Context/background of the projectThe implementation and organisation of student and staff mobility at Odisee is the core business of the Dienst Internationalisering / International Relations Office (DIRO). Within each of Odisee study programmes a liaison officer for international relations ensures the academic quality of partners and their exchange programmes. All mobility processes for staff and students are described in brochures and online.In our Erasmus policy statement Odisee addresses the following Erasmus intentions:1. maximising internationalisation at home experience;2. maximising mobility opportunities;3. enhancing (foreign) language learning.Taking part in this KA107 action of the European Commission resulted in realizing these intentions.ObjectivesThe mission statement of Odisee stresses the importance of internationalisation. Odisee adopts a broad internationalisation strategy which aims to increase, integrate and embed international, intercultural and global dimensions in all educational processes.The Erasmus+ programme provides direct support to our students wishing to study (SMS) abroad and to our staff wishing to teach (STA) or train (STT) abroad in other higher education partner institutions outside of Europa.Participating in KA107 contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. For Odisee KA107 is directly involved with the EU objectives addressing challenges in education and training systems by 2020 (Making mobility a reality and improving the quality of education). Odisee strives after the EU benchmarks, i.e. by 2020 at least 20% of higher education graduates should have spent some significant time of studying or training abroad. Odisee adequately uses quality assurance tools such as ECTS and the Diploma Supplement in order to facilitate academic recognition.Number and type/profile of participantsWithin KA107 Odisee obtained grants for SMS (# in = 10, # out = 11), for STA (# in = 8, # out = 8) and for STT (# in = 8, # out = 8) to make a part of its student and staff population mobile.Odisee promotes student and staff mobility as an instrument for developing international competences. Odisee intends to encourage all staff members (teaching and non-teaching) to develop such competences, attitudes, and undertake relevant international activities.Description of undertaken activitiesBefore the mobility: Liaison officer for international relations ensure the academic quality of Odisee’s international partners and their mobility exchange programmes (study). DIRO screens the partner before an inter-institutional agreement (IIA) is being signed. Concerning study mobility the screening process clarifies if the partners apply ECTS principles and offer transparent information online. Study is fully recognised by Odisee.During the mobility: DIRO supports all incoming and outgoing mobility students, acts as an intermediary between the mobile student and staff at the home/host institution, administers all learning agreements and transcripts of records (recognition outcomes). Liaison officers for international relations help incoming students choosing the appropriate courses. They also support both incoming and outgoing students when changes to the learning agreement have to be made. The liaison officers remain in contact with all their students before, during and after the mobility period.After the mobility: DIRO delivers to all incoming students and processes from all outgoing mobility students the transcripts of records (recognition outcomes). Concerning Erasmus Study the results obtained abroad are fully recognized and will be reported on the diploma supplement.Results and impact attainedStudent mobility for studies (SMS) grants obtained = 21, used = 19 (explaination: one planned outgoing student to Morocco did not go; one planned incoming student from Russia did not arrive); Staff mobility for teaching (STA) grants obtained = 16, used = 18 (Bosnia-Herzegovina sent one more STA staff member to Odisee, Odisee sent one extra STA member to China); Staff mobility for training (STT) grants obtained = 16, used = 24 (Bosnia-Herzegovina sent one more STT staff member to Odisee and vice versa, India sent two more STT staff members to Odisee; Costa Rica sent one more STT staff member to Odisee; Jordan sent one STT staff member less to Odisee; Morocco sent one more STT staff member to Odisee; Nicaragua sent one more STT staff member to Odisee; Odisee sent two more STT members to Russia). All differences between planned and realized were made without exceeding the budget per country.

