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

In the academic year 2014/15, the Private University College of Education of the Diocese of Linz has had 56 SMS (outgoing; five of whom went to non-Erasmus countries). This amounts to an increase of 47% compared with 2013/14. The increase can be attributed to some major innovations in administration: efficient digitization of the paperwork (application forms, learning agreements, student reports - except for the ?transcript of records?, which is still provided as a hard copy by the host universities); ample use of a safe digital platform allowing all users, including students from abroad, direct access and swift data transfer; frequent Q&A meetings pointing the applicants in the right direction and giving them practical hints regarding the paperwork; open office (once a week) and an open-door policy. As regards STA/STT (outgoing) there have been 45 mobilities, reflecting only a marginal increase, which must be viewed against the national agency?s (BMBF) decision to withdraw their co-funding for 2014/15, resulting in a number of cancellations on the part of the applicants. Generally, staff and teaching mobilities revolve around the exchange of scientific as well as didactic and methodological expertise paying special heed to ?internationalisation?, as decreed by § 9 and 10 in the Higher Education Act. According to a recent poll, 100% of all participants have been highly/very satisfied with the experience gained and would therefore highly recommend their destinations to other colleagues, which, amongst other things, has led to a lively exchange of views in a great number of staff meetings. Some of the mobilities have been spectacularly successful, in that they have given rise to mutual scientific, didactic and methodological projects, greatly benefitting teachers and students alike at the respective institutions involved. Incoming STA/STT average around 30 per academic year. These visits help to establish interconnections and synergies in state-of-the-art research, yielding valuable insights into a myriad of very diverse teaching methods and triggering animated academic debate and discussion. Furthermore, our international partnerships have led to an increased readiness for mobility, closer international cooperation and greater intercultural awareness. The experiences and insights gained in the process are generally shared amongst the staff. Likewise, we receive about 30 incoming students per year, about 25% of whom are from non-EU countries. Except for a crash course in German, the students are fully integrated in the respective degree courses, blending in nicely with our ?regular? students. This is particularly true for subjects that are rather practical, such as art, music and PE. Everybody involved, incoming students and regular students alike, can thus broaden their intercultural horizons, as they are given authentic insights into the customs and traditions of their respective countries, thus promoting the idea of ?European citizenship?. In the next academic year, two former incoming students are going to return to complete their MA theses. In the summer semester we hosted an international week in cooperation with the Marnix Academy of Utrecht (NL) and we are planning a similar event for students from other partner universities in 2016.
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