ERASMUS POLICY STATEMENT (EPS) 2021-2027

UNIVERSITY OF PRESOV

 

Strategic Commitment to Internationalization 

University of Presov (PU) internationalization is not seen as a goal unto itself, but as a central feature of a quality education,tool to improving the quality of teaching and learning, research and service.
The support of international cooperation and the stimulation of all students' and staff's involvement in international mobility programmes are what PU considers the strategic priority. To confirm this obligation, PU has accepted the new Internationalization Strategy 2019-2023 (SIPU2023). The SIPU2023 comes out of a holistic approach to internationalization in regards to the priorities of the European Union endeavouring to build a common European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The university policy, in the sphere of international cooperation, is designed with the aim to achieve its vision in the next ten years, according to which PU will be regarded as a reliable institution abroad, open and ready to satisfy domestic students' needs in study abroad programmes and to provide an appropriate offer and study conditions for foreign students at PU. It will be ready to enhance multicultural institutional cooperation thanks to the intensive bilateral mobility of students and staff, the work of a group of recognised university teachers and researchers from abroad, joint study programmes and research activities and other projects taking place in international consortia.
The internationalization plan that is integrated into the SIPU2023 defines the frameworks of the University of Presov's (PU) development in the following five strategic areas:

• International strategic partnerships – focused on the optimization of bilateral and multilateral agreement management, memorandums on PU's participation in various international alliances, consortia and other cooperation networks in the sphere of education, science and research. This goal also comprises PU's interest in the formation of an international alliance within the European University Initiative on digitalization in education (UNOS+ Alliance),

• International mobility and exchange – the area engaged in enhancing the support and intensity of the bilateral, physical and blended mobility of students and staff (incoming and outgoing) within all the mobility schemes, grant programmes and inter-university partnerships. Blended learning is also a part of the academic cooperation plans within individual activities of the Erasmus+ Programme (e.g. Strategic Partnerships, the European Universities Initiative) and other international university projects aimed at digitalizing education.

• Internationalization of education – focused on the improvement of PU's position in the European and global education area by ensuring a quality environment for all students and staff based on the principles of fairness, nondiscrimination and equal opportunities, environmental sustainability, ‘Quality Culture’ development, an attractive offer and support for foreign students and employees that would meet their expectations in accordance with the quality assurance system. The following partial objectives are defined for the area:

• A widening variety of study programmes, modules, courses in English and other foreign languages, including joint study programmes that are implemented by foreign academic partners,

• Increasing the number and share of international students in the total number of students,

• Increasing the rate of international student diversity from the point of view of their geographical origin with a particular focus on the emerging markets in Eastern and South Eastern Europe and Central, Southern and Eastern Asia,

• Increasing the number and share of university teachers from abroad,

• Enhancing the language and intercultural competences of teachers and other staff at PU,

• Improving upon the availability of information to individual target groups in relevant language versions.

• Internationalization of research and other creative activities – This area aims to improve the position of PU in the European and global research area and achieve excellence or an internationally significant level of results in scientific and other creative activities. The objective is an increased level of PU's creative staff's involvement in international research and other university-related creative activities, with a particular emphasis on the challenges currently facing the EU and the world. In addition to this, PU would like to increase its success rate in obtaining international research grants and other creative activities.
• International dimension of branding – In this context, the attention is drawn to the improvement of PU's public relations and international promotional activities as the main set of marketing tools for shaping the desired attributes of the brand. This includes: preparing and disseminating promotional material and publications primarily in electronic formats on the offered study programmes, having the cooperation profile of PU in individual creative activities in several languages, having PU's web presentation in the relevant languages, the enhancement of PU's participation in foreign education fairs and other events, building relationships with embassies in Slovakia, etc. 
 

