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

The 2014-15 KA1 project here at UCS represented a continuation of over 20 years of Erasmus student exchange in the field of Radiography ? predating even the formation of the university in 2007 from what had been a college. The objective of 2014-15 was to increase the number of partners which outbound students would be able to go to and be attracted to go to, and to increase the number of subject areas (beyond Radiography, Business and Events Management) in which an exchange would be possible. We succeeded in adding Dance, Photography, History and Social Work and all in four new countries with quality partners to add to the 15 countries with which we have had Radiography links over that period. These Erasmus links form a large percentage of our structured and long-term cooperation with higher education institutions. Students: the number of outgoing students on study mobilities increased to a more normal level of numbers (8) after a temporary drop down to (2) due to an unexpected change in course structure. Half of these students benefitted from the disadvantaged background supplement to their grant. To all these Radiography students this 3-month placement is an integral part of their course that adds to the attractiveness of that course at our university and accelerates their personal development as well as employability. The single student traineeship we obtained was not used as the student it was requested for changed their circumstances. Staff have been encouraged to take advantage of the new agreements to encourage outbound mobility to their students but concerns remain about language barriers and grade conversion. Staff: outgoing staff numbers increased from three to five, including two staff traineeships for the first time. In terms of incoming staff teaching, UCS was visited by Spanish and Portuguese colleagues under Erasmus funding and an academic from a new partner HEI in Lithuania to which we subsequently sent a staff member on a training mobility to further strengthen ties. This non-academic staff member has been particularly active in promoting the benefits of this kind of mobility in a number of talks and meetings. The academic staff who went on teaching mobility did so in the new areas of Social Work and Photography made connections and agreements that will hopefully mean we can send students in these areas and more in 2016-17, as we continue to encourage staff and students to explore the idea of study exchange. The permanent display of Erasmus banners, the constant renewal of the Erasmus noticeboard, and the new Erasmus section of our website has helped in presentation of facts and awareness raising. In summary, the programme is maintaining a healthy steady growth o reciprocally viable partnerships and the participants involved and more and more staff and students are themselves submitting enquiries about the possibilities of new subjects and partners.
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