The Polytechnic Institute of Setubal (IPS) aims to be recognized national and internationally as a high quality institution on the higher education system. This means that internationalization of its activities is very important as it is the only way of being exposed to new challenges, sharing experiences, benefiting from benchmarking and getting better every day. Furthermore, according to the literature, internationalization of the curricula of our programs and, not less important, doing a mobility period is of particular relevance in the employability of the graduates from the higher education institutions in Europe. The objectives of this project are:To increase the possibilities of IPS students to have a mobility during their course; To promote the possibility of IPS graduates to have a traineeship abroad; to increase the employability of IPS graduates; To allow IPS Staff to have a training experience in another institution; to share Academic IPS resources with our Partner Institutions; To increase the possibilities of joint projects with other institutions and to benefit from benchmarking in different areas of knowledge.During this project we sent 31 students to 9 countries. Out of these 1 was a recent graduate.Regarding Staff mobility for training and for teaching we sent 48 + 20 members (we had to use 43,7% of OS and additionally our own financial resources to allow it. So, there were 15 + 20 zero EU Grants that were totally supported by IPS, in the amount of 11767,87 € + 19931,84€ (16+1 countries).Between March 29th and June the 3rd 2016, IPS organized three missions of key persons from the Schools and the Presidency, to 6 Institutions in Netherlands, Ireland and Finland (Saxion University of Applied Sciences (UAS), Rotterdam UAS, Dublin Institute of Technology, Cork Institute of Technology, Turku UAS and Helsinki Metropolia UAS) with the aim of learning from the best practices of these institutions in the different areas of curriculum development, internal organization, student involvement in research activities and reinforcement of links with industry. Regarding gender of the participants 67,7% of the students doing mobility were female and among staff we observed the same trend with 59,5% (58,2%) of female members.To prepare these mobility periods we have implemented different strategies to stimulate participants to submit their application, namely collecting students’ testimonies regarding their mobility experiences, organizing sessions to disseminate experiences and using social networks (IPS facebook and Study in Setúbal facebook) and we promoted Preparatory Sessions for the outgoing students and the Welcome Sessions for the incoming students, during which the topics of Security and Multicultural Environments have great relevance. The results of this project can be measured by the number of mobility achieve, as stated below:Total participants: 79 + 20; Student mobility for traineeships: 9; Student mobility for studies: 22; Staff mobility for teaching: 17; Staff mobility for training: 31+20Recognition of Learning Outcomes process was as following:Student mobility for traineeships: Average duration of the mobility – 3 months and 20,38 days; Average number of recognised ECTS – 23,75.Student mobility for studies: Average duration of the mobility – 3 months and 29,14 days; Average number of recognised ECTS – 22,86.The impact of this project was relevant. According to the opinion of the students their stay abroad allowed them to learn better how to cooperate in teams (100%), develop an idea and put it into practice (91,5%), express creatively (91,5%), find solutions in difficult or challenging contexts (97,7%), plan and carry out their learning independently (95,5%), plan and organise tasks and activities (97,7%) or see the value of different cultures (100%). After having taken part in the mobility activity students refer that they are more capable to adapt to and act in new situations (97,7%), to cooperate with people from other backgrounds and cultures (97,7%), to reach decisions (85,2%), to think and analyse information critically (91,2%). Also they are more confident and convinced of their abilities (100%) more interested in European topics (82,4%), more open-minded and curious about new challenges (100%), tolerant towards other persons' values and behaviour (97,7%), they have increased their skills (97,7%) and know better their strengths and weaknesses (97,7%).Regarding staff, they considered having experimented and developed new learning practices or teaching methods (75%), and on average increased their job satisfaction (86,9%), increased their social, linguistic and/or cultural competences (90,2%), learned from good practices abroad (93,8%), reinforced their professional network or built up new contacts (98,3%) and reinforced the cooperation with the partner institution/organisation (95%), for instance.

This is a project for higher education student and staff mobility between Programme Countries and Partner Countries. Please consult the website of the organisation to obtain additional details.

