In 2016-18, Birmingham City University's (BCU) KA107 Erasmus+ Programme (2016-1) supported both staff and students of both flows creating new opportunities and further development of BCU's strategic plan as well as productive developments for all partner institutions involved. The 2016-1 ICM comprised four types of mobilities involving a diverse group of participants of both flows across the participating Faculties: Arts, Design and Media; Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment; and Health, Education and Life Sciences. 2016-1 ICM project enabled activities with the selected international partner universities in Palestine, Zambia, Russian Federation and Paraguay. The project was granted 45 mobilities. BCU was happy to receive more incoming participants and offer the opportunity of international participants to join the European educational system, taking advantage of the new opportunities and exchanging good practices. 10 of these mobilities were dedicated to students and the rest to staff members of all partners including BCU. Their participation led to further communication for partnerships. BCU realised a total of 46 mobilities. This happened due to student visa rejections and the transfer of mobilities to incoming staff members.The great majority of the students and the staff members have grown in confidence and gained more independence in both their academic and professional lives as a result of their Erasmus+ ICM experience. BCU's participation in the Erasmus+ ICM programme enhances the internationalisation of the University, brings new insights to teaching practices and assists the formation of new partnerships across all academic areas. Furthermore, the BCU's faculties and academics have increased interest in submitting more bids for these particular schemes and the partner institutions found ways of exploring new areas of teaching and potential research. The increasing interest is evident through the new 2018 Erasmus+ ICM programme with partner institutions from Mexico, Uzbekistan and Georgia as well as the 2018 Erasmus+ KA103 outcome for BCU which succeeded in receiving a larger grant and offers more mobility opportunities to both students and staff members.The above projects naturally feed into a wider international strategy supported by the Erasmus+ ICM Programme and BCU will continue building on this in the future. Like in the case of BCU's first ICM project in 2015, the 2016-1 also facilitated a range of mobilities which were successful in their achievements and has rooted confidence in BCU and their partners to continue to successfully be awarded further funding and creating further fruitful cooperations.

This is a higher education student and staff mobility project, please consult the website of the organisation to obtain additional details.

In 2014/15 Birmingham City University’s project comprised four types of mobilities involving a diverse group of participants across all faculties and departments. The activities included study mobility, traineeship mobility, staff teaching and staff training.In total we had 85 participants taking up mobility places in nineteen Erasmus+ Programme Countries, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania and Sweden. In particular, our students went on 39 study exchanges and 8 traineeship placements, whereas 30 academic and 8 administrative staff members took the opportunity to be involved in teaching and training mobilities across Europe.Many of our students and staff have grown in confidence and gained more independence in both their academic and professional lives as a result of their Erasmus+ experience. These are just two examples of the feedback we have received from this group of participants:“Erasmus has been a massive turning point in my life, it's opened my eyes to new cultures and given me the opportunity to learn about all sorts of new things from different teachers” (Charlotte Harrison, student on BA (Hons) in Visual Communication; see Charlotte’s full profile at http://www.bcu.ac.uk/visual-communication/the-student-experience/overseas-opportunities/erasmus).“Following my Erasmus experience, I am keen to develop projects with universities in other countries. Cross country and course collaboration is vital. This was very apparent in mixed culture of students and Erasmus culture at Dusseldorf.” (Fashion Tutor, Faculty of Art, Design and Media).Moreover, in 2014/15 Birmingham City University has increased its traineeship mobility places, allowing students to gain work experience and more international exposure. This opportunity proved to be particularly beneficial for our students from the Faculty of Health, Education and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Art, Design and Media, who took up traineeship placements in Germany, Italy and Cyprus. The initial success of the scheme has led to further traineeship mobilities involving students from a diverse range of backgrounds and ethnic communities. In 2015, a group of BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies students went study exchange in the Netherlands. Their YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-IoPwCmoU) has widely influenced other students, and it is a fantastic example of how the positive message is disseminated among our staff and student community as well as outside of our institution. Therefore, it is clear from the above feedback that the Erasmus+ programme is starting to make a difference. We are becoming more international in our approach to teaching practice, students, partner universities, and academic and business activities we undertake locally as well as in a more global context. As a result, we can already identify tangible outcomes, as well as more long term benefits. As an immediate benefit of our involvement in the Erasmus+ scheme, the University is currently conducting a review of our curriculum. The “Transformation of the Curriculum” programme has been introduced in our institution in order to ensure the delivery of excellent teaching provision and clarify its distinctiveness. The academic philosophy behind the programme is that Birmingham City University will pursue excellence by providing practice-led, knowledge-applied education that is interdisciplinary, employability-driven, and internationalised. This, however, cannot be achieved without the experience we are building up through schemes such as Erasmus+.The increasing interest in the Erasmus+ programme has also resulted in a successful bid for International Credit Mobility opportunities in Russia, Thailand and Uzbekistan for 2015-16, and a successful strategic partnership project. We have been able to participate in larger British Council projects, and have recognised more areas of interest within Erasmus+ for further involvement by University.The above projects naturally feed into a wider international strategy supported by the Erasmus+ Programme, and we will strive to build on this in the future.

