Project 2020-1-BG01-KA107-078650
Project fast facts
Through the Erasmus+ Credit Mobility Programme, every year VUM welcomes incoming students for studies from its Partner Universities situated in numerous Partner Countries, for which VUM attracts funds.
During the academic year 2020/2021 and academic year 2021/2022, VUM is involved in the Erasmus+ mobility project 2020-1-BG01-KA107-078650, which was approved in July 2020. The project eligibility period is between 1st August 2020 – 31st July 2022. The beneficiary Partner Countries included in the project are Fiji, Iran, Philippines, and Tajikistan from which 6 Partner Universities in total will take part in the project. There are 40 approved incoming Erasmus+ student mobilities for studies and incoming or outgoing Erasmus+ staff mobility for training or teaching from the above-mentioned Partner Universities in the fields of Business, Management, Administration, Hospitality, and Tourism, which are distributed as follows:
- 4 incoming Erasmus+ student mobilities for studies on a master level from Fiji National University (FNU) and University of South Pacific (USP) with a total duration of minimum 3 months each, 2 incoming Erasmus+ staff mobilities for teaching from FNU and USP with a total duration of 5 days, 2 outgoing Erasmus+ staff mobilities for teaching from VUM with a total duration of 5 days
- 10 incoming Erasmus+ student mobilities for studies on an undergraduate or master level from the University of Tehran, Iran with a total duration of minimum 3 months each
16 incoming Erasmus+ student mobilities for studies on an undergraduate or master level from the the University of Cebu (UC) and Saint Louis University (SLU), Philippines with a total duration of minimum 3 months each - 6 incoming Erasmus+ student mobilities for studies on an undergraduate level from the Institute of Economy and Trade of Tajik State University of Commerce in Khujand (IET), Tajikistan with a total duration of minimum 3 months each
Fiji
Fiji National University (FNU), Fiji
The Fiji National University (FNU) is the premier national HEI in the Pacific with over 100 years of experience (The Fiji School of Medicine (FSM) formed in 1894 and roughly 10 years as a newly constituted institution (since promulgation 2009). FNU has an expanding field of Agriculture/Forestry, Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences, Engineering, and Renewable Energy, with an increasing presence in cross-disciplinary international cooperation. FNU has undergraduate, diploma, postgraduate, and graduate programmes in Agriculture, Animal Science, Forestry, Renewable Energy, Engineering, master in Education, Social Sciences and Humanities, Marine Studies, Natural Resource Management, and Medical Sciences.
FNU believes that it is not ample to prepare students only to meet national expectations but there is an urgent need to embrace the impact of globalization and its demand on our students. As an Institution, FNU desires that our students are prepared to excel as skilled and empowered global citizens. This will mean our students and staff are able to function as a dynamic group that possesses extensive knowledge and skills that are globally demanded. They will be able to effectively contribute to the nation and harness the innovation that is much needed in our society today.
The International Office was established to assist the Universities’ academic and administrative departments in the design and implementation of international activity that meets the objectives set out in the University’s strategic plan. The office centralizes, coordinates, and handles international cooperation activities at the University. The mission of the International Office is to enrich the academic and cultural environment of the FNU by facilitating student exchange programmes and promoting activities that instill an international outlook and appreciation of cultural diversity in our students. With a focus on producing graduates who are ready to become global citizens, FNU has engaged in long-standing partnerships with regional universities in the Pacific as well as in Asia and Europe (FNU, 2020).
For more information and details, please visit FNU’s website here.
University of South Pacific (USP), Fiji
The University of the South Pacific is the premier institution of higher learning for the Pacific region, uniquely placed in a region of extraordinary physical, social, and economic diversity (USP, 2020).
Established in 1968, USP is one of only two universities of its type in the world. It is jointly owned by the governments of 12 member countries: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Samoa. The University has campuses in all member countries. The main campus, Laucala, is in Fiji (USP, 2020).
The University of the South Pacific (USP) relies on a mobility programme to internationalise the student experience by allowing USP students to travel to partner Universities or receive students from partner Universities. Mobility programmes like the Erasmus + KA107 programme are very good platforms offering staff and students of USP the opportunity to develop talent and build capacity as Pacific Island researchers. Such programme exposes our students internationally increasing their employability. Also, it allows our postgraduate students the chance to glean research tactics and access resources that would be otherwise unavailable locally. Moreover, mobility programmes allow our students and staff the opportunity to widen their network for research collaboration, programme development, and development of joint courses, etc (USP, 2020).
For more information and details, please visit the USP’s website here.
Iran
University of Tehran
Founded in 1935, the University of Tehran (UT) is the largest university in Iran with about 50.000 students, and 1500 faculty members, and is also the Iranian university with the best position in the international ranking. To maintain its leading position in Iran and further improve its reputation in the international context, UT is fostering and addressing cooperation with top foreign universities, able to give an important contribution to enlarge the scientific horizon of the research, to increase the value of the running Ph.D. programs, to make more international the academic staff after years of isolation. Internationalization of the University is ly a major drive. It is sought through the improvement of standards of research and education at the high international levels, moving to the edge of knowledge, increasing international cooperation and presence, increasing exchange programs, and increasing the number of foreign students (UT, 2020).