Context/background of the projectThe implementation and organisation of student and staff mobility at Odisee is the core business of the Dienst Internationalisering / International Relations Office (DIRO). Within each of Odisee study programmes a liaison officer for international relations ensures the academic quality of partners and their exchange programmes. All mobility processes for staff and students are described in brochures and online.In our Erasmus policy statement Odisee addresses the following Erasmus intentions:1. maximising internationalisation at home experience;2. maximising mobility opportunities;3. enhancing (foreign) language learning.Taking part in this KA107 action of the European Commission resulted in realizing these intentions.ObjectivesThe mission statement of Odisee stresses the importance of internationalisation. Odisee adopts a broad internationalisation strategy which aims to increase, integrate and embed international, intercultural and global dimensions in all educational processes.The Erasmus+ programme provides direct support to our students wishing to study (SMS) abroad and to our staff wishing to teach (STA) or train (STT) abroad in other higher education partner institutions outside of Europa.Participating in KA107 contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. For Odisee KA107 is directly involved with the EU objectives addressing challenges in education and training systems by 2020 (Making mobility a reality and improving the quality of education). Odisee strives after the EU benchmarks, i.e. by 2020 at least 20% of higher education graduates should have spent some significant time of studying or training abroad. Odisee adequately uses quality assurance tools such as ECTS and the Diploma Supplement in order to facilitate academic recognition.Number and type/profile of participantsWithin KA107 Odisee obtained grants for SMS (# in = 6, # out = 6), for STA (# in = 3, # out = 3) and for STT (# in = 3, # out = 3) to make a part of its student and staff population mobile. Odisee promotes student and staff mobility as an instrument for developing international competences. Odisee intends to encourage all staff members (teaching and non-teaching) to develop such competences, attitudes, and undertake relevant international activities.Description of undertaken activitiesBefore the mobility: Liaison officer for international relations ensure the academic quality of Odisee’s international partners and their mobility exchange programmes (study). DIRO screens the partner before an inter-institutional agreement (IIA) is being signed. Concerning study mobility the screening process clarifies if the partners apply ECTS principles and offer transparent information online. Study is fully recognised by Odisee.During the mobility: DIRO supports all incoming and outgoing mobility students, acts as an intermediary between the mobile student and staff at the home/host institution, administers all learning agreements and transcripts of records (recognition outcomes). Liaison officers for international relations help incoming students choosing the appropriate courses. They also support both incoming and outgoing students when changes to the learning agreement have to be made. The liaison officers remain in contact with all their students before, during and after the mobility period.After the mobility: DIRO delivers to all incoming students and processes from all outgoing mobility students the transcripts of records (recognition outcomes). Concerning Erasmus Study the results obtained abroad are fully recognized and will be reported on the diploma supplement.Results and impact attainedStudent mobility for studies (SMS) grants obtained = 12, used = 12; Staff mobility for teaching (STA) grants obtained = 6, used = 4; Staff mobility for training (STT) grants obtained = 6, used = 4. It seemed especially difficult to sent students and staff to Morocco hence different attempts to recruit candidates. Some changes in numbers and direction of planned mobilities were made in order to use all of the grants awarded. Nevertheless 4 grants approved were unfortunately not used, resulting in reimbursing some funding. All differences between planned and realized mobilities were made without exceeding the budget per country.

Higher education institutions aim to prepare students to succeed in the labor market. Professional life requires professionals to excel in collaborative and communication skills at an international, cross-cultural environment. Thus, international exposure during studies, having a significant impact on personal and inter-personal development of students, plays a key role in promoting students employability.Innovative teaching paradigms are required in order to develop soft skills and facilitate international contact to higher education students within the available timespan and resources without demanding for costly curricula revisions. Blended mobility overcomes typical barriers to mobility thus allowing students to take advantage of the benefits of mobility and international exposure despite these barriers. However, blended mobility is hardly used and barely recognized as a serious alternative with great potential to overcome the common barriers to international mobility.Blended-AIM raises awareness to the added value of blended mobility with regards to its potential to overcome barriers to international mobility and provides the information and the tools to facilitate its implementation in HEI and companies. Blended-AIM aims to the sustainable promotion of students’ employability by means of blended mobility. The specific objectives of Blended-AIM are grouped in structural and pedagogical objectives.Structural objectives:• Settle the European foundation for blended mobility• Foster internationalization of education• Deploy, test and disseminate a blended mobility project course unit combining best practicesPedagogical objectives:• Promote students’ employability through non-formal learning not requiring curricula changes• Promote international experience of undergraduate students• Boost the provision of professional skills, support collaborative learning and critical thinkingThe partnership that implemented Blended-AIM and continues developing blended mobility in higher education is growing since 2015 when the project started. The original consortium includes 10 full partners, including 8 HEI, one association operating in the field of Geographical Information Systems, grouping organizations from more than 20 European countries, and the European Association of Erasmus Coordinators, a reputable partner in the European Higher Education Area, with nearly 200 associates.During the last 3 years, the Blended-AIM concept attracted several stakeholders in Europe and abroad. We have enlarged the partnership with four companies, coming from Germany, Italy and Belgium and three universities, coming from Portugal, Slovenia and Iraq.The core activities of Blended-AIM are related to the three pilot course editions that were held in the academic years between 