Awareness raising and monitoring of Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility projects in Partner Countries Guidelines for National Erasmus+ Offices Version December 2018
Context The mandate of the National Erasmus+ Offices (NEOs) under the Erasmus+ programme covers the recently introduced Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Action (ICM). The awareness raising, monitoring and reporting activities relating to ICM are part of the agreement signed between NEOs and the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The present document provides a more detailed overview of the activities that NEOs are expected to carry out regarding the implementation of the ICM action. The NEO will assist the European Commission (DG Education and Culture, DG EAC), the EACEA and the Partner Country institutions during all phases of the ICM projects as described below. The European Commission strongly recommends that each NEO designate one member of its staff to follow up the implementation and developments of the ICM action both in the Partner Country and at European level. Phases of the project and expected NEO role 1. Information and promotion activities In order to effectively disseminate information on the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (ICM) action, the NEO is advised to: have a dedicated section on the NEO's website presenting the ICM action and indicating deadlines of the upcoming ICM call; provide links to DG EAC webpages with the most relevant documents for application and management of ICM projects such as: Erasmus+ Programme Guide, Frequently Asked Questions, Quick reference guide for Partner Country HEIs, Do's and don'ts for applicant higher education institutions etc. Documents not available on the website could also be uploaded and kept up-todate. communicate to DG EAC new frequently asked questions not being answered in European Commission documents; organise and/or participate in seminars, information days and other events to promote the participation in the Erasmus+ ICM action (such as students fairs, annual European education fair with support of EU Delegation; any other relevant events organised in cooperation and with support of the national Ministry responsible for Higher Education). regularly contact the international unit in DG EAC for relevant and up-to-date statistics and information relating to ICM in the Partner Country. This is an important issue as the NEO is considered a focal point for any types of data, report and information required by national authorities (especially Higher Education and Foreign Affairs Ministries). use contributions of ICM participants to feed annual NEO publications/ compendiums/leaflets presenting the achievements (and overcome challenges) in the specific national context. 2. Assistance to potential and selected beneficiaries In order to effectively assist potential and selected beneficiaries (institutions and individuals) of the Erasmus+ ICM action, the NEO shall:
Before selection give advice to potential partner institutions on how to access ICM; use various means and tools, including social media, to provide support to beneficiaries; assist higher education institutions in finding partners in Programme Countries. In order to do so, the NEO can: contact the International Contact Points (ICP) of the Programme Country National Agencies who can assist in providing contact details; run a survey about the Partner Country institutions' cooperation wishes in order to gather information easily usable for partner search in Programme Countries (see example in Annex I); share with the ICPs a list of Partner Country institutions, including their Participant Identification Code (if available) and contact details (or the results of the survey mentioned above if carried out). The list of HEIs with PICs could be made available on the NEO's website for a broader communication towards potential partner institutions located in Programme Countries. After selection assist the Programme Countries National Agencies in PIC validation and eligibility check of Partner Country HEIs. assist Partner Country institutions in relation to visa, tax, insurance, contact with local authorities and the EU delegation etc. Specific NEO guidelines for the Partner Country institutions (in the local language) would be an asset. General information for Programme Countries HEIs on the Partner Country specificities could also be useful (i.e. exit visa, permission required for visits abroad ). assist institutions during the project implementation phase and refer them to the right guiding documents (e.g Quick reference guide for selected higher education institutions in Partner Countries). present the capacity of Higher Education Reform Experts (HEREs) in providing advice on Quality Assurance, ECTS and more general recognition issues. HEREs can be invited to kick-off meetings to present national HE system, national grading system and assessment of students. The NEO could also: promote networking among ICM project teams in different HEIs (regular round table meetings) which will help to exchange best practice, information and possible solutions of common problems. highlight examples of good practice from the Partner Country to the European Commission and also to National Agencies in Programme Countries which could be referred to or asked to participate in for information days and other dissemination events; attend information days in Programme Countries to identify potential partners (after preliminary agreement of EACEA). Should participation not be possible, the NEO could contact other NEOs from the region to represent their country and optimise travel costs; stay in contact with other NEOs in the region to share good practice and information. 3. Monitoring of ICM projects
a) Organisation of monitoring visits NEOs are asked to include ICM monitoring visits in their annual monitoring plan. They can combine them with monitoring visits of Capacity Building projects, the idea being to avoid multiple visits to the same institution and to limit travel costs. When elaborating their monitoring visit plan, NEOs should also take into account requests from Programme Country ICPs expecting more information about a specific ICM project led by one of their HEI. In addition, when selecting the HEIs to be monitored, NEOs are requested to consider different factors of risk, such as: the number and size of projects in which the university is involved; the fact that a university has shown management difficulties under previous EU supported projects (mobility or capacity building projects); the fact that the university has never been involved in previous EU funded projects and/or has a limited international outreach The European Commission expects NEOs to sample at least 10% of their country s higher education institutions involved in ICM on an annual basis, with a minimum of 5 institutions per year. For each HEI sampled, NEOs are expected to monitor all ICM bilateral agreements (with different Programme Country institutions). Information about the nature and actual implementation of mobility flows under a specific project can be extracted from the Mobility Tool+ system to which NEO have access through: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/eac/mobility/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.main NEOs are requested to use the questionnaire presented in Annex II. The NEO is free to complement the template provided. The NEO should meet: the person responsible for organising the project with the Programme Country institution; some mobile students and staff members who have benefited from the mobility project (in a proportion which allows to draw conclusions about the procedures put in place). A meeting with students organisation(s) or representatives would be an asset. the university hierarchy to assess the effects which the project is having on the institution as a whole. b) Aims of monitoring visits The objectives of monitoring visits are to: monitor compliance with the principles laid down in the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) as embedded in inter-institutional agreement(s); ensure that binding documents have been correctly filled out and signed (i.e. inter-institutional agreement), and on a sample basis, learning/mobility agreements for students/staff and grant agreements; ensure that Partner Country institutions use fair criteria for the selection of their participants and organise a transparent selection process;
ensure that the Partner Country institutions offer the services foreseen for the participants which they send abroad or host; enquire about the recognition by the sending institution of the credits earned by the participant during his/her time abroad. According to the national context, the NEO can also report to the Ministry potential problems in order to contribute to overall improvement of the recognition procedure and with a view to promoting best practice. formulate recommendations to the Partner Country institution and contact the ICP in the corresponding Programme Country National Agency (if necessary); keep the European Commission and the ICPs in the relevant National Agencies informed of the monitoring visit results and follow-up; alert the European Commission and the ICPs if the NEO notices serious implementation problems. c) Reporting format While the NEO is expected to keep his/her working documents (answers to the questionnaires, internal full report), the European Commission expects to receive a very short Flash report presenting good practices and/or possible problems. See Template in Annex III. Flash reports are to be sent to EAC- NA-ICM@ec.europa.eu. A more elaborated synthesis of ICM monitoring visits carried out during the year should be included in the NEO annual report sent to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). 4. Useful resources Erasmus+ Homepage http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/index_en.htm Erasmus+ Programme Guide http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/discover/guide/index_en.htm Quick reference guide for selected higher education institutions in Partner Countries http://ec.europa.eu/education/opportunities/international-cooperation/international-mobility_en.htm FAQs for Higher Education Institutions http://ec.europa.eu/education/opportunities/international-cooperation/international-mobility_en.htm FAQs for Students & Staff http://ec.europa.eu/education/opportunities/higher-education/study-mobility_en.htm
Annex I Example of a Survey for Partner Country higher education institutions aimed at identifying their cooperation wishes Information on Higher Education Institution Name of HEI PIC Number Number of Students Already involved in Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Action? YES/ NO If yes, how many projects? With which European countries? Contact person for ICM Address of HEI Website Interested in (more) ICM projects? Name Job Title Department/ faculty Phone number Email address YES/ NO (If yes please fill in the fields below) Cooperation wishes with European partners for ICM European countries of interest Type of mobility expected: staff/students (at which levels?) Country X Field(s) of study Country Y
Annex II a. Indicative list of questions for ICM visits to higher education institutions (HEI) in Partner Countries Author: HEI: Date & place: How many International Credit Mobility (ICM) projects does your institution have? What are the names of your partner institutions? In which Programme Countries? Have all your inter-institutional agreements been signed? If no, why? How many have been signed? Did you use the template for inter-institutional agreements provided by the European Commission? On what basis were the objectives of the mobility programme defined? Were they part of an overall institutional strategy? Who was involved in defining these objectives? Was this exercise carried out with your European partners? Which problems, if any, did you encounter and how were they resolved? How many mobilities have you planned for each of your projects? Students or staff? Which levels of studies? How many mobilities have already taken place? How did you select your outgoing participants (e.g. selection committee)? Did you involve the European partners? Do you have special measures to involve participants from socially disadvantaged backgrounds or participants with special needs? Did you publish an open call for participants? If yes, when and where? How did you make sure that EU support was given the adequate publicity? Did you use the Erasmus+ logo? Has your institution already signed learning/ mobility agreements with your students and staff? If yes, how many? If no, why? Which preparatory measures have you taken for your incoming and outgoing participants? (e.g. language courses, visa support, housing, insurance etc.) Have any of your participants already returned? If you welcome European mobile students, have you put in place a course catalogue? Is it published on your website? Have you agreed grade distribution tables with your partner institution(s) (information about the country s and the institution s grading practices)? Has your institution recognised the credits earned by the participant abroad? If yes, fully? If no or partially, why?
