Outgoing Erasmus Students: Preparing for Year Abroad - EU Policy Statement
Sections Listed:
- Introduction
- Internationalization: General
- Range of Activities
- Quality Control and Evaluation of Participation in European Programmes
Introduction
UCC is a university incorporated by charter. Founded in 1845, it became a constituent college of the National University of Ireland in 1908. Under the Universities Act, 1997, it became a constituent University of the National University of Ireland. Its degrees are conferred by the National University and are internationally recognised.
University College Cork has four colleges: Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, Business and Law, Medicine and Health and Science, Engineering and Food Science. Teaching is delivered through departments of which there are over 60. There are over 15,500 students pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
The pursuit of excellence in teaching and research has been the primary mission of UCC throughout its history. In recent decades, the inclusion of an informed European perspective across all areas of academic activity has greatly enhanced this mission. UCC's portfolio of international linkages has ensured that opportunities for academic innovation have been maximized in an inter-institutional framework. Under the National Programme for Research in Third-Level institutions, launched as a major focus for the development of research activity in Ireland, UCC has succeeded in winning significant support for initiatives in several areas, such as informatics, nanosciences, environmental and biomedical research and analytical chemistry. The quality of UCC's international linkages is closely allied with its status as Ireland's premier research institution.
Internationalization at UCC is accorded a particularly high status in terms of the University's academic planning and development. Virtually all academic departments in the institution are involved in internationalization at one level or other and, in recent years, measures have been taken to ensure that there is a common, coherent approach to the planning of international activity.
The International Education Committee was appointed by Academic Council in June 2000, in order to ensure proper and effective coordination of international affairs at UCC. The Committee - which is made up of representatives of all faculties - has responsibility for the following:
- The implementation of SOCRATES and other EU exchange programmes
- The development of policy on international education and collaboration including student and staff exchanges
- The development of academic programmes which will attract international students to UCC
- Identification and realization of opportunities by UCC for the use of open and distance learning and Information
- Communication Technologies in offering courses abroad to students directly or by arrangement with universities abroad
- The promotion of an international dimension in the UCC student experience
- The development of strategic international alliances for academic development
The Committee has met regularly since its establishment and has played a central role in raising and maintaining awareness of international education activity across the institution. In contrast to its predecessor, the SOCRATES Working Group for Implementation which, as the name suggests, was associated with EU-related activities only, the International Education Committee has a remit which spans the overall range of international activities. As a consequence, European activities are devised and monitored against a background of international developments in other geographical regions. The International Education Committee – which reports to Academic Council at intervals – identifies trends and opportunities in international education worldwide and performs a “monitoring” role in relation to proposals for emerging partnerships with new institutions. The Committee also ensures that new initiatives are in conformity with the objectives of the institutional Strategic Plan 2002-2005, Agenda for Excellence.
Internationalization: General
UCC continues to attract large numbers of students from Europe, the US and the Far and Middle East. In 2002 it embarked on a new initiative to recruit full degree students from China and India, with a view to developing further the diversity of the student intake for years to come.
The breakdown of the 1320 international students who studied at UCC in the 2001/2002 academic year was as follows:
- 336 EU students from a range of over 130 exchange partners spent a semester or full academic year at UCC
- 415 students from the US spent a semester or full academic year at UCC
- 64 EU students registered for undergraduate programmes
- 206 non-EU students (the majority from the Far East and Middle East) registered for undergraduate degree programmes
- 100 EU students registered for post-graduate programmes
- 116 non-EU students registered for post-graduate programmes
- 83 non-EU students registered for “other” short term programmes for international students
It is notable that the predicted increases in international students contained in the European Policy Statement submitted to the European Commission in November 2000 have been exceeded well before time. In 2000, it was anticipated that the international student population would be 6% by 2005; in the event, the figure of 10% has been reached by 2002 and it is now anticipated that this rate is set to rise by at least two percentage points by the end of the next triennium. The rapid increase reflects the success of UCC in attracting international students and also reflects the willingness at institutional level to integrate international students within its degree programmes on a full-time or visiting basis.
It is expected that the number of non-EU students will continue to rise in the next triennium. Numbers in respect of EU programmes are likely to remain relatively constant, with an emphasis on the consolidation of existing activities rather than adding to an already flourishing network of European partners.
Range of Activities
Student mobility remains the core activity of the SOCRATES programme at UCC. In the period since 2000, much progress has been made in relation to balancing student flows. Whilst student mobility flows in the pre-SOCRATES era were in the order of 3 to 1 in favour of incoming students, the ratio is now 1.5 to 1. This welcome reduction in the disparity between inward and outward flows has been made possible by diversifying the disciplines in which UCC students spend a year abroad. Outward student mobility in the early years of ERASMUS was primarily concentrated in the Humanities, and mobility within fields such as Commerce and Law was negligible. Students from these latter disciplines now account for 35% of the overall outward cohort. The University is conscious of the need to expand still further the range of disciplines represented in its student mobility plan. In the last year, student mobility in the field of Dentistry, for example, has taken place for the first time. The International Education Committee views favourably developments of this nature and has actively encouraged other under-represented disciplines to become involved in the SOCRATES programme in the next triennium.