The Polytechnic Institute of Setubal (IPS) aims to be recognized national and internationally as a high quality institution on the higher education system. This means that internationalization of its activities is very important as it is the only way of being exposed to new challenges, sharing experiences, benefiting from benchmarking and getting better every day. Furthermore, according to the literature, internationalization of the curricula of our programs and, not less important, doing a mobility period is of particular relevance in the employability of the graduates from the higher education institutions in Europe. The objectives of this project, following the previous one goals, are:To increase the possibilities of IPS students to have a mobility during their course, to promote the possibility of IPS graduates to have a traineeship abroad, to increase the employability of IPS graduates, to allow IPS Staff to have a training experience in another institution, to share Academic IPS resources with our Partner Institutions, to increase the possibilities of joint projects with other institutions and to benefit from benchmarking in different areas of knowledge.During this project we sent 35 students to 12 countries (37.479€).Regarding Staff mobility for training and for teaching we sent 40 members in the amount of 30.490€ (14 countries).Regarding gender of the participants 20 of the students doing mobility were female and among staff we observed the same trend with 28 of female members.To prepare these mobility periods we have implemented different strategies to stimulate participants to submit their application, namely collecting students’ and staff' testimonies regarding their mobility experiences, organizing sessions to disseminate experiences and using social networks, we organized an ‘International Day’ per month in order to raise awareness of the topic and we promoted Preparatory Sessions for the outgoing students and Welcome Sessions for the incoming students, during which the topics of Security and Multicultural Environments have great relevance.The results of this project can be measured by the number of mobility achieved, as stated below: Total participants: Student mobility for traineeships: 17; Student mobility for studies: 18; Staff mobility for teaching: 15; Staff mobility for training: 25.The recognition of Learning Outcomes process was as following:Student mobility for traineeships: Average duration of the mobility – 2 months and 28 days; Average number of recognised ECTS – 16,65.Student mobility for studies: Average duration of the mobility – 4 months and 5 days; Average number of recognised ECTS – 16,79.The impact of this project was relevant. According to the opinion of the students their stay abroad allowed them to plan and carry out their learning independently (100%) and to see the value of different cultures (100%). After having taken part in the mobility activity students refer that they are more capable to adapt to and act in new situations (100%) and to cooperate with people from other backgrounds and cultures (100%).More than 94% of the students also consider that have learned better how to cooperate in teams, are able to find solutions in difficult or challenging contexts, noticed an improvement in planning and organising tasks and activities, in making decisions, are more confident and convinced of their abilities and are more open-minded and curious about new challenges. All these can be identified as soft skills requested by the employers.Regarding staff, 96% consider they have increased their social, linguistic and/or cultural competences, 92% reinforced their professional network or built up new contacts and have gained sector-specific or practical skills relevant for my current job and professional development. 88% of the staff also improved their foreign language skills and their job satisfaction.100% of STA stated that reinforced the cooperation with the partner institution/organisation, which is extremely important to facilitate student’s mobility.

The Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal (IPS) aims to be recognize national and internationally as a high quality institution on the higher education system.This means that internationalization of its activities is very important as it is a way of being exposed to new challenges, charring experiences, benefiting from benchmarking and getting better every day. Furthermore according to the literature, internationalization of the curricula of our programs and, not less important, doing a mobility period is of particular relevance in the employability of the graduates from the higher education institutions in Europe.That’s why the objectives of this project are:Increase the possibilities of IPS students to have a mobility during their course;Promote the possibility of IPS graduates to have a traineeship abroad;Allow IPS Staff to have a training experience in another institution and learn from other experiences;Share teaching practices and learn with other teachers and institution;Increase and strength academic research ties.During this project we had the opportunity to send 42 students to our Partner Institutions. Out of these 5 were recent graduates.Regarding Staff mobility for training and for teaching we have sent 47 members although we had to use 36% of the amount of OS and additionally we had to use our one financial resources to allow it. So, there were 12 zero EU Grants that were totally supported by IPS, in the amount of 7757, 64 €.Regarding gender of the participants we could observe that 62% of the students doing mobility were female and among staff we observed the same trend with 77%.To prepare this mobility periods we have implemented different strategies to stimulate participants to submit their application, namely collecting students’ testimonies regarding their mobility experiences and organizing sessions to disseminate experiences. Besides all the mandatory activities to prepare, execute, monitoring and improve the mobility periods, we want to emphasise the Preparatory Sessions for the outgoing students and the Welcome Sessions for the incoming students, during which the topics of Security and Multicultural Environments have great relevance. The results of this project can be measured by the number of mobility achieve, as stated in the following table: Total participants: 89 Student mobility for traineeships: 16Student mobility for studies: 26Staff mobility for teaching: 25Staff mobility for training: 22Regarding the student mobility the process of Recognition of Learning Outcomes was as following:Student mobility for traineeships:Average duration of the mobility in months - Duration (full months) – 2; Duration (extra days) – 16; Average number of recognised ECTS - 17.5Student mobility for studiesAverage duration of the mobility in months - Duration (full months) – 3; Duration (extra days) – 26.12; Average number of recognised ECTS – 19.04The impact of this project on those who could do a mobility period was relevant. For instance, according to the opinion of the students their stay abroad allowed them to learn better how to cooperate in teams (91%), find solutions in difficult or challenging contexts (98%), plan and carry out their learning independently (90%), plan and organise tasks and activities (86%), see the value of different cultures (100%) or think logically and draw conclusions (90%). Also according to the student’ opinion after having taken part in the mobility activity they are more able to adapt to and act in new situations (94%), to cooperate with people from other backgrounds and cultures (95%), to reach decisions (89%), to think and analyse information critically (87%). Also they are more confident and convinced of their abilities (96%) more interested in European topics (82%), more open-minded and curious about new challenges (97%), tolerant towards other persons' values and behaviour (89%), they have increased their sector- or field-specific skills (86%) and know better their strengths and weaknesses (96%).Regarding the opinion of the academic staff that experience a mobility for teaching they considered that they have experimented and developed new learning practices or teaching methods (75%), increased their job satisfaction (92%), reinforced or extended their professional network or built up new contacts (100%) and reinforced the cooperation with the partner institution/organisation (96%), while those that have done a period considered that they have enhanced their organisational/management/leadership skills (77%), gained sector-specific or practical skills relevant for their current job and professional development (86%), improved their foreign language skills (82%), job satisfaction (91%), and social, linguistic and/or cultural competences (91%), learned from good practices abroad (91%), reinforced or extended their professional network or built up new contacts (100%) and reinforced the cooperation with the partner institution/organisation (92%).