European universities need improved mobility strategies

The European University Association (EUA) has announced that EU universities need a better strategy for mobility. The EUA assessed current practice as part of a 2 year project and released their findings in Mobility: Closing the gap between policy and practice. Key findings were that:

  • academic staff are unaware of mobility strategies in their institution
  • mobility is especially important for doctoral students
  • mobility of administrative staff is not highly prioritised
  • mobility programmes for staff, students, and researchers tend to be fragmented within each institution

The report recommends that universities collect comprehensive data on the different types of mobility going on in their institution and use that data to develop mobility strategies. It also recommends that data collection should be coordinated on European and national levels.

The Maunimo project provided a self-assessment tool for universities with the aim of improving mobility programmes. Among the issues examined are mobility strategies, collection of data on mobility, the influence of external factors on mobility, and how mobility is perceived across the institution.

As part of the International Task Force at BU I will be recommending this is undertaken.

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