The SumHEIs project addresses the following priorities: 1. Open educational and innovative practices in a digital area 2. Promoting internationalization 3. Tackling skills gaps and mismatches One often ignored way in which universities or research institutions and associations can increase student recruitment is through summer schools. A key part of the university experience is the location and culture, and one of the things that many graduate students are actually quite keen to revisit places they may have spent time previously. Studying internationally, especially for an entire undergraduate or postgraduate degree, can be a tricky and challenging prospect. For many students it may be their first time away from family and friends, let alone away from their home country altogether. Short-term programmes allow prospective applicants to experience a new place and a new method of teaching in a comfortable, fixed-term setting, without the pressure of starting an entire degree. This is a fantastic way for them to get involved and exposed to university culture and to promote your university campus. When running a Summer School programme universities need to make sure they are highlighting the real benefits of what a summer programme could offer prospective students. By finding out what students from different countries are looking for, they can target your courses and marketing. Institutions could also focus on the cultural aspect, the adventure and any language skills they might be able to develop by studying in the city and country in which your institution is located for this length of time. The project aims at the following objectives: 1. Increase the number of Summer Schools offered by European HEIs 2. Increase the quality of Summer Schools offered by European HEIs 3. Train staff on how to design, develop, operate and manage Summer School programmes 4. Form material and guidance mechanism for HEIs that aim at establishing such programmes for the first time 5. Form synergies and common Summer School programmes among HEIs Results expected to be achieved during and on the completion of the Project include: 1. Better delivery of services in existing Summer Schools 2. Development of new Summer Schools 3. Joint initiatives among HEIs and organizations in delivering Summer Schools 4. Academic and administrative staff are better equipped in designing, delivering, operating, managing and promoting Summer Schools in their HEIs 5. Deliverance of scalable solution for training staff in HEIs that do not run Summer Schools but aim to develop new initiatives on the field 6. Stronger internationalization of HEIs through Summer School Porgrammes 7. New training opportunities for students, academics and administrative personnel 8. A comprehensive and detailed analysis of what benefits and impact Summer Schools bring to their institutions 9. Sharing of Good Practices in the area of Summer Schools We have identified three different categories of participants: 1. Individuals (staff members) participating in Training Activities 2. Participants in the Multiplier Events 3. Participants during the implementation of I.O. Participants are going to be identified through partner’s networks. The selection is going to be based on: • A stratified sampling method, embracing all variables and different categories of participants. • Equal representation of men and women • Representation of all partner country representatives. • The actual and different needs of trainers, staff and academics, so that we include participants from the whole spectrum of needs (i.e. intercultural, mental, physical).
Considering the wide beneficiaries of the project (students and Higher Education Teaching and Administrative Staff), we wanted to achieve the following objectives: Increase the number of Summer Schools offered by European HEIs and the quality of Summer Schools offered by European HEIs, also acting on better delivery of services in existing Summer Schools; Form material and guidance mechanisms for HEIs that aim at establishing such programmes for the first time; Form synergies and common Summer School programmes among HEIs. For these general objectives, our project realized reports, guides, and an open educational platform aimed at producing shareable and usable knowledge mainly addressed to Academic and administrative staff, to make them better equipped in designing, delivering, operating, managing and promoting Summer Schools in their HEIs. In addition, we aimed at providing scalable solutions for training staff in HEIs that don't run Summer Schools but aim to develop new initiatives on the field. Finally, the objectives of the project are related to providing a comprehensive and detailed analysis of what benefits and impact Summer Schools bring to Institutions, through the sharing of Good Practices in the area of Summer Schools.
The reasons beyond the SumHEIs project came from analysis and reflections, preliminarily run at the level of the Consortium, that Institutions often don’t have the basic tools to design and deliver Summer School Programs. Furthermore, there is still no shared definition of what is a Summer School. Moreover, these kinds of programs are often ignored ways in which universities or research institutions and associations can increase student recruitment. From the students' perspective, short-term programmes allow experiencing a new place and a new method of teaching in a comfortable, fixed-term setting, without the pressure of starting an entire degree. Accordingly, the addressed needs were twofold: - first, when running Summer School programmes, Universities need to make sure they are highlighting the real benefits of what a Summer Programme could offer prospective students. In this sense, the project aimed to meet the needs of the Teaching and Administrative Staff in organizing and running Summer School Programmes. - second, Institutions could also focus on the cultural aspect, the adventure and any language skills students might be able to develop by studying in the city and country in which another institution is located.