Regional specific aspects WS 3 : Neighbourhood eastern countries & Russia EC Delegation

2 EC Delegation to Russia Nicola Scaramuzzo Education programme officer Social Affairs and Civil Society Delegation of the European Commission to Russia Tel Fax Website:

3 Topics for discussion  Recognition of study period abroad and exams, diplomas and degree  Promotion and monitoring of the programme Role of the EC Delegation in the partner country  Follow-up actions of the EC Delegation to Russia  Examples of promotion material

4 Recognition of study period abroad and exams, degrees and diplomas  Previous experience in recognising full degrees, in particular master’s 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

5 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 dean’s 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?

6 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

7 Promotion and monitoring of the programme Role 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

8 Promotion and monitoring of the programme Role 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

9 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

10 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

11 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)

12 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.

13 Examples of promotion material

14 EMECW Leaflet about Russia

15 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