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Mobility of higher education students and staff supported by internal policy funds (KA131-HED) - Coordinator: LYCEE DES METIERS VUE BELLE

2024-1-FR01-KA131-HED-0002428682024Mobility of higher education students and stafffinalized
Countries: FR|BE|HR|EL|IT|ES|SE · Grant: €59,707

Objectives

We wanted to build on our international momentum in higher education. As a reminder, our island context and our student body give us a unique characteristic: our young adults have rarely, if ever, left the island. Families and students are extremely apprehensive, and encouraging them to embrace this openness is our real challenge. Our students lack independence and an open-minded attitude. They are geographically distant from Europe, yet they are Europeans. It is a key priority for us to foster this sense of belonging by encouraging them to share experiences with other Europeans. This year, demand for mobility programmes has been higher, which reinforces our confidence in the policy and support measures we have put in place. The students are talking amongst themselves. Sessions for sharing experiences and tutoring have been organised and are proving successful. We are seeing an increase in voluntary applications, whereas initially we had to seek out students, motivate them and even convince them of the benefits of studying abroad. This is a victory because the momentum is real. As for our relationships with partners: we are striving to build on our network of companies in Spain and Belgium. Through experience, we have succeeded in establishing long-term relationships with companies in these two countries. We wanted to expand exchange programmes to other French-speaking European countries to offer this experience in a variety of cultural contexts to students who do not necessarily have a strong command of foreign languages. We have therefore also expanded into Luxembourg, where we have a pool of partner companies. However, at present, it is accommodation that is proving very difficult to find. This expansion into French-speaking countries has enabled us to significantly increase the number of students taking part who had previously ruled out mobility due to a lack of language proficiency and excessive anxiety. It is therefore a success for us. As for accommodation, we are exploring alternative avenues. We had a partnership with an organisation called ‘1toit2ages’ in Belgium, but ultimately they failed to fulfil their commitments. We are now developing partnerships directly with landlords, as well as with partners from our student mobility projects (such as care homes). We are pursuing every avenue to build up a pool of accommodation options. In Spain, we work with a partner training centre and with landlords from our network. We can say that all of this is the result of time and meticulous work over several years. We provide support from start to finish, including monitoring students throughout their preparations for their mobility programme, and this is essential. Students are given a period of independent work at the outset (explanation of the tools available: the Europass CV website, accommodation search sites, company search sites, etc.). But this never comes to fruition on its own. That is why, in phase 2, we draw on our network. We support them by providing access to our pool of companies, helping them put together presentation videos, and putting them in touch with landlords… Without this support, these mobility placements would not materialise. For almost all of them, this is their first time going abroad, and the distance involved, combined with their lack of independence, means they need our support, as well as proper mental preparation and organisational guidance. Our aim of creating European mobility pathways is on the right track. We have students who have benefited from mobility schemes whilst at secondary school and then from student mobility schemes in higher education. There is a real difference between these students and the others. In conclusion, the impact of internationalisation on students is very significant in terms of their independence and openness to pursuing further studies outside Réunion. For staff: we wanted to provide training and facilitate the exchange of best practice and tools not only in teaching but also across all areas of educational life (inclusion, AI, mentoring, management of European projects and dissemination, etc.). These mobility programmes also serve as a management tool, as staff interact with one another and develop their skills. The aim was then to bring an international dimension to life at the school, and this has been achieved thanks to the dissemination and sharing initiatives organised by both students and staff (tutoring sessions, exhibition stands, talks, workshops, etc.). Mobility programmes do not only benefit those who go abroad. This year, we organised workshops led by staff who had been on mobility programmes. They were required to deliver three-hour debriefing sessions to groups of teachers and pupils. A registration schedule was drawn up, along with materials designed to share the knowledge and information gained from the mobility experience. The exchanges were very productive.

Project partners (1)