The 2015/16 Erasmus+ project at Birmingham City University (BCU) supported the increased mobility of both its staff and students further developing its links in Europe. Activities comprised of student study and traineeship placements as well as staff teaching and training assignments. The 2015/16 academic year has seen a huge shift in responsibility and ownership for the Erasmus+ mobility activities which will be reflected in this year’s results as well as many more years to come. The University’s mission is to ‘transform the prospects of individuals, employers and society’. This mission statement aligns well with the overall objectives of the Erasmus+ programme to ‘boost skills and employability; modernise education,’ and ‘to improve opportunities for young people’. BCU have been successful in applying for Key Action 1 (KA1) funding for several years and can see from current application rates that participation and interest is ever increasing. The results of this project are contributing to an aim identified in the institutions strategic plan of becoming an internationalised University. The plan acknowledges the aim for a significant increase in overseas students at BCU, the development of strategic overseas partnerships and enabling staff to gain a global awareness, acting as global citizens. The activities undertaken in this project are contributing to achieving these aims and assisting BCU in its development. Transforming the curriculum is an institution wide initiative to re-design of the BCU curriculum offer. This is to be implemented in September 2017 however certainly will have driven or contributed to the staff mobility activities seen in this project. The University is pursuing excellence by providing practice-led, knowledge-applied education that is interdisciplinary, employability-driven, and internationalised. The philosophy behind the defining factor of a BCU degree is all programmes personalising five key themes across their student experience offer, one being internationalisation. The programmes will further demonstrate a global focus and the opportunities for internationalisation provided. 103 total participants were funded for the 2015/16 project, seeing the largest participating activity type being staff mobility. These results are seen as great progression from the activities and celebrated results from last year’s participation. We have established new links with numerous institutions from the programme countries using staff mobility as a way to develop and strengthen links and create strategic partnerships for KA2 funding. BCU has also continued to secure funding for the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility funding calls, following on from success in KA1. An academic who participated in a teaching mobility in Cyprus commented, ‘It is a fantastic experience and gives you a clear insight into differences in teaching practices’. This opportunity has enabled this staff member to gain further global awareness and use it to reflect on this for the benefit of the institution. Student Amy McCranor, who studied abroad said of her experience in the Netherlands, ‘I learnt all these amazing new things, and am now refreshed and have a new perspective on returning home and I want to apply the things I learnt to make my work better’. Amy’s skills have been boosted from her participation in the Erasmus+ programme, crucially impacting on her learning performance and employability.Promotion for Erasmus+ at BCU has also seen great results this year with the selection of an Erasmus+ Student Ambassador from one of our past participants. The Erasmus+ Ambassador will be a key element in the promotion and dissemination of our project activities. We also have a competition winner for the nationwide My Erasmus+ Moment from a student participant. Andreea Dalia Blaga who studied in Austria was selected as the National Agency’s Director’s award in this year’s photo competition. BCU is one of Britain’s leading providers of graduate talent to the cultural and creative industries. 50% of student mobility was taken up by those in our Faculty of Arts, Design and Media, a unique statistic for an institution that does not deliver modern foreign language within their portfolio.

Throughout the years, the development and implementation of Erasmus+ KA103 project and other outward mobility activities at Birmingham City University (BCU) has advanced significantly; this project supported the steady increase of mobilities of both staff and students. The entire project in relation to Erasmus+ mobility activities are sitting with the International Office to support the entire University mobility activities in line with the University's future internationalisation plans. The change in the approach has also resulted in a positive impact on BCU's HESA return statistics, growing the mobility return.Semesterising the curriculum allowed more students to participate in study and work abroad. BCU's internal structure also significantly helped with the steady increase of mobilities and stability of the project, for example, continuing to promote KA103 mobilities to all outgoing students (including those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who require special needs support) through key contact points within each Faculty, alongside the dedicated team in the International Office. Staff mobility, both academic or professional services training, is actively being encouraged by BCU via information sessions, extensive internal promotion activities by the mobility team and staff e-mails throughout the year. Mobilities are in place to allow the delivery of new working practices to colleagues. The results of this year’s project are being enhanced further with support and promotion for these activities through work by the mobility team in the International Office and continued Faculty support across the institution, with the establishment of a dedicated member of staff at each Faculty to support the mobility activities. BCU has been successful in applying for Key Action 1 funding for several years and can witness from current application rates thatinterest is improving at a steady rate. The 2018/20 academic years witnessed a further stage of the curriculum development phase to support BCU students and staff in the form of ‘Transforming the Curriculum’. The University is pursuing excellence by providing practice-led, knowledge-applied education that is interdisciplinary, employability-driven (BCU has a 97% employability rate, being in the top seven in the United Kingdom) with unique internationalised curriculum and programmes. This will have driven or contributed to the staff mobility activities seen in this project. The philosophy behind the defining factor of a BCU degree is that all programmes are personalised within five key themes across the student experience offer, with one being internationalisation. The programmes will further demonstrate a global focus and the opportunities for internationalisation provided. 159 participants in total were funded in this project, exceeding estimated figures from last year. Staff mobility continues to be the largest mobility activity, however student participation also has seen an increase compared to previous years following the extensive promotion and dissemination of the internal campaign. The increasing results achieved are demonstrated through the impact the participants felt, in particularly incoming students. Staff and students shared their comments alike in the EU survey, along with voluntary feedback highlighting the positive immediate and longer-term benefits. BCU also welcomes the honesty of staff and students and accept some adverse issues with their mobilities and more efforts will be put in place to tackle these comments and to look to enhance possible processes for the benefit of all involved. The continued success of BCU’s Erasmus+ grant funding in Key Action 1 supports the university's strategic aims and further links within the EU and internationally. BCU has been successfully awarded funding for International Credit Mobility projects and continues to foster experience for the benefit of partners, staff and students. All activities and efforts are further contributed and disseminated throughout all channels of communication, internally and externally. The long-term objective of the BCU strategy would be to increase its mobility numbers and activities, and this will be achieved via collaborative work with colleagues and other stakeholders from the Higher Education sector, plus organising more student events at BCU. Certainly, we were are satisfied with the results but will be looking at improving further in the next call.