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Higher education student and staff mobility project
Start date: Jun 1, 2014, End date: May 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Since it was set up in 1985, at about the same time as the Socrates programme came into being, the INSA Rouen School of Engineering had seen a steady development of European and international mobility to reach around 35% of its students, particularly for studies. Study mobilities until recently took place exclusively in the final year of the 5-year Engineering degree programme. Gradually certain partnerships deepened to offer students the opportunity to earn double degrees, and to staff, teaching and research opportunities. Growing awareness at the institutional level (particularly among management and 7 departments of specialisation) of the importance of mobility to the internationalisation policy of the institution led to the decision being taken in 2012 to make a 3-month minimum stay abroad compulsory for all students at INSA, except those already considered to be mobile at INSA having come from abroad to enter higher education in France (22%). This led the departments to allow, and indeed encourage mobility during the 4th year, and even 3rd, of study for two reasons : 1/ to increase the opportunities on offer, and 2/ enhance internationalisation in the curriculum via feedback from returning participants, invaluable to help prepare future outgoing students and also to ensure an enhanced experience for incomers. The impact of this strategic decision was plainly felt as of 2014, with a considerable increase in applications to participate in the Erasmus+programme, since the first to be impacted were those expected to graduate in 2016 (around 320 students). The number of traineeship applications in Europe literally exploded with the creation of the Erasmus Traineeship strand. Interest was also raised among teaching staff. The main challenge was therefore to enable as many students as possible to benefit from the experience of studying or working in Europe via Erasmus+. This led us to seek actively new academic partners, within the framework of an Erasmus Mundus programme (Battuta) we were taking part in, via the network of partners of the INSA Group ( 6 Schools of Engineering in France), and through contacts made in 2014 at the Staff Training Week organized jointly by the 11 HEIs of Rouen, in the CESAR association. Parallel to this objective to increase numbers of outgoing and incoming students, the project still aimed at deepening existing partnerships towards the creation of new double-degree schemes, as well as opening up opportunities to do traineeships in the R&D laboratories affiliated to the partner universities. Within the framework of the project, essentially two types of activities were carried out : 1/ Monitoring and follow-up of outgoing students abroad and incomers at INSA in 2014/15 : organising Summer School for new arrivals, keeping in touch with outgoing students (via email mainly), administrative and practical assistance( housing, bank, immigration formalities if applicable) , liaising with partners and teaching departments at INSA; troubleshooting... 2/ Selection and preparation of future 2015/16 outgoing participants : planning and scheduling of information sessions, implementation of selection procedures,administrative assistance (advice on insurance, visas when applicable...) Regarding outgoing mobility, 69 students went abroad to study for 1 or 2 semesters in 10 European countries, 65 traineeships were carried out in 11 countries, and one teaching staff mobility was carried out. 7 erasmus students were hosted by INSA, an insufficient number although not exceptional at INSA, the causes of which have been analysed and measures taken to remedy them. Regarding the selection, particular attention was paid to ensure gender balance (whereas, as in other French Schools of Engineering, such balance does not exist within the INSA student population, the ratio being To ensure fairness, the selection criteria of each department were posted on the intranet pages of the Department of European Relations & International Mobility at the start of the information campaign in October N-1. The return of students to INSA after their Erasmus stay abroad, whether for studies or traineeships, definitely had a very beneficial impact on internationalisation of the INSA curriculum, and this trend was further reinforced in 2015/16.
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