Newsletter Programme Internationalisation of Education
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WORLD
Spring 2017
Get connected
Preface
Reflections by Ellen Hey Get Connected! Exchange students were a rare species when I studied law at Utrecht in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In those days, I was the adventurer who went on summer schools, summer internships, and embarked upon a second degree abroad. I remember finding my way by devouring the book ‘The World of Learning’, and by checking out the catalogues at the British Council Library in Amsterdam to find out about studying abroad – we didn’t have Internet back then! In this way, I made some lifelong friends and discovered the worlds of other legal systems, the practice of international law, and, during my MSc in Wales, the world of other disciplines.
The EUR is a connected community, based on the many contacts that our staff members have around the world. Use this community to Get Connected!
Fun facts about our recruitment target countries • More than 70% of our master students from the United Kingdom are not British. • Interest in our faculty from Indian students has risen from one to five in the past three years. • Almost all successful applicants from Mexico – to any EUR programme – come from one university. Facts like these show the benefit of focusing on a few countries; and importantly, it helps us to better understand our audience. For a summary of EUR-wide enrolment findings, contact us. In the coming months, we’ll hold interviews with students and alumni from our four target countries. Know someone we should talk to? Let us know.
These days, things are much easier: simply join one of the many exchange or mixed-degree programs offered by the faculties and institutes at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). You’re only a few mouse clicks away from getting connected. Grab your mouse and click on Studying and internships abroad. But, you don’t even have to leave Rotterdam to get connected; join the many international activities at our beautiful EUR campuses at Woudestein and Hoboken. We organise international classrooms, develop MOOCs, host the Rotterdam Summer School and are home to many Cultural Societies, including WILDe Theatre, the EUR’s first international theatre group.
Travelling for work? Promote the Erasmus University with our help! If you’re travelling abroad for work, help us by introducing the EUR to the people you meet. Ask us for a ‘ready-togo’ PowerPoint and speaking notes to help. Finding new partners and refreshing our existing relations is especially important if you’re visiting our target countries: England, Spain, Mexico, and India. For example, a delegation from Spain is visiting the EU on April 18.
In this newsletter: If you’re reading this while abroad and you’d like to get connected immediately, then click on Education@EUR and International Office.
Ellen Hey Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
In this newsletter:
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Featuring our
Sharing Best
Sharing
The Brussels
News &
Projects
Practices
Milestones
connection
Events
Colophon Destination: World is a quarterly newsletter of the EUR Strategic Programme Internationalisation of Education. Editor Carien van der Wal Text editing Roger Staats
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Featuring our Projects
Photography Saskia Barth, Conny Mooldijk & Carien van der Wal Contributors Gwen de Bruin, Marjo Gallé, Emma Hamilton, Ellen Hey & Carien van der Wal
Published by Academic Affairs/ Internationalisation program Designed by Ontwerpwerk www.eur.nl/internationalisation
Need expertise or funds for international education development? We were extremely successful in gaining funding for education development projects in the 2016 round of calls for Erasmus+, the EU funded programme for innovation in learning. We’ve been working on many exciting new projects which we’ve submitted for the new round of funding, with its deadline in March 2017. For those of you who are interested in developing innovative education in an international context, please send an email to Mijke.zeegers@eur.nl and we’ll drop by to discuss opportunities for developing your project in time for next year’s call! In addition, as part of the international master portfolio project ‘kick off’, we’re visiting all our faculties and institutes to find lecturers who have great ideas for international education. This could be an international research training or thesis programme, a new Master track offered by two or more partners, or even a
completely new Master. If you have any ideas about improving your current education programme, if you’ve found an educational niche market, or if you simply would like to establish a partnership with that one excellent university in your field, then drop us a mail at Gwen.debruin@eur.nl or Mijke.zeegers@eur.nl. We’d love to discuss all your great ideas for international education and find ways of helping you achieve your dreams. Career orientation and guidance: is this important for our international students? The answer of course is YES! In the upcoming year, we will organise a number of programmes and pilot projects to help international students optimise career orientation during their studies here at EUR. Examples are the Career Skills Week that took place in March 2017 and the MyFuture International programme for international Master students at ESL. We are currently in the process of identifying a number of additional faculty-based pilot projects. We are specifically interested in projects that focus on students in the first year of their programme. If you have an idea for an activity, event or training course that would help internationals in BA1 or BA2 to prepare more effectively for their futures, and you would like to discuss opportunities for implementing it, then please contact Judith Hoogmoed for more information. Boosting Exchange – how to get all programmes to the 15% target? In December 2016, the Boosting Exchange policy advice was presented to the university’s Education Directors; it was well-received. It’s important that all our programmes have at least 15% of bachelor graduates on exchange programmes. While many of our programmes are well on their way to achieving this target, others still quite some work to do! The new policy was used to create a checklist for each faculty and programme, to identify the most relevant actions to be taken. Each faculty will be visited in the next month to discuss these actions. If you have any suggestions on what your programme could do to get more students to go on exchange, or if your
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programme has a best practice that you’d like to share, then please do!
