Erasmus policy statement

Erasmus+ is the EU's programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. The 2021-2027 programme places a strong focus on social inclusion, the green and digital transitions, and promoting young people’s participation in democratic life.

ERASMUS POLICY STATEMENT, USN

The University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) will maintain its focus on European and international collaboration as it has through the Erasmus+ period 2014-2020. USN’s strategy engulfs international cooperation as it highlights the importance of educating European and globally oriented students, academic staff with international high-quality partners and dedicated administrative staff to prepare the grounds for international partnerships. USN’s study programs will contribute to developing entrepreneurial skills, innovation, and sustainability in concert with our European and international partners. We will, in that respect, use the educational tools brought forward in the Erasmus programme. European and international collaboration will be actively pursued to increase the quality of educational and research activities and will facilitate extensive student and staff mobility. International collaboration on research and education is key to solving a number of global, national and local challenges. The internationalization work undertaken by USN shall be intensified along several dimensions; institutional collaboration, participation in relevant international organizations, student mobility, staff exchanges, collaboration on education, research partnerships and the development of working life and society. USN is, as it prepares for the new Erasmus period, also developing a broader European education and research strategy in addition to its common internationalization plan.

USN actively promotes involvement and participation in EU programmes. USN has, in the Erasmus+ period, been an active participant in KA1 and KA2 and has also applied successfully for a KA3 “Social Inclusion”. Through its institutional strategy, in which USN seeks to strengthen and develop its international collaborations through entrepreneurial, innovative, and sustainable practices – the Erasmus calls assist the university in obtaining its goals of higher quality in domestic study programmes as well as broadening the international scope of the institution. USN aims to participate in all relevant and accessible calls in accordance with national priorities and under supervision from our national agency.

KA1: Reciprocal student mobility enhances the students’ possibilities for being enriched culturally and academically. USN views student mobility to be an important aspect of bringing Europe even closer within the realms of European collaboration and contribute to the development of a European Education Area

KA2: Partnerships are crucial for building and improving academic collaboration in and outside Europe. USN has gained considerable experience in coordinating and participating in strategic partnerships and capacity building in higher education. USN is also working in adding further joint degrees to its portfolio. USN is currently coordinating one Erasmus Mundus degree programme.

KA3: Policy and social inclusion are calls that will be even closer targeted in the new Erasmus period. USN is coordinating one KA3 project, and we acknowledge the importance of accessing and collaborating with societal stakeholders in Erasmus+ 2021-2027

European Universities Initiative: USN is currently in the process of joining a EUI consortium, and thus enable the institution to further develop stronger ties with selected European partner universities. That will ensure stronger academic commitment for the university as a whole and harmonize domestic education and research focal areas with those of our consortium partners.

USN clearly recognizes the contribution of participation in EU programmes will strengthen the quality of our domestic education, and thus assist USN in achieving the overarching goals to be a visible and competitive university in the global arena. These ambitions are set forth in USN’s institutional strategy.

USN seeks to increase its outbound mobility to meet the Bologna 2020 goal to 20% mobility. An annual increase of additional 10% mobility seems plausible to accomplish this 20% ambition by 2023. The timeline for this development would suggest that from sending approximately 300 students on mobility as of 2019, we expect to increase that to 330 students in 2022, 363 in 2023, 400 in 2024 etc. This estimate is derived from the thorough work in progress to have stronger focus on entering more balanced arrangements with our partners (e.g., both in- and outbound mobility with the same partner) in the beginning of the Erasmus 2021-27 period. We also expect to increase staff and teacher mobility within the same realms, thus increasing an annual increase of 10%.

USN promotes qualitatively good exchange programmes with European and international partner institutions, still undertaking the task to improve the collaboration arrangements to enhance the quality and quantity standards of mobility partnerships. Among the tools USN is using to achieve this, is to highlight the importance of participating in EU partnership programmes in education and research – thus following up on our ambition to increase our participation in KA2 and KA3. This facilitates a continued emphasis to calibrate student and staff/teacher mobility to selected, high quality partners. On a longer note, USN acknowledges the opportunity to combine and build on existing education collaboration to participate in high quality research programmes (e.g., Horizon Europe etc). This will be a consequential step in terms of following up the successes of the Erasmus+ 2014-2021 period. In the predecessor to the current Erasmus+ period, USN has been and is coordinating two CBHE projects, five KA2 Strategic Partnerships and a good national turnout for the ICM programme.

USN strongly emphasizes the need to continue working to participate in and coordinate KA projects. As of 2022, USN holds the administrative resources to coordinate one new CBHE project annually, 2-3 cooperation partnerships, and 8-10 smaller collaboration projects (e.g., ICM). The distribution of resources decides the responsible caretaking and coordination of such projects and internal synergies may well be adopted to increase the number of the above-mentioned projects and even further. This, in turn, may lead to an increase in the number of in- and outbound student and staff mobility.

During the student mobility and after it has ended, USN present surveys to monitor the satisfaction rate of the students. Thus, it is perceived that students can act as good ambassadors for mobility if their satisfaction rate is high. Oppositely, if a cohort of students are less satisfied with their exchange abroad, we undertake measures to improve conditions for the next cohort, thus expecting the students will return to USN with valuable academic and social experiences from their time on exchange. This will, we believe, also increase the number of completed student mobilities outside of Norway.

USN is continuously working on developing domestic English-taught study programmes, also opting for domestic students to participate. By that, we offer “Internationalization at home” opportunities for those of the students that, for different reasons, are unable to study abroad. Combining these programmes with incoming mobility, these students will earn an international study experience, albeit taught at their home institution.

USN reports to the Department of Higher Education in Norway once every year, and i currently improving internal report processes to provide a more detailed overview on all aspects of mobility, including staff and teacher mobility. These processes will be reviewed while anchoring solid, multi-disciplinary relations with strategically important partners.

University of South-Eastern Norway has been awarded a permanent Erasmus Charter of Higher Education valid until 2029.

  • Our Erasmus code is  NKONGSBE02.
  • Our Erasmus charter is 269728-EPP-1-2015-1-NO-EPPKA3-ECHE 
  • Our PIC is 921767430.

 

 

USN Erasmus+ action plan 2022-25 (in Norwegian).