Regional specific aspects WS 3 : Neighbourhood eastern countries

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Regional specific aspects WS 3 Neighbourhood
eastern countries RussiaEC Delegation
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EC Delegation to Russia

• Nicola Scaramuzzo
• Education programme officer
• Social Affairs and Civil Society
• Delegation of the European Commission to Russia
• Tel. [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Email Nicola.Scaramuzzo_at_ec.europa.eu
• Website www.delrus.ec.europa.eu

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Topics for discussion

• Recognition of study period abroad and exams,
  diplomas and degree
• Promotion and monitoring of the programmeRole of
  the EC Delegation in the partner country
• Follow-up actions of the EC Delegation to Russia
• Examples of promotion material

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Recognition of study period abroad and exams,
degrees and diplomas

• Previous experience in recognising full degrees,
  in particular masters degrees
• Recognising a study period abroad is however more
  difficult
•  
• There are cases when courses at the host
  university are similar to those delivered at the
  home university
• The home university carries out a review of
  courses offered at the host university and
  compare them with its own courses
• If there is complete similarity, the home
  university agrees in advance to recognise courses
  at the host universities and the exams that the
  students will have to pass
• The host university issues a certificate of
  accomplishment, indicating the courses attended,
  the number of hours, the content and the exams
  passed

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Recognition of study period abroad and exams,
degrees and diplomas (2)

• Courses at the host university are not similar to
  those delivered at the home university, even
  though subjects may be similar
• The international department at the home
  university agrees with the deans offices and
  heads of chair of the courses concerned to enable
  the students to follow individual curricula
• Students are not freed from the obligation to
  take a number of courses at the home university
  in accordance with education standard
• However students are allowed to pass light exams
  either before they go abroad or when they come
  back
• Are there risks that EMECW students could be
  expelled for not having passed all the exams in
  the partner country in time?

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Recognition of study period abroad and exams,
degrees and diplomas importance of EMECW

• International cooperation programmes like EMECW
  are very timely and relevant 
• Countries participating in the Bologna process
  need to introduce changes into the education
  degree system to fulfil Bologna obligations
• Countries need to achieve recognition of degrees
• They need to introduce credits following ECTS as
  credit accumulation and transfer system
• Bologna countries need to introduce flexibility
  into the education programme
• Countries are afraid of loosing the current
  homogeneous education system, lowering quality
  education
• Working together at international level helps
  developing new curricula, introducing more
  flexibility and in many respect building trust

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Promotion and monitoring of the programmeRole of
the EC Delegation in the partner country

• Meeting the Ministry of Education to discuss
  higher education needs and priority areas of
  EMECW
• Organising EMECW info day at the EC Delegation in
  connection with the new call
• Developing EMECW leaflets and brochures
• Delivering presentation of EMECW within the
  framework of seminars, conferences and workshop
  at central and regional level
• Regular meetings with the Ministry of Education
  to discuss new programme priorities, objectives
  and past results
• Meeting with former EMECW students and academic
  staff asking to share experience with new
  universities, teachers and students

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Promotion and monitoring of the programmeRole of
the EC Delegation in the partner country

• Assessing the project proposals providing inputs
  on the relevance of the project proposals and on
  the eligibility of higher education institutions
• Following up the programme implementation with
  universities in the partner countries
  (participation in project coordinating meetings)
• Supporting visa applications
• Visiting the universities participating in the
  programme
• Interviewing students, academic staff and
  university administrations
• Discussing the programme implementation with the
  Ministry of Education in the partners countries
• Providing feedback to Education, Audiovisual and
  Culture Education Agency and to relevant
  Commission DGs

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Follow-up actions of the EC Delegation

• Mobility starts when outgoing students and
  academic staff come back to the country of origin
• Former EMECW students and academic staff are the
  ambassadors/best promoters of the EU funded
  education programmes in the partner country
• Former EMECW students and academic staff can
  provide invaluable information about the
  implementation of mobility programmes
• Increasing attractiveness of higher education in
  the EU and in partner countries can be best
  achieved by sharing first-hand experience

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Follow-up actions of the EC Delegation (2)

• Developing a database of former EMECW students,
  academic staff and universities
• Getting feedback from former EMECW students,
  academic staff and universities to promote EMECW
  programme and to increase visibility of the
  programme
• EC Delegations could organise once or twice a
  year workshops with former EMECW students,
  academic staff and universities
• Sharing experience about EMECW programme on a
  website study in Europe in the language of
  the partner country

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Possible topics of the workshops

• Topic 1 How can universities, students and
  academic staff best participate to EMECW
• Topic 2 Sharing experiences about the
  organisation and implementation of different
  mobility flows, i.e. for BA, MSc, PhD, Post PhD,
  for academic staff
• Topic 3 Development of university cooperation
  within the framework of EMECW and behind
• Topic 4 Employability and carrier perspective
  (or carrier development) for former EMECW
  students (and teachers)

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Website study in Europe in the language of the
partner country

• News about EU and EU funded education programme
• Deadlines for applications to EU funded education
  programmes
• Sharing experiences about mobility of students
  and academic staff as well as about university
  cooperation
• Posting evaluation of results, impact studies,
  qualitative and quantitative analysis, etc.
• Links with the websites of all interested
  stakeholders - Commission services, EU MS
  education agencies in the partner countries,
  Ministry of education, education agency, Tempus
  office, etc.

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Examples of promotion material
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EMECW Leaflet about Russia
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Conclusions

• Promoting, monitoring and taking care of the
  follow-up of the programme are crucial aspects
  for the success of EMECW
• The Delegation has a key role to play vis-à-vis
  students, teachers, universities and other
  stakeholders (Ministry of education, EU MS
  embassies and education agencies, etc.)
• The Delegation has the appropriate tools and the
  right political profile to ensure visibility of
  the programme and its results
• The Delegation shall work together with the main
  stakeholders in the partner country to help reach
  the objective of EMECW programme