and management of common information by the central information office will save faculties a great deal of time.
Want to offer a summer course through the Rotterdam Summer School? The Rotterdam Summer School is looking for lecturers who would like to give a summer course in 2017 or 2018. The staff @ RSS will be pleased to help you get your course on the RSS website. Please contact Ad Hofstede, 82090 or hofstede@erasmusacademie.nl
Working together with the faculties, we started off by updating the information on subjects that matter most to the international students: finance, immigration, housing, career, and working while studying. We went live with the updated finance pages last month; the rest will follow shortly. We’ve redesigned the webpages so that there’s greater focus on achieving a single task per page. The content is now organised in such a way that it supports the accomplishment of this task AND makes sure the student keeps moving through the flow by making the relevant next steps easy to access.
International Learning Outcomes (ILOs): formulated and ready to use. The ILOs have long been an item on the agenda. To take your programme to the next level, we have formulated a short and easy to implement list of concrete ILOs in the field of skills and attitude. We have also made some suggestions for ILOs with regards to content, but this is something that is more directly related to the programmes themselves. The ILO-overview has been shared with the Education Directors, so check with them to see what you can do! We look forward to seeing many more ILOs added to course programmes as part of preparations for the next accreditation round.
Take a look at our new pages. Feel free to feedback or report bugs. We’re improving constantly, so don’t be afraid to share your opinion! Let us know! Did you know…? The Erasmus University has an emergency phone number (24/7) for EUR students who are abroad, and for international students (and their parents) studying at the EUR: 0031640847882
Sign up for the Teacher Training International Classroom Now that we’ve run an extremely successful first training
programme ‘teaching in the international classroom’ we’re preparing the next round, planned for autumn 2017. We weren’t able to directly repeat the course this spring as our trainer is enjoying her maternity leave, but we’ll get going again as soon as she’s back! In the meantime, we’ve met with the EUR Diversity Team chaired by Hanneke Takkenberg to find out if we can partner with them on this training course. Once again, we’re looking for participants from all the EUR schools. If you’re interested in joining this training course on teaching in an international classroom, then let us know! Check it out! Optimising the online information for (prospective) international students In order to improve support to both the international students and the faculties, the central international office has optimised the online information for (prospective) international students. There is A LOT of information the EUR has to offer, spread over many web pages and departments, and there are still some duplicates and errors. There will always be faculty-specific information that students will be directed to, however the provision
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Affordable and interactive language courses at Erasmus Language Sharing Founded by two students in 2015, Erasmus Language Sharing (ELS) is a multicultural platform where students can exchange, learn and share different languages and cultures with each other. ELS is part of the Language & Training Centre and works closely with Erasmus University and the associations EUCSA and ESN. At ELS, EUR students are given the opportunity to share their native language skills and cultural knowledge with other students. Each class has a maximum of 15 students, helping to make sessions both informal and interactive. For one trimester (ten weeks, two hours per week), participating students pay a small fee of 45 euro. This ‘for students by students’ approach has proven successful! Ever since its launch, ELS has continued to grow. For the upcoming trimester, you can join classes in 11 different languages at 3 different ‘bases’ (levels). In the current trimester, we set an all-time record of more than 320 students actively taking part! The third and last trimester of the 2016/2017 academic year starts in April, but the Board (Florine Groenen, Lisa Schulze Egberding and Marloes Blankert), is already looking ahead to the new academic year. What’s the big plan for next year? To continue facilitating informal, affordable and interactive sharing of language and culture among EUR students, hopefully with an even broader choice of languages, and even more students involved!
