for international activities – training, internships, trips to study visits, binding foreign guests, scientific research, project implementation, etc. During the training, each group (the group is employees of one HEI) will also work on developing a strategy to motivate employees in their institution. A strategy tailored exactly to the situation and conditions at the HEI. After the training they will be available online so that other universities can use them.

Main results planned under the project are:
• report from the research conducted under the project (report will contain information from survey filled by employees of universities from project countries. They will be asked about reasons for their low interest in international activities, as well as about main obstacles they meet if they want to involve in internationalization if their home universities).
• Publication dedicated to HEIs authorities.
• set of training materials dedicated to employees of European HEIs. Content of materials will be result of surveys filled by HEIs staff about reasons and obstacles preventing them from active participation in international activities.
• One 5-days training for representatives of authorities (or people responsible for recruitment of staff for international activities implemented at given HEI)
At the end of the project it is planned to organize international conference.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 208224 Eur

Project Coordinator

Wyzsza Szkola Przedsiebiorczosci i Administracji w Lublinie & Country: PL

Project Partners

• INSTITUTO POLITECNICO DE SETUBAL
• Mednarodna fakulteta za družbene in poslovne študije
• TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE DEGGENDORF
• FREDERICK UNIVERSITY