The UoG continues to receive more inbound students than attracting more of our students to go outbound. The aim of UoG is to increase the awareness and interest amongst our students to provide an opportunity to study overseas and to improve support to the project to enable this. Activities taken place during the project, included:•Raise awareness of Erasmus+ opportunities to students through: on campus events; updating existing web pages to be more factual outlining Study Abroad webpage; general information sessions open to all students; in-class presentations; presentations by previous students on the benefits of their experiences; the sharing of their experiences via postings on social media platforms and news outlets and; dedicated hard copy promotional materials in every campus helpzone/reception.•Increasing new opportunities for student exchange for studies in new subject areas with English as the medium of instruction•Increase awareness of all the traineeship for student opportunities, e.g. credit bearing/ non-credit bearing and student/graduate.•Developed and improved the processes in the management of Erasmus+ activities•Developed new online application forms and clear instructions on uploading documents to enable the process to reduce the volume of work on the Erasmus and Enquiries Admissions Team.•Clear outline of responsibilities for team members to streamline the process for students for inbound and outbound.•Developed and implemented a clear application cycle for outbound students to improve commitment through interview selection and to fully prepare them for applying earlier in the cycle to reduce last minute applications.•Enhancing the number of partnerships for student exchange of traineeships and to extend collaborative activities with an existing partner in a new subject area.•Working with the Accommodation Team to provide inbound support for students in allocation of rooms in halls of residence.•Continue to review international activities, including the management of Erasmus activities in relation to the internationalisation of UoG and this will be more evident in the next cycle.How did the project perform? •Unfortunately we did not see an increase in the number of outbound study abroad students even with the promotion of the project but towards the end of the project we have appointed a dedicated member of staff who responsibility will be to look after solely the outbound side of the project. The aim will be to provide further opportunities for our students to gain valuable experience from overseas experiences and to increase an update of applications as a result of a dedicated member of the team. •The realignment of the Erasmus Team and the creation of a new position to support Erasmus has enabled the team to become more effective in their processes to ensure a smooth application cycle that is more manageable. •The number of outbound student traineeships decreased from five in the previous report to zero for this cycle. We had anticipated there would be an increase in take up but this was not the case for this year as UoG. This is hope to improve in future years.•The number of staff teaching mobilities increased slightly to four from the previous project, and our staff visited institutions in Spain and the Czech Republic and staff mobilities for traineeships increased to four in Germany, Spain and Belgium. What impact does the Project have on the activities?•Expanding the opportunities for our students to gain valuable work experience and study experience as part of their studies with UoG as a result of our international professional networks.•Raises awareness of our international profile through the sharing of best practice in teaching and specific subject areas, e.g. Health, Media, Business, Computing•Providing overseas opportunities not only for our students but also for our staff to develop their confidence and sharing of best practice whilst also improving their foreign language skills.•To continue to improve processes in place for the management of Erasmus activity at UoG to support and develop opportunities for our staff and students.

Historically UoG has received and continues to receive more inbound students than it sends outbound. This Project's main objectives were to increase outbound interest amongst students and to improve the support provided.The activities undertaken during the Project included: - promotion of all the traineeship for student opportunities, e.g. credit bearing/ non-credit bearing and student/ graduate.- increasing promotion of Erasmus+ opportunities to students through: on campus events; a dedicated online Go Abroad webpage detailing opportunities by degree programme; general information sessions open to all students; in-class presentations; presentations by past participants on the benefits of their experiences; the sharing of past participants' experiences via online articles and postings on social media platforms and news outlets and; dedicated hard copy promotional materials in every campus Helpzone/ reception. - establishing new opportunities for student exchange for studies in new subject areas with English as the medium of instruction- establishing a new partnership for student exchange of traineeships to extend collaborative activities with an existing partner in a new subject area.- improving the processes involved in the management of Erasmus+ activity - introducing deadlines for outbound study applications to ensure students had a enough time to be fully prepared both practically for themselves and by the Erasmus Office - introducing formal interviews for outbound applicants to improve the commitment of participants- using application forms for outbound participants for study to confirm their suitability with their course leaders and to again improve the commitment of participants- streamlining the process for students inbound and outbound- negotiating with the Accommodation team to provide inbound one semester students accommodation in halls of residence for the next project- introducing online application forms for inbound students to simplify the process for them and to reduce the workload burden on the Erasmus Office and Admissions team.- a review of international activities, including the management of Erasmus activities, and the internationalisation strategy of the University was undertaken with structural changes that will take place within the next Project cycle.The results of the Project were that:- the number of outbound study participants remained the same, but are expected to increase in the next Project cycle in view of the new partnerships for traineeships and study exchange and the appointment of a dedicated staff member for the promotion of outbound student mobility opportunities.