Sharing Milestones
The international office – Our linking pin for students and staff “Education is where everything starts and ends” Jikke Verheij, head of the EUR International Office
It’s important that our students understand that the world’s far more extensive than their own world. That’s where education makes the difference; you could say that education is where everything starts and ends. Rotterdam has always been an extremely diverse city; it’s a melting pot of cultures and identities. That’s also what the Erasmus University reflects. Our main goal is to ‘deliver’ global citizens to society who can perform well in teams, wherever they find themselves in the world. The International Office plays an important role in achieving this. We arrange almost everything for both outgoing and incoming students, from accommodation, diploma accreditation, financial support to counselling. In this we work closely with the faculties. Now that Rotterdam is on the map as a city, finding suitable accommodation has become an urgent issue. We really noticed that last summer. Now we encourage students to start looking for a room at least three months in advance. At the moment, the EUR is developing a two-track policy: providing better information and expanding what we, the EUR, can provide. We can’t simply leave it to market forces; we have to take our own responsibility for this. In the coming years, the EUR International Office is strongly committed to supporting both our academic and support staff. At the least, working or studying abroad is good for all involved. There is a limited budget, the Erasmus fund, for an internship abroad, however although it’s certainly not sufficient to cover all the costs, we encourage everyone who can to make use of it; it’s more than worth it. By working closely with the faculties, we hope to inspire all staff to go and find out what’s happening at universities across the border.
For more information, call us at the International Office anytime: Sanders Building, Room Phone: Jikke Verheij, 0612216378; jikke.verheij@eur.nl IO: internationaloffice@eur.nl/ https://www. eur.nl/english/essc/internationaloffice/
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In Rotterdam, the world lies at your feet – RSS 2017 Interview with Antoinette de Bont
Sharing Best Practices Together with four universities, we set up a Master of Health Economics & Management programme. Our aim was to attract students from across Europe and train them to become good health economists who research whether the money earmarked for health care is spent in the best way. The students are allowed to retain their existing student finance and pay the same tuition fees when they to study at one of the four universities. The countries where these universities are located all have different healthcare systems, and that’s covered extensively in this master. In Austria, they have a tripartite system which involves employers, employees and hospital insurers. In Italy, the system is determined regionally. In Norway, the state plays an important role. And finally, the Netherlands: here we have a healthcare system based on market forces. There’s no one ‘right’ system; the best system depends very much on the problem. The two-week course at the Rotterdam Summer School is crucial in the recruitment process. It gives prospective students a global look behind the scenes as they take part in this programme. The theme of this course is Internationalisation. It involves the implementation of an evidence-based healthcare model in different countries for people with multiple healthcare problems. The IBMG investigates the best multi-morbidity care models for the European Commission. We analyse care models from a number of countries including England, Hungary and Spain. We look at how these different care models are implemented and how they work. We have to determine how best to decide whether a system works and which criteria you use to explain this: what does it cost, what are the risks and what are the results?
“By encouraging them to take part in the Rotterdam Summerschool and g etting them to know the city, I hope to m otivate international students to apply for a master’s programme here in Rotterdam” The speaker is Antoinette de Bont, Professor at the Institute of Health Policy & Management
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At the summer school, we ask, ‘What’s does the model mean a metropolis like Rotterdam but also for a mountain village in Austria?’ We adapt the models to both contexts. Up to 40 people can register for this course. Before students take the course, they participate in the MOOC, which we developed together with the University of Copenhagen. The MOOC has 8 episodes that deal with innovation in healthcare. In Copenhagen, the students work with apps, and in Uppsala they use gaming techniques. Uppsala, Copenhagen and Rotterdam work together in EIT Health where we combine innovation and technology to improve healthcare. Our next challenge is to create an educational network, and include the impact of international issues on healthcare in our education programmes, for example the refugee problem. For more information: www.rotterdamsummerschool.nl
MOOCs, An important tool for the internationalisation of the university Interview with Natasha Sachs / Coursera Coursera has over 24 million registered learners around the world. Three quarters of these learners are from outside the US (76%) and nearly half are from emerging markets (44%). When Erasmus University offers MOOCs on the Coursera platform, they reach people all over the world, most of whom would never have heard of Erasmus or have the means to travel to Rotterdam to take courses. On Coursera, an Erasmus lecturer can teach more students in a single course than they might teach during their entire career on campus. For anyone passionate about their field of expertise and about sharing their ideas with others, this is an incredible opportunity. The effects In 2015, we published a learner survey in Harvard Business Review, showing that the overwhelming majority of our learners get both career and educational benefits. Of those seeking career advancement and who completed the courses, 87% reported benefits. 33% reported tangible benefits like a new job, promotion, or starting a business. Online learners from less educated and less affluent backgrounds were more likely to report tangible career benefits. A MOOC student profile Our learners come from every demographic you can imagine, but they tend to fall into one of the following categories. • Career Professionals (average age = mid 30s): More than half of Coursera’s users visit the site and enrol in career-relevant courses in technology, business, health, teaching, and more. • Enrichment learners (average age = mid 20s and mid 50s): Motivated by a love of learning, these learners tend to be interested in courses in the humanities, environmental sciences, and education. • Aspiring academics (average age = late teens, early 20s): Most are interested in engineering and physical sciences content. These learners are motivated by supplementing or preparing for traditional academic work.