2015/16 and 2017/18 (IO4 to IO6). These pilot editions provided inputs to improve the initial drafts of the blended mobility student kit (IO1) and a course guide (IO3) specifying a set of rules and guidelines for the implementation of project course units following the Blended-AIM paradigm. Another key activity with regards to raising awareness to blended mobility was the development of a Wikipedia entry on blended mobility in the partners’ languages (IO7). All these, built on top of a preliminary analysis of the current state of the art of blended mobility in Europe (IO2).Each pilot course edition includes two training sessions were the students are introduced to multicultural teamwork, work organization, online groupware tools, agile methodologies for system development and pitching ideas.A significant number of dissemination activities were promoted by all partners. As a direct consequence of the dissemination efforts taken during the project, in the last edition of the pilot course funded by the project we had more offers from companies than those we could cope with. There are several companies supporting the continuation of the Blended-AIM course. We are running the 2018/19 edition with 18 students and two companies that we had to select from nearly 10 offers. Also the universities are interested in the continuation of this course unit at their own expenses. In the 2018/19 course edition we have 19 students from 8 universities organized in two teams to develop two solutions for two companies. This is the most significant and rewarding impact we have achieved. The Blended-AIM proved to be a valuable approach for all direct stakeholders (students, companies, universities) and the sustainability is assured due to its intrinsic added value.Companies see Blended-AIM as an innovative, effective and valuable approach, particularly in developing and testing proof of concept. We are driving Blended-AIM to be recognized in the long term as an option to develop proof of concept, mainly for SME; a way for SME to have access to R&D through the cooperation with a multidisciplinary team of higher education students and their supervisors.

Context/background of the project The implementation and organisation of student and staff mobility at Odisee is the core business of the Dienst Internationalisering / International Relations Office (DIRO). Within each of Odisee study programmes a liaison officer for international relations ensures the academic quality of partners and their exchange programmes. All mobility processes for staff and students are described in brochures and online.In our Erasmus policy statement Odisee addresses the following Erasmus intentions:1.maximising internationalisation at home experience;2.maximising mobility opportunities;3.enhancing (foreign) language learning.Taking part in this KA103 action of the European Commission resulted in realizing these intentions.ObjectivesThe mission statement of Odisee stresses the importance of internationalisation. Odisee adopts a broad internationalisation strategy which aims to increase, integrate and embed international, intercultural and global dimensions in all educational processes.The Erasmus+ programme provides direct support to our students wishing to study (SMS) or train (SMP) abroad and to our staff wishing to teach (STA) or train (STT) abroad in other higher education partner institutions. Participating in KA103 contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. For Odisee KA103 is directly involved with the EU objectives addressing challenges in education and training systems by 2020 (Making mobility a reality and improving the quality of education). Odisee strives after the EU benchmarks, i.e. by 2020 at least 20% of higher education graduates should have spent some time studying or training abroad. Odisee adequately uses quality assurance tools such as ECTS and the Diploma Supplement in order to facilitate academic recognition. Number and type/profile of participants Within KA103 Odisee obtained grants for SMS (# = 123), for SMP (# = 32), for STA (# = 50) and for STT (# = 33) to make a part of its student and staff population mobile. Odisee promotes student and staff mobility as an instrument for developing international competences. Odisee intends to encourage all staff members (teaching and non-teaching, women and man) to develop competences, attitudes, and relevant international activities. Description of undertaken activitiesBefore the mobilityLiaison officer for international relations ensure the academic quality of Odisee’s international partners and their mobility exchange programmes (both study and traineeship). DIRO screens the partner before an interinstitutional agreement (IIA) is being signed. Concerning study mobility the screening process clarifies if the partners apply ECTS principles and offers transparent information online. Traineeship mobility is treated in the same way. Study and traineeship mobilities are fully recognised by Odisee.During the mobilityDIRO supports all incoming and outgoing mobility students, acts as an intermediary between the mobile student and staff at the home/host institution, administers all learning and training agreements and transcripts of records/work (recognition outcomes).Liaison officers for international relations help incoming students choosing the appropriate courses. They also support both incoming and outgoing students when changes to the learning/training agreement have to be made. The liaison officers remain in contact with the all their students before, during and after the mobility period. In case of traineeship mobility they are also in touch with the placement supervisor abroad.After the mobilityDIRO delivers to all incoming students and processes from all outgoing mobility students the transcripts of records/work (recognition outcomes). Concerning Erasmus Study the results obtained abroad is fully recognized and will be reported on the diploma supplement. Based on this ToW the liaison officer evaluates the traineeship abroad. Odisee fully recognises and validates the training programme abroad.Results and impact attainedStudent mobility for studies (SMS) grants obtained = 123; used = 123Student mobility for traineeships (SMP) grants obtained = 32; used = 39Staff mobility for teaching (STA) grants obtained = 50; used = 33Staff mobility for training (STT) grants obtained = 33; used = 37In 2014 nearly 15% of our Odisee student population included a mobility exchange period abroad of a significant period of study/training, i.e. at least 15 ECTS. Participation in the Erasmus+ Key Action 103 contributed significantly towards this percentage. Staff mobility increases little by little year per year, but it seems difficult for teaching staff to effectively go abroad to teach. The amount of teaching staff applying for an STA grant meets the grant amount obtained. But a significant proportion of applicants withdrew their candidacy during the course of the academic year, mainly due to obligations at the home institute that hindered them from going.