Approach to partnership and mobility developments 

The Erasmus+ Programme has been the key platform for international cooperation development at PU for over 20 years now. It means that the strategy for future programme development can be built upon past achievements and reinforce ongoing activities.
The Erasmus+ Policy Statement (EPS) at PU is determined by a key strategic planning document, The Strategic Internationalization Plan 2019-2023 (SIPU2023). It takes account of the existing experience and the possibilities for further international cooperation development across the Programme, responding to the challenges currently faced by the European Union. The involvement of PU in the Erasmus+ Programme contributes to the strategic objective of PU's development, which is focused on the modernization and internationalization of education in the context of building a European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
The enhancement of mobility and exchange programmes directly contributes to increasing the level of internationalization, the quality and relevancy of education as a crucial prerequisite for personal development, the adaptability and flexibility of PU's students and staff on the labour market as well as their civic engagement.  
An extended offer of incoming and outgoing academic mobility is actively encouraged by PU. The key attributes of cooperation and the form and conditions for such cooperation are the subject of inter-institutional agreements. Integrally, these agreements set: an effective communication system, common procedures to potential problems (contact persons and their competences), possible joint solutions to intercultural differences, working environment differences and the legal aspects of agreements, the preconditions for updating, renewing and prolonging the validity of agreements, options for withdrawing from agreements, etc.
PU applies a flexible approach to the management of international cooperation and exchanges. The emphasis is placed on supporting the involvement of all students and staff with a spirit of equal opportunity and fairness regardless of their ethnicity. Special attention is paid to the students and staff with special needs or those who are from a socially disadvantaged background. In this regard, PU cooperates with academics and professionals specializing in this field (Special Pedagogy, Social Work, Psychology, Romani Studies, Andragogy, etc.).
When it comes to networking and selecting partners for cooperation, PU has implemented efficient mechanisms of multilevel vertical support and asset verification and overlaps the offered spectrum of potential partners' academic activities. The purpose of this support is to maximize the potential for cooperation in field of education, research and the international exchange of students and staff. While choosing partners for international partnerships, the bilateral compliance of strategic goals of partner institutions with an emphasis on the possible contributions to improve the university's reputation and brand are taken into consideration. At the same time, important attributes are trustworthiness and experience in the proposed areas of cooperation. Extending the network and active cooperation of involved entities directly contributes to the creation of a multicultural academic environment that stimulates other research and innovation initiatives with a possible application in practice. It also aids in the extension of research capacities, which is a source of valuable inspiration to modernize the content, methods and forms of education.
The Erasmus+ Programme helps PU consolidate the relations between education, research and practice, aiming to support excellence and the transfer of innovations into practice. Reaching this goal remains the strategic priority of PU in the next programming period. The ambitions to carry on in more efficient and improved targeted participation in the regional development of the EU help the PU staff and the successfully established specialized university institutes and centres (Centre for Applied Research and Innovation, centres of excellence and others centres). International cooperation in this case is essential for generating innovative solutions in practice that consist of the triple helix model (the university, industry and government).
PU deems the fulfilment of the ambitions to fully digitalize the Erasmus+ Programme into the form of Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) to be a part of the university's Green Policy implementation. We consider the process of progressive transformation of the Programme to Green Erasmus+ to be one of the priorities of further development of the Programme at PU. The progressive digitalization of administrative processes is in compliance with the goals of the university's Environmental Friendly Policy that is outlined in detail in an individual planning document, The Environmental Sustainability Strategy of the University of Presov, which was adopted in early 2020.
PU actively responds to the challenges that the EU actually faces. In particular, there is a general decline in interest in student mobility in the post-millennial generation, for whom the curiosity to experience other cultural environments is largely satisfied by ever-improving virtual reality. PU sees the education of the current iGeneration as an opportunity to change and optimize the processes of the Erasmus+ Programme administration. Our experience in the pilot phase of launching the digital platform Erasmus Dashboard has proven to be advantageous. As a matter of fact, we were one of the first universities in Slovakia to use this platform. At the same time, experience from successfully implemented projects is also beneficial. Among these projects is, for instance, the eTwinning Programme which is focused on the support of using modern information and communication technologies with the aim to create partnerships between European schools, with whom we were the only university in Slovakia to join in the academic year 2018/19. PU is ready to implement the Erasmus+ Programme digitalization plan through a phased introduction of the Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) tools. Apart from the Online Learning Agreement (OLA) that we already use, we plan to digitize the process of concluding bilateral agreements (EIDAS - Electronic Identification, Authentication and Signatures – inter-institutional agreements) by 2021, introduce online nominations by 2022 and Transcripts of Records by 2023.