Benefits for the university Universities like the EUR can utilise MOOCs for their on-campus students; by creating online content, they offer their students the chance to watch lectures ahead of class time, so that they can more effectively use the classroom for interactive activities. In the long term, Coursera gives universities the ability to magnify the work of their great lecturers: professors who spend their lives achieving excellence and mastery in their field can now convey that enthusiasm, passion, and learning to thousands, or even millions. The online education space is still very young, and will only stop growing when the world’s thirst for learning is satiated. There are so many opportunities with online courses: targeting new students; helping to transform the lives of learners who would otherwise have no access to education at this level, and showcasing the best of EUR’s teaching and research. In my role as a partner manager, I work closely with EUR to develop a strategy for their MOOCs. During my visit to Erasmus last week, I met with faculty from various departments, as well as with the Risbo team, to share best practices of online pedagogy and discuss upcoming MOOCs in production. Watch this space- there are many exciting MOOCs almost ready for launch!
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The Brussels connection Interview with Olga Wessels Netherlands house for Education and Research (Neth-ER) Frontier post Neth-ER is the frontier post of Dutch education in Brussels. We inform the Dutch education field about European developments in the field of research, innovation and education in a number of ways; our website www.neth-er.eu, a weekly newsletter via Twitter (@NethERbxl) and mailing lists on research, education or health. We also support the European advocacy of the Dutch education field, for example (the successors) of HORIZON 2020 and Erasmus +. Neth-ER has twelve members, including, for example, EP Nuffic, NWO and the VSNU. The EUR is an affiliate by virtue of its VSNU membership and is entitled to services, such as use of our meeting rooms in the heart of the European district and opportunities to attend and participate in seminars, counselling, and to receive information and bespoke advice. The successor to Erasmus+ Things are exciting at the moment in Brussels, the distribution of the European budget for the years after 2020 will be announced this year. This will have major consequences for the scope of the programme that is to succeed Erasmus +, and thus determining the opportunities for student / faculty mobility and cooperation in Europe in the field of education. EUR is very involved in the Erasmus + programme, so what happens in Brussels is very important to us! In addition, this year is the mid-term evaluation of the Erasmus + programme. The outcome of this review has implications for the future of European cooperation in the field of education. An opportunity arising from this is that experts in this field can contribute to the evaluation, by completing the feedback form. Opportunities in Europe To make the most of Europe’s opportunities, a number of things are important for the EUR: • A recognised profile among European stakeholders (Urbanization ?! that’s one of EUR’s specialties!). • Connections with European networks. It’s important to be aware of what’s going on and what’s happening in your field. In addition, in order to influence policy effectively: as a single university, you might not have a strong enough voice, but as an association of several “similar” universities then you have more power. A single network is usually not enough: the EUR has (hopefully) gained a lot from being associated with Neth-ER and the EUA, but we are certainly not complete in our information provision, and can therefore only promote EUR interests to a limited extent, as we always have to find a middle ground between the interests of our various members. • Be visible: a single return trip to Brussels isn’t enough to maintain a network and be visible as a university or researcher. • Be on time: in Brussels, the programmes are announced early on and the processes are generally quite slow: you have to be there on time if you want to exert your influence on a specific programme. The internationalisation of higher education How important is internationalisation for higher education? Given the current technological developments and globalisation, the internationalisation of education is inevitable. For example, for the mobility of students and staff, partnerships at programme level, and for the quality and comparability of curricula. Neth-ER can really add value once the EUR has a clear idea of what it wants. Furthermore, we will always point to opportunities, provide the EUR with information, and be a sparring partner on internationalisation strategies.
