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Mobility of higher education students and staff supported by internal policy funds (KA131-HED) - Coordinator: IES MARTÍNEZ VARGAS

2023-1-ES01-KA131-HED-0001387402023Mobility of higher education students and stafffinalized
Countries: ES · Grant: €4,207

Objectives

IES Martínez Vargas is a teaching centre which offers the following studies: Compulsory Secondary Education, post-compulsory Secondary Education and Vocational Education Training. Our school is located in a rural area in the province of Huesca. Our centre began its involvement in the Erasmus+ Programme in the 2014-15 academic year, when we applied for the Erasmus+ Charter for the period 2014-20. Since then, our priority has been to carry out various projects within the KA103 (now KA131) key action, which is why the Erasmus+ Charter was renewed in 2020. All our ECHE charters and our Erasmus+ Policy Statement can be found on the centre's website (https://iesmv.com/erasmus/) and on our Erasmus+ Vocational Training blog (https://erasmusiesmvargas.school.blog/). Our ECHE Charter allows our centre to carry out Erasmus+ projects for Higher Education Vocational Training. The main objective of these projects is to give students on these courses who wish to do work experience placements in a European country the opportunity to do so, regardless of their socio-economic background. This allows them to complete their academic training in another European Union country, improve their communication skills in a foreign language, and learn about and become more involved in European life and culture. These internships, apart from being integrated into the curriculum, are fully recognised in the ECTS credit system and are certified in various ways (including the Europass Mobility Document). This makes it easier for participating students to find new jobs in an EU country or in their own country, as Erasmus+ mobility programmes promote competitiveness, entrepreneurship and the professional, social and intercultural skills and competences required in the European workplace. Finally, we seek to improve the educational offer in our courses and increase the number of students interested in them. This objective is also pursued through training mobility programmes for staff, as they can learn other methodologies in use in other European countries and apply the knowledge, skills and abilities learned through mobility programmes in our vocational training courses, promoting innovation and increasing the quality of the vocational training we offer. We also seek to establish contacts and relationships with other foreign educational centres that offer vocational training programmes similar to ours, as well as with foreign companies, with which we can establish collaborative ties that enable us to carry out our student and staff mobility programmes. Unfortunately, over the years we have encountered several factors that have had a negative impact and have slowed down the growth in the number of students and staff participating in project mobility programmes (although, fortunately, this small number is gradually increasing). Firstly, we have had a small number of students interested in participating in this type of mobility programme. This is due to various factors, such as the fact that we are a rural centre, as most of the students at the centre come from small towns where travelling abroad is not common. In addition, there is a reluctance among students and their families to participate in this project, as it requires a significant financial effort on the part of the participant or their family to supplement the scholarship. Furthermore, the language level of students entering vocational training courses is also below average, which discourages them from participating in this type of project. It should be noted that the language factor has also sometimes influenced the centre's staff, meaning that not as many people as we would have liked have been encouraged to participate. Finally, in the 2024/25 academic year, we have encountered significant bureaucratic problems (which will be explained later) that have prevented us from carrying out a student mobility that was already fully organised. Despite all these negative factors, we have sought to improve the project with different measures: updating the participant selection processes, monitoring mobility and communication with participants; promoting the dissemination of the project through the centre's website, our social networks, the Erasmus+ project blog for vocational training and the Results Platform. In addition, we have achieved good results by establishing contacts with foreign companies and other foreign educational centres, with which we have carried out collaborative actions in the 2024/25 academic year. Even so, we continue to seek contacts in other countries through the various platforms available and by attending several Erasmus+ conferences.

Project partners (1)