Context/background of the projectThe implementation and organisation of student and staff mobility at Odisee is the core business of the Dienst Internationalisering / International Relations Office (DIRO). Within each ofOdisee study programmes a liaison officer for international relations ensures the academic quality of partners and their exchange programmes. All mobility processes for staff andstudents are described in brochures and online.In our Erasmus policy statement Odisee addresses the following Erasmus intentions:1. maximising internationalisation at home experience;2. maximising mobility opportunities;3. enhancing (foreign) language learning.Taking part in this KA107 action of the European Commission resulted in realizing these intentions.ObjectivesThe mission statement of Odisee stresses the importance of internationalisation. Odisee adopts a broad internationalisation strategy which aims to increase, integrate and embed international, intercultural and global dimensions in all educational processes.The Erasmus+ programme provides direct support to our students wishing to study (SMS) abroad and to our staff wishing to teach (STA) or train (STT) abroad in other higher education partner institutions outside of Europa. Participating in KA107 contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. For Odisee KA107 is directly involved with the EU objectives addressing challenges in education and training systems by 2020 (Making mobility a reality and improving the quality of education). Odisee strives after the EU benchmarks, i.e. by 2020 at least 20% of higher education graduates should have spent some significant time of studying or training abroad. Odisee adequately uses quality assurance tools such as ECTS and the Diploma Supplement in order to facilitate academic recognition.Number and type/profile of participantsWithin KA107 Odisee obtained grants for SMS (# in = 4, # out = 2), for STA (# in = 3, # out = 2) and for STT (# in = 3, # out = 1) to make a part of its student and staff population mobile. Odisee promotes student and staff mobility as an instrument for developing international competences. Odisee intends to encourage all staff members (teaching and non-teaching) to developsuch competences, attitudes, and undertake relevant international activities.Description of undertaken activitiesBefore the mobility: Liaison officer for international relations ensure the academic quality of Odisee’s international partners and their mobility exchange programmes (study). DIRO screens the partner before an inter-institutional agreement (IIA) is being signed. Concerning study mobility the screening process clarifies if the partners apply ECTS principles and offer transparent information online. Study is fully recognised by Odisee.During the mobility: DIRO supports all incoming and outgoing mobility students, acts as an intermediary between the mobile student and staff at the home/host institution, administers all learning agreements and transcripts of records (recognition outcomes). Liaison officers for international relations help incoming students choosing the appropriate courses. They also support both incoming and outgoing students when changes to the learning agreement have to be made. The liaison officers remain in contact with all their students before, during and after the mobility period.After the mobility: DIRO delivers to all incoming students and processes from all outgoing mobility students the transcripts of records (recognition outcomes). Concerning Erasmus Study the results obtained abroad are fully recognized and will be reported on the diploma supplement.Results and impact attainedStudent mobility for studies (SMS) grants obtained = 6, used = 7 (explaination: Odisee did sent 2 more students to Bosina-Herzegovina, one planned incoming student from Morocco did not arrive); Staff mobility for teaching (STA) grants obtained = 5, used = 4 (one planned staff member from Jordan did not come to Odisee); Staff mobility for training (STT) grants obtained = 4, used = 4.