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

In the academic year 2014/2015 Tartu Art College (TAC) participated in the Erasmus+ programme KA1- Learning Mobility of Individuals. Erasmus+ programme enabled Tartu Art College students to study in one of over 40 TAC's partner higher education institutions and/or improve their speciality related skills in a company abroad. TAC’s staff shared their speciality skills in the frame of teaching visits and educated themselves by means of training visits. Participants could experience studying or working in an international environment, develop foreign language skills, find new contacts for cooperation and enhance the development of new partner relations. Incoming students enriched with their cultural background and skills the world.view of also those TAC’s students who had not been studying abroad. Incoming academic staff brought best practices from their sending institution as well as their cultural space to TAC. Tartu Art College considers itself an important designer of Estonian education-, art- and cultural life and in order to realise that goal, international experience is vital. 20 TAC’s students used their Erasmus+ support to study abroad, three of them studied for a year. 16 students were trainees in a foreign company, two of them as recent graduates. On the basis of 36 student mobilities, Tartu Art College is the most successful Estonian higher education institution in terms of outward student mobility, sending abroad 11% of its students. TAC’s Development Strategy states the aim to be 7% of mobile students each academic year. TAC’s committee allocated stipends to students from all seven departments in order to guarantee the spread of mobility experiences in every speciality department. TAC’s four speciality departments hosted 6 incoming students from 4 countries, one of them for the whole academic year (TAC takes its official academic year from September 1, 2014 to June 19, 2015 as the basis of counting incoming students.). The aim in the Development Strategy to have incoming student percentage 2 out of all student body was fulfilled. The lower than normal number of incoming students in 2014/2015 was probably due to the change to Erasmus+ programme (cf. 16 incoming students in 2015/2016 and an estimation of over 20 students in 2016/2017.). TAC hosted 8 staff members from partner institutions for teaching and training purposes. TAC’s staff could also participate in the inter-cultural communication expert Lawrence T. White’s training who was the guest of Estonian Aviation Academy. Together with Estonian Aviation Academy welcoming and farewell events were organised for incoming students which enabled foreign students who started to study in Tartu to get to know each other and for the institutions to share costs. TAC has a nice cooperation with Erasmus Student Network Tartu branch. All TAC’s incoming students have a possibility to join in their well-rounded cultural and social events. TAC organised a course in English for incoming students titled Elsewhere which received very positive feedback. In the frame of this course students visited Estonian regions outside the traditional tourist areas, they were explained Estonian culture and mindset and students reflected what they experienced through their speciality media and techniques. Incoming students were helped to find their preferred type of accommodation always in good time. With the increase in the number of incoming students, TAC signed a partnership agreement with Tartu Student Village for accommodation. TAC’s staff carried out 4 teaching and 12 training mobilities. The importance of staff members’ self-improvement abroad is brought out under several articles in the Development Strategy. If possible, TAC provides extra-financing from its own budget. Owing largely to contacts developed by TAC’s staff during Erasmus+ mobilities, new inter-institutional agreements were signed with the following higher education institutions: Escola Superior de Disseny i Arts Plàstiques de Catalunya, Spain, Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Technologias, Portugal, Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland, Gazi University, Turkey, Riga Building College, Latvia, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic, Royal Institute of Art, Sweden and Weisensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, Germany. On the basis of feedback from students and staff, participation in mobilities has developed their speciality related as well as social skills, enabled the use of new practices in their work and have an imput for an open and tolerant environment at TAC where different cultures are respected. Erasmus+ participants share their experiences in information hours, management meetings, TAC's newsletter and in informal communication. TAC’s homepage and social media channels provide an overview of the activities of incoming staff and students. The 2014 project agreement was extended for an effective management of organisational support finances, mobilities were not carried out since autumn 2015.
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