One of the main goals of the Erasmus+ Programme is to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training, which include making lifelong mobility a reality and improving the quality and efficiency of education and training. Mobile students not only acquire new skills and competences, but also become more tolerant and better aware of common values, develop an entrepreneurial mindset and increase their employability prospects. While the total number of students enrolled in European higher education institutions (HEIs) has grown substantially in the last decades, the proportion of mobile students has not changed significantly despite an increased investment in mobility schemes and the proven benefits of studying or training abroad. Today, the European Higher Education Area is lagging behind the target it set itself a decade ago of having 20% of graduate students spend at least 3 months studying or training or achieve a minimum of 15 ECTS abroad during their studies by 2020. While individual circumstances (such as financial difficulties, lack of motivation or fear) might keep students from going abroad on mobility, several institutional and structural barriers stand in the way even for those willing to undertake studies or training in a different country. Paradoxically, to enable students to integrate mobility into their studies, mobility needs to be integrated into their curricula. The “Making Mobility the Norm” Project (NORM) aims at tackling some of the most challenging institutional barriers to embedding student mobility in study programmes at HEIs: curricula design and accreditation procedures, including aspects related to national legislation and the frameworks that regulate highly specialised –hence mobility-rigid– academic fields. To achieve this aim, the consortium partners have set a number of objectives: mapping out the existing mobility structures in place across higher educations in Europe; identifying good practices and the main institutional barriers to embedding mobility in study programmes and curricula; identifying bottlenecks to mobility flows by analysing intra-institutional factors, traditionally-regulated disciplines (e.g. medicine, law and engineering), accreditation bodies and national regulations; producing a mobility typology and targeted recommendations; prototyping an IT solution to facilitate curricula-matching; and redesigning the institutional strategies of the seven partner universities of the consortium so that they incorporate student mobility in their curricula. The work will rely on in-depth desk-research, surveys to relevant stakeholders, study visits and trainings to partner universities, structured interviews, a public consultation and sustained dialogue and feedback with relevant decision-makers. The result of this work will be a Mobility Typology describing in detail the different mobility schemes that European HEIs have in place; a European Curricula Design Guide, including a toolkit and targeted policy recommendations that will encourage universities to embed student mobility in their curricula; the development and piloting of an IT prototype that will help HEIs find curricula and course equivalences; and the commitment by the universities in the consortium to 5-year plans to redesign their institutional strategies to embed student mobility in their curricula. The NORM consortium has been built on the premise that a diversity of perspectives and expertise is a prerequisite to innovation and long-lasting, sustainable impact. Hence, the consortium includes HEIs that represent a wide array of internal structures and a representative sample of mobility configurations, academic disciplines and institutional arrangements for a total of seven universities and two networks: University of Marburg, University of Barcelona, University of Alcalá, Eötvös Loránd University, Vytautas Magnus University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, as well as the European University Foundation and the Erasmus Student Network. With HEIs from Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Hungary and Latvia, the consortium represents a truly European dimension. The two networks included further increase the outreach and potential impact of the project. Given the transnational nature of the consortium, the impact will be felt beyond the national level; because the solutions will produce institutional changes and be widely disseminated through the networks and the national and European authorities, the impact will also be long-lasting, ultimately boosting not only the number, but also the quality of student mobilities in Europe.
The project "Making Mobility the Norm" (NORM) aims to identify and consequently remove some of the most relevant institutional and structural obstacles to the integration of student mobilities in study programs with different "degrees of regulation." HEI leaders and decision-makers should be enabled to design study programs and mobility opportunities that are embedded in their programs in a way that increases the number of internationally mobile students. To achieve this goal, the consortium partners set a number of objectives. These included mapping existing mobility structures in European higher education and identifying best practices and significant institutional barriers to embedding mobility in degree programs as well as identifying bottlenecks to mobility flows from an accreditation perspective, particularly when checking against the background of external regulations. In addition, the prototype of an IT-based solution should be created through which students could compare information given in course catalogues of different Higher Education Institutions (curricula-matching) as they prepare a mobility; ideally also allowing for ECTS-coordinators to gain insight into relevant information regarding the recognition process.
The total number of students enrolled in European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has increased significantly in recent decades. Despite increased investment in mobility programs and the proven benefits of studying or training abroad, the proportion of mobile students has not significantly changed, however. Today, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is falling short of the target it set a decade ago: 20% of graduate students should study or train abroad for at least three months or earn at least 15 ECTS abroad by 2020. While individual circumstances such as financial difficulties, lack of motivation or even fear may prevent students from implementing outbound mobility in their studies, several institutional and structural obstacles stand in the way even for those willing to study or train in another country. Paradoxically, to enable students to integrate mobility into their studies, mobility needs to be integrated into their curricula. Thus, the "Making Mobility the Norm" (NORM) project set out to tackle some of the most challenging institutional and structural barriers to embedding student mobility in study programs and making student mobility the norm.