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Neth-ER In Brussels, we work together with Neth-ER, the Netherlands House of Education and Research, as well as with the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands and other stakeholders. They know what’s next on the EU agenda, and the EUR then has to decide how to respond to this while reflecting on its own ambitions, for example to find links to the three Erasmus initiatives. An international university has to be well embedded in both European and global networks in order to ensure that it can participate in prestigious project within the overall European research programmes, thereby demonstrating that its research and teaching are of European and global calibre. Winning funding is, in fact, a highly competitive process and if you’re successful, then you really show that internationally, you’re a winner. A truly international student feels completely at home in this environment: a fish in water. He or she is comfortable working in different languages, working together with other nationalities, and is eager to enrich his/her own research skills and knowledge by participating in international projects and exchanges.
Interview with Jan Michiel Meeuwsen Connections and mediation Jan Michiel Meeuwsen is an innovation ‘broker’: someone who mediates and connects universities, businesses and funding programs for research and innovation. On commission, he develops approved management strategies for EU funding. Out in the Styx Brussels is extremely important for Dutch higher education because, if you don’t have a defined relation with Brussels, then you’re educationally out in the Styx. EU programmes offer all kinds of opportunities to strengthen research and education. You stimulate exchange and can compare yourself with what other universities in Europe are actually doing. If, after the rigorous evaluations, you do succeed in getting funding programmes awarded, then you know you’re a leading European/global player. Strengthening networks In the near future, the EUR will take a number of steps towards further internationalisation. One of the first steps to be taken is to renew and strengthen networks, not only in Brussels but also in The Hague, because, via the RVO, the EUR can exert considerable influence on the content of European research programs. At this moment, the focus is on ensuring that the last series of HORIZON 2020 research programmes contains subjects in which the EUR leads and excels. In addition, the EUR is involved in the first skirmishes regarding the content and structure of the ninth Framework, the successor of the HORIZON 2020 programme (the Eighth Framework).
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News & Events Rotterdam Expat Centre
Save the date: Global Education Café Rotterdam Partners has launched the new Rotterdam Expat Centre website providing up-to-date information and services related to working and living in the greater Rotterdam area. We are a one-stop shop for expat employees and international businesses moving to Rotterdam, answering any questions on laws and regulations, housing and business accommodation, schools and universities, healthcare, municipal and national taxes, and social services. The Rotterdam Expat Centre provides information and expert services free of charge, supporting businesses, expats, knowledge migrants and international students. Expats and knowledge migrants can also contact the Rotterdam Expat Centre to arrange appointments with the Municipality of Rotterdam and the IND (Immigration and Naturalisation Service) for specific procedures related to municipal registration, immigration, or visa applications. The Rotterdam Expat Centre also provides information on the 30% tax rule for international employees coming to the Netherlands. Rotterdam is currently home to nearly 37,000 expats, many from countries as different as China, Italy, India and Brazil. These expats work for international companies and leading Dutch multinationals, as well as studying at the city’s knowledge institutes.
On Monday 22 May, from 16:30, the fourth Global Education Café will take place. This time it will be an informal get-together, where we’ll bring everyone who worked with us within this Strategic Programme in Internationalisation together for a drink and a snack. This will be a good opportunity for us all to reflect on the past academic year, before slowly but surely the summer holidays come into sight!
The Tulip Scholarship New €15,000 scholarship opportunities for Mexican students Are you Mexican and have you applied for a master programme at Erasmus University Rotterdam? A new Orange Tulip Scholarship specifically created for Mexican students can help you come and study in the Netherlands. The Orange Tulip Scholarship (OTS) Mexico programme is available to excellent Mexican students who wish to start on a master programme at Erasmus University Rotterdam in September 2017. The scholarship is a waiver of your master tuition fee for one year, with a maximum of €15,000. Find more information on the IO website
NAFSA2017 28 May–2 June 2017
China trip Shanghai & Beijing 3–9 June 2017
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