Following the transition to SOCRATES in 1996, UCC has placed a strong emphasis on the strategic development of opportunities for staff exchanges as a means of exploiting specialized expertise to be found in partner institutions. A significant number of staff from partner institutions have, in the last two-year period, carried out teaching staff assignments at UCC, offering a rich European dimension to several departments and, in a number of cases, filling lacunae in departments' academic offerings.
In the same period, more than 40 visits to partner institutions have taken place for the purposes of teaching staff assignments and for the monitoring of student mobility. Geographical spread has been achieved through visits, not only to “traditional” partner countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain, but also to more “peripheral” regions such as Finland, Greece and Portugal. Of particular note are teaching staff visits which have taken place outside the EU to partners in the Czech Republic and Lithuania; such visits have created a heightened awareness of the need for developing contacts in previously under-represented regions and with institutions in accession countries.
UCC has been an active participant in transnational programmes during SOCRATES I and II. In SOCRATES II it has been involved in highly successful intensive programmes in areas such as Business Law, and Counselling Psychology, affording large numbers of students and staff the opportunity to gain unique experience in collaborative learning conditions at a range of European locations. It has also been involved in curriculum development programmes such as European Studies in Administration and Business, Inter-Cultural Anti-Racist Social Work and the European Diploma in Psychological Therapies.
The development of Joint Masters Degrees with EU partners has also been an important feature of UCC's European activity under SOCRATES II. The University is currently involved in two such programmes as follows:
- MSc in Ecosystems Conservation and Landscape Management
- European Masters in Food Studies
Having regard to UCC's successful involvement in integrative programmes with partners as above, it is proposed that participation in such programmes will continue over the next triennium. Particular efforts will be made to develop new collaborative projects with institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, subject to funding being made available.
Quality control and evaluation of participation in European programmes
Since the submission of UCC's last European Policy Statement in November 2000, UCC, in compliance with the Universities' Act, 1997, has been involved in a programme of quality assurance and quality improvement, spanning all academic and administrative departments. Accordingly, academic departments and administrative offices involved in European/international activity continue to undergo a process of self-assessment, complemented by external peer review. The process proves to be beneficial in terms of quality of content and delivery of academic programmes from which domestic and international students alike may benefit.
The International Education Office was reviewed under the quality assurance exercise in February 2001. The outcome of the review reflected a very high performance level in respect of the promotion and administration of international programmes at UCC. Student “feedback” in the context of the SOCRATES programme was notably positive and visiting students recorded a high satisfaction level with the quality of the student experience at UCC. EU partner institutions and the National Agency also commended the office on its management of European partnerships. The result of a special monitoring visit by the National Agency in 2001 showed that, in the case of UCC, there was strong institutional ownership of the SOCRATES programme. The report of the National Agency also observed that the management and administration of the SOCRATES programme at UCC was efficient and professional, and enthusiastically implemented by the International Education Office.
The International Education Office continues to place a premium on the quality of student service offered to incoming and outgoing ERASMUS students. In addition to the core services it has provided to international students over many years, it has, over the last two year period, taken additional measures to enhance the quality of service offered. Such measures include the following:
A dedicated Resource Room has been provided to allow outgoing students carry out detailed preparation for the year abroad
Pre-departure orientations for outgoing students have been upgraded to ensure maximal exchange of information between returned and outgoing students
Reporting of the student experience has been made compulsory, in the interest of monitoring quality and in the interest of exploiting the experience of returned students.
Reporting on staff visits to partner institutions has also been substantially reviewed in the period between 2000 and 2002. Written reports are now routinely examined and approved by the International Education Committee. In a small number of cases, partnerships with institutions whose performance has been judged as less than satisfactory have been discontinued. Termination of such relationships has necessitated the selection of new partners to act as substitutes. In all such cases, the International Education Committee has examined rigorously the rationale for selection of proposed new partners.
A major achievement of the International Education Committee has been the introduction of Guidelines for sending departments/programmes involved in the SOCRATES programme. The document, drawn up by the International Education Committee and approved by faculties, has given unambiguous instructions to departments on the issue of students' workload requirements at partner institutions and validation of the year's work. The document has further facilitated the establishment of an acceptable level of commensurability across the range of UCC's partner institutions. Implementation of the guidelines has facilitated students in their course selection at partner institutions and has also strengthened the knowledge available to academic departments in terms of their relationships with partners. The International Education Committee will continue to oversee the implementation of the guidelines, as above. The Committee will also highlight examples of best practice obtaining at partner institutions.
Modularization of UCC's undergraduate degree programmes represents a further means of enhancing conditions for academic transferability. The process has provided for more transparency in the whole area of student assessment and has facilitated both incoming international students and domestic students spending a year abroad for credit.
The work already carried out to introduce modularization at undergraduate level and to prepare the way for modularization at master's level will facilitate the further development of joint masters degrees and will anticipate UCC's participation in the Bologna process. A member of the Academic Council – who is also a member of the International Education Committee – has been given responsibility for monitoring events in relation to the Bologna process and in making reports to the Committee in order that the University will ensure its compliance with the requirements of the process.
The International Education Committee will continue to lead the University's planning and development of EU and international programmes. This European Policy Statement, which has been formulated as a result of wide consultation and which incorporates institutional and departmental plans, will serve as a reference point for the institution's future implementation of international activity. UCC looks forward to receiving the support of the European Commission to help it achieve its goals.