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

With regard to student mobility, the academic year of 2014/15 saw a significant rise in ERASMUS+ Outgoings (SMS and SMP). Due to the change in EU-Programs from “Lifelong Learning” to “ERASMUS+”, the administrative and financial monitoring procedures within the universities had to undergo significant modifications. The introduction of country groups, monthly funding rates that have to be calculated in advance, additional documents and their many revisions and the rise in mobility numbers provided a challenge for TU Dortmund University, especially in the area of fund management. Regrettably, this, for the first time caused a significant repayment of SMS-funds in spite of the rising number of outgoings. The positive development in student mobility numbers can be explained with successful information and orientation activities by the International Office as well as the excellent cooperation with the ERASMUS+ faculty coordinators. It can already be said that this trend will continue in the academic year of 2015/2016. Thus, TU Dortmund University successfully achieved the aim of a constant increase in student mobility numbers which in turn contributes to the concept of “Internationalization at Home”. Many Dortmund students who go abroad function as multipliers whenever they share their experiences with those students who are unable to study abroad. Furthermore, the Dortmund returnees play an active part in buddy programs and other international activities. These activities usually take place in TU Dortmund University’s International Meeting Center (IBZ) so they are visible for all members of the university. The numbers of incoming ERASMUS+ students (SMS) in the academic year of 2014/15 also show an increase compared to the previous academic year. This demonstrates that TU Dortmund University has become a popular destination for study abroad students. The incoming students from our partner universities seem to value our concept of comprehensive support activities before, during and at the end of their stay and the high academic standards of our study programs. The numbers of incoming ERASMUS+ students (SMP)—however altogether lower than in SMS—also increased significantly in the academic year of 2014/15. Within this mobility area the students’ main contact person is the respective internship coordinator but the staff of the International Office of course also offers assistance if necessary. With regard to staff mobility for teaching (STA) the academic year of 2014/15 unfortunately saw an opposite trend as numbers have been declining. Here, TU Dortmund University developed a number of measures in the academic year of 2014/15, such as: - a relaunch of our website and the production of a flyer (see http://www.aaa.tu-dortmund.de/cms/de/Wissenschaftler/ERASMUS_Dozentenmobilitaet/index.html)) - increased marketing activities aimed at the ERASMUS+ faculty coordinators via E-Mail, during the welcome sessions for new coordinators and at the yearly ERASMUS+ meeting for coordinators. - explicit mentioning of the possibilities of staff mobility during the welcome meetings that are held by the Director and Deputy Director of the International Office to meet the new professors Only in the second half of the academic year of 2014/15 the staff mobility for training (STT) was met with a strategic approach since the interest in the ERASMUS+ staff mobility for training program was still low. Here, the International Office reacted by approaching the chancellor as well as the human resources department in order to install further measures and internal procedures to make the staff mobility for training more accessible to a greater number of people. The actual realization and further discussion will be achieved in the academic year of 2015/16. All in all, the academic year of 2014/15 can be viewed as a year of many changes within an already well-established program, which on the one hand leaves room for improvement and the formation of routines with regard to the administrative procedures and on the other hand reflects the great interest of students in study and internships abroad. A greater number of students realized that they not only profit enormously from a stay abroad on a personal level but that it also provides them with a crucial additional qualification for a globalized job market. This development also seems to be a direct result of the good work of the involved institutions at TU Dortmund University leaving them with more capacities to further promote other program lines within ERASMUS+.
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