Erasmus Skills Erasmus Project

Project Title

Erasmus Skills

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

The Erasmus Skills project was conceptualised in a context of general consensus among European member states on the importance of learning mobility in their education systems, being the Erasmus+ programme a key cornerstone. While this is a fantastic opportunity for students and higher education institutions (HEIs), it brings about additional challenges for the later, i.e. how to make possible a rapid increase in mobility and simultaneously ensure a deep qualitative dimension in such student exchanges. In this context, the main objective of the Erasmus Skills project was to help both HEIs and the Erasmus+ programme to support university students in their development of intercultural and other mobility-related knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs). In particular, the project made emphasis on how to ensure that Erasmus students become increasingly aware of the learning process they go through while on exchange and acknowledge the impact this has on their KSAs. In this way, students should be able to communicate the personal development experienced and maximise the learning outcomes of the mobility, as well as understand how each individual mobility is a contribution in the further development of the European Union and its global action. To achieve such goals, the Erasmus Skills Consortium produced a number of innovative tools that support reflection of students about these aspects, helps academics and administrative staff in supporting the learning process of mobile students (during, before and after their mobility), and assists universities to root the added-value of mobility to their study programmes. These tools have increased the quality of mobility also in contexts of a rapid quantitative increase of learning mobility periods.

Tools for Students:
– Self-assessment tool: new module on the Erasmus+ App where students can monitor and reflect on their learning curve for mobility-related KSAs. This is a very important output of the Erasmus skills project. It is of great value for students before and after mobility. Moreover, it is useful for practitioners to promote such tools of self-reflection to their students as another initiative/action in their international journey and also of great importance for employers to evaluate the KSAs of a student that has been abroad.
– Recommendations for mobility students: to help students to make the most of their learning experience abroad. Recommendations are tailored to different stages of mobility, i.e. before, during and after; and update of the checklist for mobility embedded in the Erasmus+ App. Recommendations to be checked by students and to be promoted by IROs and different administrative people in the institution to be used as a basic list that each institution can enhance with their own requirements or information.
– Erasmus+ online training: life webinars and recorded videos on European values and culture (to provide context to learning mobility by anchoring it in the European integration process) and on the potential learning outcomes (to foster employability and responsible citizenship). The webinars are of great importance for students who want to go abroad, for practitioners willing to promote some of the topics of the webinars amongst students and for academics to understand the context of the student mobility.

Tools for HEIs:
– Guide for Practitioners: to support university staff in exploiting such qualitative aspects of student mobility programmes. Mainly designed for administrative staff, practitioners but also containing very useful information for academic staff.
– Workshop guidelines: guidelines for university staff on how to design workshops on European values and culture, European integration and mobility-related KSAS, tailored to prepare students prior to the mobility period and facilitating integration upon return. Useful for – students, HEIs’ (administrative and academic) staff, policy-makers.
– Erasmus Skills in academic curricula: a new methodology for supporting academics on integrating learning mobility outcomes into curricula. This methodology has been elaborated with a special focus on academic staff and policy-makers.

Finally, the closing Conference of the Erasmus Skills project was complemented with two webinars on: (i) “the role of internationalisation of the curriculum as a stimulant for mobility”; and (ii) “supporting students in identifying international skills on the CV: how to support students in career planning”. All three events were very successful. A total number of 396 different people participated but we had more than 700 people registered. In this sense, we can say that there was great interest by the higher education community in the Erasmus skills project results, gathering in these scenarios the participation of administrative and academic staff, students and certain policy-makers, which enrich the dissemination and finalisation of the project with satisfaction. More information at www.erasmusskills.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 187818 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE MADRID & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Expertise in Labour Mobility B.V.
• ERASMUS STUDENT NETWORK AISBL
• EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION-CAMPUS EUROPAE
• UNIVERSITEIT GENT
• ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS