For yet another year, the UGR maintains its position as European leader in Erasmus+

Tue, 09/08/2020 - 10:13
0
08/09/2020
Students in a conference room
  • In the "traditional" intra-European Erasmus programme (KA103), the University of Granada (UGR) has been allocated more mobility places than any other higher education institution in Europe. In total, the University has been awarded 2,647 places, of which 2,440 are for students.

The Spanish Service for the Internationalization of Education (SEPIE) recently published its data on the resolution of the 2020 call for student, teaching and research staff, and administrative and support staff mobility within the Erasmus+ programme. The data covers both the classic KA103 European programme, as well as the KA107 programme, the latter of which fosters mobility throughout the rest of the world.

In the “traditional” intra-European Erasmus programme (KA103), the UGR is the leading university in Europe in terms of the number of mobility places awarded, obtaining a total of 2,647 places, of which 2,440 are for students, while the remainder are for staff. The UGR has been granted a budget of €4,889,500, of which €1,618,431.50 has been contributed by the Spanish Ministry of Universities. These figures demonstrate, once again, the consolidation of the programme at the University of Granada — a programme that has supported the internationalization of higher education in the European area. At the UGR, this process of consolidation has taken place in line with the strategy established not only by the current Rector, but also by all of her predecessors since the launch of the programme.

The International Credit Mobility Programme (KA107) was launched in 2015 to focus on institutional strengthening and the exchange of educational and management experiences among partner universities around the world. The UGR established its internationalization strategy for this highly competitive programme in line with its history of cooperation with each country, setting priorities based on geographical ties and common interests. Moreover, the UGR has consistently been the number one university in Spain in mobility figures and budget allocation in all previous years of this new programme. In the last call (2020), the University obtained 474 mobility places for students and staff, with a total budget of €1,534,265. Thanks to a major contribution from the Spanish Ministry of Universities, the number of mobilities between Latin America and the UGR has also increased considerably. The range of new destinations in this programme now includes countries such as Somalia and Tanzania. Other key destinations from among a total of 45 countries include Jordan, Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Senegal, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

The UGR views the internationalization of higher education not as an objective in itself, but rather as an instrument for training students, as members of a globalised society, to become critical, ethical, and responsible individuals and social actors in the world. International mobility experiences have a profound impact on the development of cross-curricular competences, including language, cultural, intercultural, academic, professional and personal skills. It contributes to the lifewide learning of individuals and facilitates their integration into employment. In the same way, university cooperation via student and staff mobility is a key element for the establishment of other scientific, industrial, commercial and relationship-building projects.

In the current context of the global health crisis caused by Covid-19, which has had a significant impact on international mobility, the UGR has established the safety of participants in international mobility programmes as a core priority. Based on experience gained over the past six months, a specific action protocol has been adopted in order to deal with the circumstances arising from the health emergency. The objective of this protocol is to guarantee, as far as possible and in line the evolution of the health situation, safe conditions for students and staff, without diminishing the quality or purpose of their mobility experience.