Mobility most beneficial for researchers
5 september 2012 | International mobility turns out particularly relevant for academic staff, but resources are constrained and its difficult for institutions to find the right replacement, a recent survey by the EUA shows.
The European Univerity Association (EUA) has recently involvedits 850 member institutions in a broad
- Although institutions may have strategies for mobility orinternationalisation, many academic staff are not aware oftheir existence, or how they are assessed.
- Most respondents, while acknowledging the potential social andcultural benefits of mobility for all members of theirinstitution, believe that mobility is particularly important forthe careers of doctoral candidates.
- Current actions at faculty and departmental level tend to focuson the mobility of Bachelor and Master’s students. Doctoralcandidates are also of considerable strategic interest but theirmobility is often managed by separate structures within theinstitution. Potential links between the mobility of Bachelor andMaster’s students, and subsequent doctoral candidate mobilityare not sufficiently coordinated in strategic planning
- Respondents reported that the mobility of administrative staffat their institution was not as highly prioritised as that ofother potentially mobile groups.
- Institutions seem to crave good practice in enhancing thequality of mobility, especially as regardsinnovative assessmentmethods and the data collection that underpins it.
Many institutions were surprised to find that, despite widespreadusage of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System(ECTS) and the Diploma Supplement, awareness for and exploitationof these instruments was still not as extensive asanticipated.