 

 

The diversity of study programmes and research at PU enables us to participate in an array of activities offered by the Erasmus+ Programme. Teaching and learning mobility contributes to increasing the quality of education, expanding knowledge, and improving social skills and language, digital and intercultural competences. In addition, they aid in the development of soft skills, adaptability and flexibility, which are desirable attributes as defined by the current demand in the labour market. The activities within Key Action 1 help reach one of PU's main strategic goals, which is to increase the chances of finding employment and to meet the needs and requirements of the labour market. In this respect, PU is well-experienced and reports very good results, as evidenced by audits and the increasing volume of allocated grant funds. The success rate of the KA107 alone has increased year-on-year by an average of 40%. The participation in the Erasmus+ exchange is outlined by guidelines and binding measures that determine the basic framework of the programme. It is supplemented by clear process maps and managed by experienced support staff.                                               
The activities aimed at the cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices (Key Action 2) contribute even more significantly to the fulfilment of the above-mentioned objectives. In addition to the mentioned benefits, they help to achieve greater synergies and links between institutions and organizations with the possibility of cooperation in research, education and training with an interdisciplinary focus and transdisciplinary overlap with interesting innovation potential. In other words, this creates an opportunity to strengthen links and intensify the integration of education and research into practice. PU is actively involved in KA2 calls. In the previous programming period, PU was mainly active in the framework of Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education. We plan to expand our activities in the coming period. PU has also responded to the European Universities Initiative, and together with five other partners from Spain (the leader), Italy, Portugal, Lithuania and Slovenia, we have submitted the UNOS+ University Alliance proposal. The main goal of the cooperation is to share a common integrated strategy in the field of education, research and management based on the support of digitization and innovation that reflects the needs of society and supports the goals of sustainable development. The planned cooperation activities of the alliance partners are aimed at creating a smart European inter-university campus in which students, PhD. students, and all staff can move freely – both physically and virtually – for the purposes of study, training, research, teaching or other activities related to higher education and learning. Staff and students would be able to use the common shared infrastructure and services of all the partner institutions (academic diplomacy). The planned digital transformation focuses, in particular, on the development of a new global interoperable framework that will provide cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques to support personalized learning and decision-oriented business intelligence. By participating in the European Universities Initiative, PU clearly demonstrates an active approach to promoting a policy aimed at developing integrated transnational teaching activities such as joint courses, modules, curricula and joint degrees.
Last but not least, PU’s ambition is to contribute to supporting the development of strategies and cooperation in the field of policy reform (Key Action 3) that are aimed at creating a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and ensuring smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This activity is directly related to the goals of PU in the area of increasing students’ and employees’ commitment and involvement in the life of society. So far, activities aimed at stimulating participation in democratic life in the EU and/or a dialogue in the decision-making domain have taken place through activities outside the Erasmus+ Programme through support from and cooperation with domestic and foreign organizations, civic associations, non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations, e.g. The National Democratic Institute (NGO), the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA), Solidarity – East Foundation, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), etc.