Which difficulties do you encounter/ did you encounter during the project? Has your university received a share of the Organisational Support from its European partner organisation(s)? If yes, was it planned in your Inter-institutional Agreement? How do you plan to (or how did you) assess the impact of the mobility programme on the students/staff participants? Do you plan to organise new mobility projects? With the same partners or with new partners? How do you plan to (or how did you) utilize the experience of the students/staff to improve the quality of the mobility programme? How do you plan to (or how did you) disseminate the results of the mobility programme? Which advice/message would you like me to pass to the European Commission and or European National Agencies? b. Indicative list of questions for meeting with a mobile student/staff member in a Partner Country Higher Education Institution Author: HEI: Date & place: When and where did you hear about Erasmus+ ICM scholarships for the first time? (University, the internet, friends, etc.) How were you selected to take part in this Erasmus+ mobility (e.g. selection panel)? Was it a difficult and selective process? Have the number of available mobilities been openly advertised? Have the selection results been published? Were you considering undertaking a mobility period abroad when you began your studies? Would you have the means to do so? Are training periods abroad part of the general institutional strategy for staff development? If yes, what means are made available? What kind of support have you received from your home institution? Did you receive a language course before the start of your mobility? How was the contact with your receiving institution before departure? After departure? Was the course catalogue at the receiving institution published online and up-to-date? When have you signed your learning agreement? Did you encounter any problems? When have you signed your grant agreement? Did you encounter any problems?
Do you believe that you received sufficient information to prepare for your mobility? Did you receive a welcome/introductory session at your receiving institution? What do you think of the quality of your studies? If you are a staff member getting trained, how do you assess the quality of your training abroad? If you are a staff member having taught, how do you assess the quality of your cooperation with your colleagues in the partner institution? Did you receive support for your travel? If yes, before or after the start of the mobility? At what stage was or will your grant be paid? Did you receive any additional funds besides the Erasmus+ grant? Did you encounter problems in order to obtain a visa? If yes, please describe. Have you filled in the Erasmus+ participant survey? If yes, when? How have your credits earned abroad been recognised by your home university? Fully, partially or not at all? (please develop) If you are a staff member, to what extend has your working experience abroad been valorised when back in your home institution? How did your mobility experience impact you? In what ways did your institution discuss your experience with you upon your return? Would you recommend this Erasmus+ international mobility scheme to your fellows?
Annex III FLASH REPORT FORMAT Maximum 3 pages to be filled in by the NEO. One report per Partner Country Higher Education Institution (HEI) visited Partner Country HEI visited:. Date and Place:. NEO representative(s):.. List of Programme Country HEIs involved in ICM projects with this university (if too long, please create an annex) - HEI Name / Programme Country / Call Year(s) - HEI Name / Programme Country / Call Year(s) 1. Main observations / conclusions at institutional level (the NEO is advised to use indicative questions in Annex II) Link of ICM with the HEI's internationalisation strategy and impact at institutional level: management involvement, progress over years, IRO staffing and participation in training For the following themes, please distinguish between Programme Country HEIs if the situation is different Formal requirements: inter-institutional agreements signed, European Commission's template used Preparation of mobilities: course catalogue published, assistance to outgoing/incoming students (linguistic support, accommodation, integration in the local society ) Selection process of students and staff: process used (open calls, selection panels), measures to involve participants from socially disadvantaged backgrounds or participants with special needs Financial issues: sharing of organisational support, mobility agreements signed and payments made to individuals hosted in Programme Countries Recognition process: process used for students back from their mobility period, documents provided to the sending HEI of visiting students, grading system compatibility, recognition for staff of their mobility period
Dissemination of mobility projects results: use of students' and staff' mobility experience, alumni groups, future plans 2. Best practice seen (in the visited HEI and related Programme Country HEIs) 3. Problem(s) observed at Partner Country HEI level and suggested remedial action(s) To be shared by NEO with the visited HEI 4. Messages to National Agencies (if relevant) NA concerned Programme Country HEI concerned Serious problem identified necessitating followup 5. Messages to the European Commission (if relevant) Report to be sent to: EAC-NA-ICM@ec.europa.eu AND the International Contact Point of the relevant National Agencies. See list at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/contacts/international-erasmus-plus-contact-points_en