PROJECTS & PARTNERS
PRIME Problems of Recognition In Making Erasmus by: Madara Apsalone graphs by: Ismet Lisica
Despite a rapid growth in the past 20 years, the Erasmus program is still facing several challenges: as identified by, among others, the ESN Survey 2006 and 2007 - the recognition of courses studied and competencies gained abroad being among the main obstacles. As a Europe-wide student voice for mobility in international higher education, ESN carried out research to investigate the most common practices at different universities and faculties in Europe, from information provision to prospective exchange students and negotiation of Learning Agreements until students’ actual return and recognition of the competencies gained abroad.
PRIME team
The project started shortly after the AGM Besancon 2008 and 100 higher education institutions from 24 countries and nearly 2400 former exchange students from 52 countries were surveyed till summer of 2009.
Stefan Fiedrich (Austria) – research leader
Giorgio Marinoni (Italy) – idea & application Matthias Fenner (Switzerland) – project coordination Emanuela Ascoli (Italy) – project coordination Marketa Tokova (Czech Republic) – project coordination Piotr Cylke (Poland) – IT
Tomas Bort (Czech Republic) – quantitative research Madara Apsalone (Latvia) - quantitative research
PRIME student respondents(n=2251)
Tony Filoni (Italy) - quantitative research Daphne Scherer (Italy / Denmark) – qualitative research Julia Panny (Austria) – report Ismet Lisica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – design University usage of the ECTS
Information about exchanges According to the PRIME research results, International Relations Offices and Faculty Coordinators were the most mentioned information providers, followed by ESN. Meetings with interested students, seminars and sessions about studies abroad as well as the internet and PR material were found to be the most used means of informing students about the Erasmus program. Representatives of universities agreed that personal ways of informing students are the most effective
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An absolute majority of PRME surveyed universities used the ECTS credits and almost half of them calculated the number of ECTS credits according to course workload. Furthermore, the survey looked at the Learning Agreement as a negotiated and binding arrangement between the Erasmus student, the home and the host institution. Almost all of the interviewed institutions provided a LA for Erasmus students prior to leaving - usually between 2 to 4 months before the beginning of the exchange. Recognition The Erasmus Student Charter states that Erasmus students are entitled to expect full academic recognition from their home university for credits achieved during the Erasmus study period, in accordance with the Learning Agreement. In the PRIME study, only 2/3 of the Erasmus students – with a valid Learning Agreement signed prior to their stay abroad – had their courses fully recognized afterwards. Almost 30% received partial recognition leaving a minority of about 4% with no recognition at all. However, according to PRIME higher education institutions, an average of 3/4 of their outgoing students is expected to get full recognition.