UT enjoys over 300 agreements with major international universities and institutions from more than 100 countries. UT has Membership of various international and global educational and academic associations such as the International Association of Universities (IAU), the Federation of Universities of Islamic World (FUIW), and Executive Board member of the Association of Universities of Asia and Pacific (AUAP), International Association of Science Parks (IASP), International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS), International Seismological Center (ISC), Committee of Space Research (COSPAR), International Association of Geography (IGU), International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control (IOBIC), International Astronomic Union (IAU), Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), World Tourism Organization (WTO), International Union of Geodesy and geophysics (IUGG), International Federation of Libraries Association (IFLA) and International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICODE) (UT, 2020).
For more information and details, please visit the website of UT provided here.
The Philippines
University of Cebu
The University of Cebu (UC) is a private university that started its humble beginnings in 1964. It was founded by the owner and President Atty. Augusto W. Go. At present, it has more than 61,000 students with 1, 114 teaching staff and 730 non—teaching staff in four different campuses. The University of Cebu is offering primary, secondary, tertiary, graduate, and post-graduate education (UC, 2020).
UC keeps up to be true to its vision by providing a democratized quality education, being the visionary and industry leader, and by giving hope and transforming lives to all (UC, 2019).
UC has international linkages with various Asian, American, and European countries. In Europe, it has established ties with the European Union, particularly with the Erasmus+ programme. Among them are the following projects; FRIENDS ( Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to Nurture Campus Diversity and to Support Internationalization at Home), BEEHIVE (Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems to Enhance Higher Education Value-Added for Better Graduate Employability) (UC, 2020).
For more information and details, please visit the UC’s website here.
Saint Louis University
Saint Louis University (SLU) is a Catholic private university in Baguio City and a leading higher education institution (HEI) in the Philippines. SLU is one of the few universities in the Philippines that are at least one hundred years old. Founded in 1911 by the Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae (CICM) missionaries from Belgium, SLU has since evolved into an important HEI by the CICM-Philippines and has become its important instrument of educational mission in the country. From a small mission school in 1911, Saint Louis became a college in 1952 and was granted university status in 1963. It adopted its school motto “Sapientia aedificat” (“Wisdom builds”) to affirm the enormous potential of education in improving people’s lives and in transforming society into a better place for everyone (SLU,2019).
Today, SLU enjoys the distinction of full autonomous status granted by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), in recognition of its overall quality of education. SLU as an institute of higher learning has a proven record of excellence in instruction, research, and extension, respectively, as well as in the area of quality of school management. It also has drawn attention worldwide for its cultural and artistic talents, with award-winning performances here and abroad. A highlight in recent years was the recently concluded SLU’s 10-year (1999-2009) partnership with select universities in Belgium aimed at ensuring the innovative development of the teaching and research capabilities of SLU (SLU,2019).
During the spring semester of 2019/2020, VUM had the pleasure to welcome the first students for Erasmus+ incoming student mobilities for studies from SLU to VUM (Mobility Tool, 2019).
For more information and details, please visit SLU’s website here.
Tajikistan
Institute of Economy and Trade of Tajik State University of Commerce in Khujand (IET), Tajikistan
In 1996 on the basis of the material and technical College of Cooperation of Khujand City (Technical College of Cooperation of Tajikistan), the College of Consumer Cooperatives of the Tajik State University of Cooperative Commerce was organized. In the period of Independence of Tajikistan, for the organization and implementation of the policy conducted by the Government of Tajikistan and for implementation directions and instructions of the President of the country on preparing competitive specialists in the world labour market, all the necessary conditions were set up to teach students professional skills, as well as teaching at least two or three foreign languages. Thanks to the support of the country’s leader during 14 years of independence, in particular from 1996 to 2010, on the basis of the cooperative College, the higher professional educational institution IET was established (IET, 2020).
Since 2010 TSUC is a member of the European program ERASMUS MUNDUS. This allows students of second, third, and fourth grades to study at famous universities in Europe; also with the support of the International Relations Department of IET TSUC graduates and teachers continue their education in postgraduate and doctoral studies and have internships in the universities of the United States and Asia (IET, 2020).
At IET each student has the opportunity to study foreign languages at a high level. IET occupies a leading position in the ranking of Higher Educational Institutions of the Republic in terms of the quality of education and the level of knowledge of students (IET, 2020).
For more information and details, please visit the IET’s website here.
References
FNU. (2020). Fiji National University. https://www.fnu.ac.fj/
IET. (2020). Institute of Economy and Trade of Tajik State University of Commerce. https://iet.tj/en/index-e/
SLU. (2019). Saint Louis University. http://www.slu.edu.ph/
UC. (2020). The University of Cebu. https://uc.edu.ph/
USP. (2020). University of South Pacific. https://www.usp.ac.fj/
UT. (2020). UT Report. Tehran: UT.