Academic mobility, which includes mobility of students and staff, for both teaching and training, has always been considered as a key, if not defining element of Internationalization. This was so above all in Europe, where outgoing mobility for students has been considered a priority in the policy makers’ as well as institutional leaders’ view. This importance has been amply demonstrated by the European Union’s support for the Erasmus Programme. Since 1987 Erasmus has enabled millions of people, to study or undertake internships, for a period of 3 months to an academic year, in another European country.
There is a variety of terminology used in higher education to describe student mobility, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the OECD and Eurostat use a definition of international students, the European University Association (EUA) and the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) identify different kinds of mobility and provide their definitions.
Student mobility is certainly a major part and focus of most HEIs’ internationalization strategy. It is an activity for which funding has increased in the last years in all world region (IAU 4th Global Survey). The international exposure that It entails is an essential factor of influence on mobilie students’ education. There are many studies on the positive impact of mobility for the development of interpersonal skills, personal maturity and cognitive skills in general.
“Students do not only mature during their stay but they also gain in competences often summarized as soft or key skills like intercultural awareness, adaptability, flexibility, innovativeness, productivity, motivation, endurance, problem solving abilities and being able to work productively in a team" (Bracht et al. 2006, 209).
But there are many obstacles standing in the way of student mobility, mostly but not only linked to regulatory issues such as visas, or recognition matters and costs. Also, as more students take on part-time work, the opportunity costs of being mobile become important considerations. For these and other reasons, short and very short study abroad stays are being integrated into the student experience with some positive impacts reported:
“Short-term international study programs, even as short as one month, are worthwhile education endeavors that have self-perceived impacts on students’ intellectual and personal lives” (Chieffo, L., & Griffiths, L. 2004).
Though mobility programmes are not new (the Commonwealth Scholarships and Fellowships programme is close to 75 years old as is the first Colombo Plan), there is at present a growing number of mobility schemes being developed to facilitate increased flows of students at all levels as well as professor, researchers and staff. These are being designed and funded at national or regional level.
Only in Spanish: Plataforma de movilidad estudiantil y académica de la Alianza del Pacífico
Only in Spanish: Programa de intercambio estudiantil de el Centro Interuniversitario de Desarrollo, CINDA
Australian Government
Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education
CEEPUS Central European Exchange Program for University Studies
Only in French: Mobilité scientifique et universitaire de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF)
Some universities too have programs for incoming student mobility.
Table of Contents
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Chinese and Russian scientists have found a way to increase the resolution of nanoscopes
NUST MISIS opens English-taught postgraduate programmes
Launch of the CAIE Colombia-2019 webinar series
Russia and Africa: the restoration of relations in the field of higher education
HEIs from Asia, the Pacific and Europe are giving internationalisation ever greater importance
OECD published Trends Shaping Education 2019
Implementing an Impactful Career Services Offering at Your Institution
Russian language: facts and figures
Linguistic aspects of migration processes (Spanish version)
Linguistic aspects of migration processes (French version)
Linguistic aspects of migration processes (Arabic version)
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Happy session in Artek (Chinese version)
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Immersion in the Russian language at the Winter school (Japanese version)
Immersion in the Russian language at the Winter school (Chinese version)
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Russian language in Syria and Palestine (Arabic version)
Lapta mobile game for learning the Russian language (Japanese version)
Russian language in Japan (Japanese version)
Linguistic aspects of migration processes
The CIS research area development
Immersion in the Russian language at the Winter school
Russian language in Syria and Palestine
Lapta mobile game for learning the Russian language
Popularization and promotion of the Russian language in Russia and across the globe
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The Benefits of Using the News to Learn a Foreign Language