- the number of outbound student traineeships increased from zero to five since the last Project, although the original expectation was higher due to the establishment of a new institutional agreement for exchange in traineeships. However, the new agreement took longer than expected to set up and target students at UoG faced some unexpected financial barriers.- The number of staff mobilities reduced slightly from the previous project, due to the fact that promotion was limited to word of mouth as the focus of the Project was on increasing student mobility and staff resources were stretched.- staff mobilities for traineeships led to the development of two new inter-institutional agreements for exchange for study in new subject areas, that are of greater appeal to UoG students as the medium of instruction is English, Both have student mobilities planned for the next Project cycle. The impact of the Project activities was that: - Our outbound students, for study and traineeships, gained tremendous confidence in their own capabilities and greatly enhanced their employability skills. - UoG established deeper professional networks for future research collaborations- UoG raised its international profile through the sharing of best practice in teaching and specific subject areas, e.g. Health.- staff and students enhanced their cultural awareness and improved their foreign language skills.- UoG has established processes in place for the management of Erasmus activity that will continue to be improved in the new structure that will be implemented within the next Project cycle.

In 2015 the University of Gloucestershire (UoG) centralised the coordinating function for Erasmus and appointed a dedicated Erasmus Manager to manage activities relating to inbound and outbound Erasmus mobility. Historically UoG has received, and continues to receive, more inbound students than it sends outbound, with only 1 outbound student in this Project. In 2015/16 staff outbound mobility actually outweighed student outbound mobility, with 6 staff undertaking mobilities. The main aim of this Project was to raise awareness (esp. students’) of outbound Erasmus opportunities to increase outbound mobility in the 2016 Project. The following objectives were set and activities undertaken:1.Organise systems and processesa.Consultations with Faculty Coordinators, Compliance, Admissions, Helpzones, Accommodation, etc. b.Reorganisation of shared computer drives, email mailboxes and hardcopy folders. c.Creation of a working document for Erasmus processes and procedures.d.Increased engagement activity with prospective outbound students.e.Streamlining processes to reduce administrative tasks, e.g. spreadsheets of mobilities were created, email mail and document merge was used to speed up the completion of agreements.f.Creation of new internal application forms and an online enquiry form.g.Lessons gained in best practice at BUTEX, British Council and HEURO events.2.Reduce the number of partnerships for exchange a.A review of historical reciprocity of exchange with partners and the likelihood of future outbound mobilities was undertaken, considering, for example, the fact that many partners do not teach in English and that UoG doesn’t offer Modern Language degrees.b.A number of the existing agreements were found to be in similar subject areas; identifying a need to diversify the subjects open for exchange and increase the pool of students that could study abroad. c.Termination of non-viable partnerships, mostly linked to a lack of reciprocity due to language barriers. Such terminations are unlikely to reduce inbound student exchange numbers until 2017/18 due to a typical 12-month notice period.3.Identify new strategic exchange partnershipsa.English medium of instruction.b.Established a new partnership with Groningen University, Netherlands, in Religious Studies.c.Exploration of potential partners in new, key subject areas, where there is an interest in outbound mobility.4.Develop marketing materials and platformsa.New webpages have been created for Go Abroad, providing information for inbound and outbound students on the application process, options and funding. An online enquiry form was also trialled for outbound students, but direct email contact for enquiries has now been re-instated to speed up response times.b.An internal webpage and blog have been created to provide information for current staff and students on Erasmus opportunities and to disseminate the experiences of past inbound and outbound mobilities. This needs to be extended from a student focus to include staff mobilities. c.A UoG information sheet has been created for all inbound students and partner institutions, reducing queries.d.Exhibition banners for Erasmus+ have been designed and created for promotional events. e.Informational flyers for Go Abroad, placed in reception at every campus, have been updated to reflect opportunities. f.A Facebook Group has been set up for students and staff interested in Erasmus+. These platforms are used to disseminate experiences through student profiles and blogs, but more content from students and staff profiles is required.5.Engage with prospective outbound studentsa.UoG students are often local and not well travelled, therefore, targeted messages have been used in communications to address the benefits of and the barriers to study abroad, along the themes of personal growth, reassurance and employability.b.Delivery of general information sessions on Erasmus+ opportunities as part of Enhancement Week, repeated through the year.c.Delivery of classroom information sessions for specific degrees with exchange agreements.d.Delivery of pre-departure sessions to cover topics such as visas, budgeting, accommodation and insurance.e.1:1 meetings with students as required.f.Exhibiting at Fresher’s Week was more successful than at Open Days where students prefer to speak with subject tutor.6.Identify alternative outbound mobility opportunities a.We have created a platform to promote all our partner’s summer / winter programmes and funding opportunities for summer internships and graduate traineeships. b.The quickest way to increase outbound student mobility number was identified to be through Erasmus+ funded placements in Europe, especially summer placement and graduate traineeship opportunities, as it widens the opportunity to all UoG students at all levels.

