09 July 2008
Others
This is an experience that 38 students and 8 scholars from the Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus have already had in the 2007-2008 academic year, as well as 6 students from Kazahkstan, 3 from Iraq and one from Yemen.
The Window is a community action programme for the promotion of cooperation between higher education institutions and the exchange of students, researchers and academic staff from EU Member States and Third-CountriesAs with other mobility programmes, the exchanges under this programme will foster mutual knowledge and rapprochement between universities, programmes of study, and teaching staff and EU and non-EU students.According to the Vice-Rector for International Relations at the University of Deusto, Julia González, the idea is to promote 'cooperation for the development of countries through the training of human capital'.
The European Union has organised several lots according to different geographical areas.Each lot is made up of around 20 European universities, one of which is the coordinator and the rest are partners.With regard to these lots, the University of Deusto will be responsible for the coordination of that corresponding to Belarus, Moldova and the Ukraine (lot 6), and it participates as partner in those approved for Russia (4), Yemen, Iran and Iraq (7), Kazahkstan (8), countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific ? ACP (10), Chile (17) and Mexico (18). In addition, UD is partner in the projects still to be approved, corresponding to India (15) and Brazil (16).
These countries have defined their needs for professionals and they have selected those Universities that could best meet them.In the case of Deusto, countries like Belarus, Moldova and the Ukraine, as well as Yemen, Iran, Iraq or Kazakhstan have applied for training courses in all the branches of knowledge to have a greater international dimension.With regard to Chile, it has chosen masters and doctorates in subject areas like Environment and Education; Brazil, those related to New Technologies, Social Sciences and Humanities; Africa has selected postgraduate courses in all fields of study, and Russia, topics concerning Integration and Internationalisation.
With regard to student and academic staff mobility, there are three target groups:The first target group includes the exchange of students and academic staff registered in one of the universities member of the partnership.The second target group involves the mobility of students registered in a higher education institution of these countries not included in the partnership; and the third target group seeks to award scholarships to students having a refugee status or asylum beneficiaries, who will be given 'special attention' by the University, according to Julia González.As for the costs covered by these scholarships, a grant of 1,000 euros will be awarded to undergraduate and graduate students, and academic staff and PhD graduates will receive a grant of 1,500 euros, as well as travel and insurance costs in both cases.
Incoming student mobility is expected to reach 75%, and the outgoing mobility of European students towards third countries will be 10-15%.Last academic year, the University of Deusto welcomed 56 students and academic staff from outside the EU: 46 from the Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, and 10 from Kazakhstan, Iraq and Yemen. In fact, some of them are still at the University.As for outgoing students from Deusto, this year a number of lecturers were sent to countries like Belarus, while unsafe countries like Iraq were avoided.However, since Deusto is taking part in more country lots, next academic year, a greater number of students, most of whom are postgraduate and PhD students, are expected to be sent.
The aim of the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window is to encourage students coming to Europe to return to their countries of origin. For this reason, a maximum period of 10 months has been established to avoid 'brain drain'.The main aim of this initiative is to promote the enrichment of third countries, and to enhance cooperation for development, where European governments are actively involved.
The Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window complements other previous and existing Higher Education initiatives, and it will encompass new actions, taking advantage of the positive results obtained by other programmes such as Erasmus, Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, ALFA, ALBAN, AsiaLink and EduLink, in the different destination regions.