The Erasmus+ Programme is an essential tool for PU’s internationalization and building a European identity through education and culture. It is currently the most popular platform for international exchange and cooperation in education, science and research. The Programme 2014-2020 implementation strategy was based on a three-phase model of multiplying PU students and staff motivation to participate in international exchange. In the first phase, the emphasis was placed on motivating teachers and managers, whom we then used as Erasmus+ ambassadors, to share their first-hand international experience with students and other staff. The participation in international exchange programmes has become part of the evaluation of their individual education and research achievements and is perceived as a relevant part of their career growth. The essence of the second phase was the use of personal experience and mobility participants in a more convincing promotion of the advantages and benefits of the Erasmus+ Programme for the personal growth of students and staff. This stage was enhanced by providing support in overcoming the barriers faced by potential participants at all levels of management (language courses, administrative assistance, etc.). The key objective was to expand the number of participants in the existing network of international partnerships with new staff and students. The main indicators of success in this case were the number of mobility participants (increasing year-on-year), the present distribution of academic ranks among the staff members (the number of academic rank promotion procedures) and the number of obtained international grants (not only under the Erasmus+ Programme). Simultaneously with the ongoing activities of expanding the existing networks, our attention was focused on experienced participants in mobility, whom, in the third phase, we encouraged to expand cooperation with new institutions or in new areas of activity under the Programme in order to expand the existing offer for international cooperation within Erasmus+. In addition to the above-mentioned indicators for measuring results, the number of signed inter-institutional contracts (increasing year-on-year), submitted projects and involved staff and students under Erasmus+ as well as other grant schemes (their number has been increasing year-on-year) was monitored.

Thanks to participation in the Erasmus+ Programme, PU is able to offer students the opportunity to study and work abroad, gain new knowledge, deepen professional skills, improve language and interpersonal competencies, increase civic engagement and strengthen their adaptability to and tolerance of other cultures, which may well increase their employability in the current labour market. In other words, the PU graduates who took advantage of the possibility to participate in an international exchange programme (study or study visit) during their studies, are, thanks to international experience, more flexible and ordinarily do better in their practice afterwards.

The teachers and researchers participating in the Erasmus+ Programme bring innovation in education and research to PU. Thanks to their international experience, they are among the leaders in the field of increasing the quality of education at PU and they participate in researching current societal problems to a greater extent than those who lack this experience. They are more active in obtaining grants, in participating in international cooperation programmes and are more productive in quality scholarly activities. In the future, we plan to significantly support the training of administrative staff. Their involvement in the Erasmus+ Programme has led to increased efficiency and flexibility at various levels of university management through the application of examples of good practice (e.g. in the administration of study agendas, organization of events, marketing, etc.). We will therefore continue to support obtaining foreign language competence through providing language courses, lectures and discussions on intercultural communication, meetings with participants of exchange programmes and by using all available means to promote participation in Erasmus+ activities.

The chosen strategy has enabled us to successfully meet the set goals in internationalization, making the PU brand more visible on an international level.

The new situation caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic made us modify and adapt our initial plans for the further development of international cooperation within the Erasmus+ Programme. It has had a negative impact on motivating students and staff to take part in exchange programmes. Therefore, in the upcoming two years, we consider the biggest challenge to be overcoming distrust and fear of travelling. Apart from the uncertainty of what the future will bring after the closure of the borders and the unprecedented reduction in socializing, the new situation during the pandemic also provided an opportunity to accelerate the process of digitizing the Erasmus+ Programme, which was planned for the next planning period. During this period, PU reacted quickly to the new conditions and offered the possibility of pursuing the ongoing mobility stays by using online education tools. Our partners abroad also proceeded reciprocally, enabling our students to complete their ongoing stays by means of e-learning. The way we were able to flexibly adapt to the changed conditions makes us believe that we will manage the planned process of transition to Erasmus Without Paper by 2023 without any problems.

In conclusion, we can state that the existing participation in the Erasmus+ Programme has been beneficial for all the key segments in PU’s mission, i.e. for education, science, research, arts, sports, and last but not least, with regard to putting these things into practice. Regardless of the geographical significance of previous activities (local, regional, national, European or international), they all have an undeniable international dimension and require the gradual expansion of bilateral and multilateral ties with partner institutions abroad.