The University of Gloucestershire is keen to ensure that its students have opportunities to experience working or studying in an international context. The profile of students at the institution is such that many will not have had the opportunity to travel widely prior to joining university. Erasmus Plus provides an opportunity for those students who wish to participate to travel to another country and experience first hand a different culture with a view to expanding their horizons and improving their employability. For those students who are unable or choose not to travel, the presence of incoming Erasmus students is key to internationalising the classroom environment. Gloucestershire offers a number of academic programmes that do not recruit large numbers of international students from outside of Europe but which are very popular within the Erasmus community. The bilateral arrangements which these schools have in place are key to ensuring that students on these courses are offered an alternative international experience at home. Similarly staff engagement is welcomed in order to share best practice in teaching and as a precursor to building long term relationships which can lead to joint projects in the future. A number of successful projects have been initiated as a direct result of Erasmus institutional links and specific examples are included in sections 9 and 10.Student participation in 2014-15 has included students in the fields of art, design and music, whereas staff mobility has been dominated by staff in the applied sciences faculty. There have been significant staff changes affecting the administration of Erasmus Plus in the past 18 months and this discipline split is largely the result of the specific Faculty Erasmus Coordinators who have been in place.Only 4 students participated this year, three undertaking mobility for study and one for work placement and 7 members of staff undertook a period of mobility versus the 12 that were anticipated. In 2014-15 much of the promotion and selection was devolved to the faculty coordinators and it is clear that much can be done to promote the scheme more widely and more consistently across the institution.In mid 2015 the administration of the Erasmus Plus project passed to the International Development Centre and a dedicated Erasmus Manager has recently been appointed to review the management of the scheme and improve participation rates for outward mobility. We recognise that there are changes to be made in terms of both the promotion of the scheme and the support ( both pre-departure and ongoing ) that is provided to participants to ensure consistency and greater satisfaction with the experience. The results of these efforts will hopefully be seen in 2016-17. In addition there are discussions underway within the School of Education and two partner institutions, one in France and one in Spain, to offer reciprocal teacher training placements for modern language students. This would be an excellent addition to the project which would enhance the quality of language teachers graduating from the University of Gloucestershire and the partner institutions in the future.

The training-through-research project SOFIA - Situated Learning Opportunities fostered by ICT applications in Alternative Agro-Food Networks- aims at enhancing the researcher potential to make broad his horizons and support his career development. In the light of his research objectives he will acquire new knowledge and transfer that one previously developed to the host organization The SOFIA project will allow the ER to became a key facilitator of multidisciplinary research and innovation teams, applying his interdisciplinary competences in service design for innovation, thus ensuring an independent position to the researcher and his future employability in the academic and/or non-academic context. The research SOFIA aims to analyze innovative organizational models and explore the value of the use of ICT tools (e.g. ubiquitous mobile services) to increase Situated Learning Opportunities (SLOs) in an Alternative Agro-Food Networks (AAFNs), through two methodologies i.e multi-case study analysis of local food systems and rural areas and a web-survey of ICT tools for AAFN. The expected impact of the research is to define a set of reproducible methodologies, models, tools and technologies that can improve the competitiveness of a selected area, leveraging its potential in terms of materials and intangible resources. In addition, the study will aim to analyze ICT tools supporting the information flows management both for decision making and for operational processes in the identified collaborative networks. The researcher will carry out specific actions to disseminate project results and increase their fruitful exploitation, e.g.SOFIA’s results will be exploited to draw up guidelines based on innovative organizational models, tools and ICTs to support the dynamics of sustainable development in local food systems and to design and develop Mobile services to support SLOs in AAFNs in order to improve mutual understanding and collaboration between value chain stakeholders.