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10 years of Erasmus+ worldwide – learning and teaching together

International exchange as a bridge between Europe and the rest of the world
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Text: Dr. Melanie Förster und Andrea Götz

For ten years, International Credit Mobility (ICM) has enabled participants from all regions of the world to gain international experience, develop new perspectives and build global partnerships. »Erasmus+ Mobility with Partner Countries« – also known initially as »Key Action« (KA) 107, now 171 – a funding line of the Erasmus+ programme that has made a significant contribution to developing the European exchange programme into a global success story since 2015 by providing additional funds. Since then, German higher education institutions have been able to support and invite students and university staff from their partner universities, in particular those from outside Europe.
 

Global cooperation, made possible by Erasmus+ for the past ten years, strengthens professional expertise, intercultural dialogue
and international networking with partner countries, making a decisive contribution to the internationalisation of German higher education institutions. Over the past ten years, more than 32,000 mobility programmes have been implemented, with around 24,000 teachers and students from partner countries coming to German higher education institutions and 8,000 German higher education staff gaining experience at institutions on other continents. Ten years of global exchange with Erasmus+ has promoted academic exchange at an equal level and the continuous expansion of global education networks for strategic internationalisation, as well as cross-cultural experiences and networks that have the potential to enrich subsequent careers through international cooperation. Andrea Götz, Head of the Erasmus+ Key Action 1: Mobility of Individuals Unit at the National Agency DAAD, also confirms this development:

By integrating partner countries outside Europe, Erasmus+ has become a truly global programme, strengthening the European Higher Education Area and building bridges between institutions and people worldwide.
Andrea Götz, NA DAAD

Successful cooperation extending beyond Europe

The University of Koblenz has been involved since 2015. In addition to Ukraine, Armenia and Morocco, its projects focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Its special connection to this region stems from the partnership between the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and Rwanda, which has existed since the 1980s. The university has a Rwanda Centre and an Office for African Cooperation with extensive regional expertise, supporting cooperation in priority countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania and South Africa. The main areas of cooperation are biodiversity, food security, start-ups, cultural heritage, climate change, human resources management, conservation of resources, languages and tropical diseases. Dr Felicitas Kexel, Head of the International Relations Office at the University of Koblenz, is enthusiastic about cooperating with partner universities. Thanks to Erasmus+, African students can now study at the University of Koblenz on a larger scale as part of the programme’s global funding initiative. According to Dr Kexel, the programme represents a vital platform for further expanding this mobility. Incoming students usually stay for one semester. Some former grant recipients return to Germany as doctoral candidates.

Flexibility as a plus

The wide-ranging flexibility of the programme also allowed for a technical expansion of the Koblenz collaborations, which in turn has exerted a structural influence. While the collaboration initially focused primarily on bio-geosciences, it has since become more interdisciplinary and broader in terms of subject matter. Linguistics, cultural studies, mathematics and psychology are now also represented.

Challenges and opportunities

»Due to the different processes and structures at partner universities, organising mobility programmes for students from sub-Saharan Africa involves greater organisational challenges for the University of Koblenz than arranging Erasmus+ stays in Europe«, explains Dr Kexel. This applies to the organisation of flights, visas and accommodation, for example. In recent years, the university has developed concepts to effectively implement these services. Incoming students, for instance, receive on-site support through a buddy programme to help them with both university-related and general queries, enabling them to build contacts and familiarise themselves with their host country.

Additionally, the University of Koblenz is attempting to improve networking between African higher education institutions through collaborative projects.

»Booster« for development

Students from partner countries clearly benefit from their experiences in Germany, which help them to develop professional prospects and university careers in their home countries. »The time spent at our university, with all its experiences, is a real ‘booster’ for development, as evidenced by reports from our Alumni Network«, Dr Kexel emphasises.

Further project opportunities with higher education institutions in other regions, such as Asia, are continuously being explored. Dr Kexel points out that Erasmus+ Worldwide represents steady and successful progress in the internationalisation of the University of Koblenz: »We are always seeking exciting international collaborations. Erasmus+ Worldwide is the first (low-threshold) channel through which we can develop new projects«.

A key element for internationalisation

Confirmation of this comes from Dr Randolf Oberschmidt, Head of the Internationalisation and International Cooperation Department at the University of Kassel, who was asked about the extent to which ICM contributes to the university’s internationalisation goals: »This funding programme plays a crucial role in achieving our goal of strengthening research and teaching partnerships with countries around the world. It has enabled the University of Kassel to establish partnerships with 40 institutions in 21 countries and seven regions worldwide«. The focus is primarily on India, the MENA region, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Exchange is particularly intensive in the departments of Ecological Agricultural Sciences and Social Sciences. Dr Oberschmidt highlights that all departments at the university embrace cooperation and that each individual contributes to the university’s strategic orientation by preparing applications. He considers this to be a successful example of a combined (»bottom-up« and »top-down«) approach to the university’s strategic internationalisation.

Ten years of Erasmus+ worldwide

Erasmus+ has also been facilitating the global mobility of students and higher education staff since 2015. It does this through the International Credit Mobility (ICM) funding programme. German higher education institutions are able to use this programme to enable students and staff from their partner institutions to study in Germany, as well as supporting this programme is provided by the EU Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations. Consequently, the funding programme has a specific foreign and development policy component. To celebrate its tenth anniversary, the NA DAAD is showcasing the successes of the programme on an anniversary website.

International Mobility involving third countries not associated to the Programme (KA171)

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