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Higher education student and staff mobility project
Start date: Jun 1, 2014, End date: Sep 30, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The first year of implementation of the Erasmus + Key Action 1 (KA1) has proved to be a success at Kingston University. Despite many difficulties created by the adaptation to the new programme and regulations, we managed to implement all activities according to plan. Especially challenging was the late arrival of regulations for some parts of the Action, such as the templates for the documents to be filled in by the institutions and students (arrived when students were on their summer break) or the difficulties experienced with OLS due to the lack of clear guidance until the final procedures arrived and, again, it was too late for an efficient implementation. Kingston University has been involved in student and staff mobility for a long period of time and it is not a new feature in our university strategy. It is considered that a period abroad enhances the value of degrees awarded to students by improving the employability of the courses. Wide promotions are made at faculty level to raise awareness of the opportunities with remarkable success, as our figures for outgoing mobility have been growing in the last years. Despite the prediction made at the time of application being based on real applications received and not in actual allocations, the growing interest from students and an efficient management of funds received allowed a higher number of mobility periods than expected. The university went through a Review of the Academic Framework implemented in 2013-14. The more visible change to structures was the adoption of year-long modules in all degrees, as opposed to semester teaching periods. Although challenging in the drafting of policies, we have managed to overcome the obstacles and raised the demand from students, who are now offered the opportunity to replace their second year abroad or to add an extra period with a mention in the degree title. A swift from semester to year mobility is a trend that has been experienced in the last two years increasing the benefits for the student experience. It is also worth mentioning that the increase in Erasmus student mobility has been paired by similar figures for non-European mobility, showing that the interest of students for the experience abroad has proved the success of the promotional activities undertaken. Academic and administrative staff followed a similar pattern of previous years with a combination of consolidation of old partnerships with teaching activities with the intention of making partnerships robust and able to provide more opportunities for both students and staff.
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