"The National Agency in Iceland opened up for a second application round for Erasmus+ KA107 September 15 2016. The University of Iceland applied for funding for visits that were not applied for in the first round. This was very helpful since the program is new and it takes time for people to learn to write the application and what the demands are, since this program is different from the Erasmus+ program within Europe that university staff are already familiar with. This program needs preparation that takes time and applicants have to get in contact with partners in places where the communication can take longer time than within Europe, due to many reasons one of them worse access to internet and more ""red tape"" in decision making process. All the visits planned were implemented, but the student that came to Iceland from Tunisia came later than planed and the mutual visits of professors from University of Iceland to Manouba University in Tunisia and from Manouba University to University of Iceland were shorter than originally planned. There is therefore some remaining fund that was not used. Other visits went as planned. The cooperation with Manouba University is with the United Nations Gender Equality Studies Program at the School of Humanities at the University of Iceland (https://gest.unu.edu/). This is a very important program and the Erasmus+ funds have made it possible for this program to admit more students and enable more mutual visits of professors. Without financial support this would not be possible. The students come from countries that are less developed and post conflict countries. At the end of the program the students present a work plan that they will work on in their communities when they return back home. The hope is that this will have very positive long-term benefit on the students communities. The cooperation of professors working in this field is also very important, sharing experiences and learning from each others. One student from Manouba Univerity came to UI, and there were mutual professors visits one in each direction.We received a grant for one UI student to study at Lomonosov Moscow State University.One student of Russian language went to study at Lomonosov Moscow State University, for 9 months. To be able to study in Russia and live in the country where the language is spoken, is of vital importance for language students. This was a very successful and rewarding time for the student and will hopefully encourage more Russian Language students to take a part of their language studies in Russia. The Russian Language department is rather small at UI hopefully a possibility to spend a semester or two at a Russian university will increase the interest in learning this widely used language.Mutual staff visits were between University of Iceland and Azerbaidjan University of Languages (ADU). University of Iceland had not had any relations with Azerbaidjan universities before, but there had been contact between a professor at the Middle Eastern Department at (MED) at UI and the Scandinavian Study Center at ADU. The MED at the University of Iceland was established in 2015, and for its development it´s vital to establish links with relevant institutions abroad. Azerbaidjan is much linked with the middle eastern countries historically, has also close links with Persian culture and Islam. The aim of MED is to improve knowledge on this part of the world, its history, culture languages and to improve understanding of current affairs. As ADU focuses on Scandinavian Studies it will benefit from UI's long tradition of teaching and research in that field. There is an interest at both institutions to develop cooperation in both Middle Eastern Studies and Icelandic Studies. The visits supported by the Erasmus+ program were important first steps in establishing and developing this cooperation. Without the Erasmus+ support, these visits would not have taken place"

Our Erasmus+ KA107 2018 project began successfully and provided new opportunities for both students and staff at UI and the partner universities. However, Covid-19 had a big impact on many of the planned mobilities and despite the extension of the project many mobilities were not realized. The International Office (IO) at UI promoted the program before the deadline for the 2018 project by hosting presentations and meetings for staff. Academics that had research projects or some connections to HEIs in countries outside Europe were also specifically contacted. A meeting with the research managers in all UI Schools was held to inform them about the program. Interested participants in the program were asked to submit an application to IO, they were then used to build the application to the EU. UI received grants for a total of 74 mobilities; 49 staff and 25 students. The result was 17 students and 17 staff fully realized their mobilities. There were many planned mobilities in the Spring of 2020 since the project was ending. There were staff visits planned to Azerbaijan, India, Russia, Kazakhstan and Ghana as well as staff visits from Canada and the US during that time. All visits were cancelled and a few of those visits at short notice with little or no chance of reimbursements from the airline companies. In accordance with guidelines from the NA the grantees that were able to prove that their airline fare could not be reimbursed were allowed to keep the travel grant. Some staff members tried to keep the option open by accepting vouchers from the airlines in hope of travelling before the end of the Erasmus+ project but the host countries and/or universities mostly remained closed for visitors. Covid-19 also impacted student mobilities. There were 3 student mobilities planned for an exchange at our partner universities in Russia that had to cancel due to Covid-19 as the Russian universities were closed for incoming student exchanges. The swift changes in Covid19 infections worldwide meant that in some cases mobilities had to be cancelled close to the departure date. In cases where MAs had been prepared and administrative work conducted on part of the IO the mobilities remain in MT marked with a Force Majeure along with an explanation. This was done in accordance with guidelines from the NA. The Gender and Equality Study Program (GRÓ-GEST) is offered at UI. The program is a part of the United Nations (UNESCO). GEST receives funds from the Icelandic government but thanks to Erasmus+ GEST has been able to financially support more students joining their semester-long program. In the 2018 project students from Palestine, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Ghana, and Nigeria successfully completed the program. Due to Covid-19 there was no program in Spring 2021 but instead GEST began a podcast where they conducted interviews with their Erasmus+ partners. To quote their description of the podcast: “Erasmus+ has long been an invaluable exchange programme for GEST to draw on the expertise of scholars and to engage students from all over the world. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic put an effective halt to most international travel, the GEST programme has had to find new ways to stay in touch with partners throughout the globe. One of the ways we do this is through The GEST Podcast, and so our 2021 spring season podcast series is dedicated to our Erasmus+ partner universities.“ The podcast can be found on their website. Despite Covid-19 UI was able to realize all mobilities to a few partner countries. 3 of those were part of EDF Africa: Guinea Bissau, Malawi and Namibia. In Guinea Bissau the collaboration aims to map and improve the health and wellbeing of Bissau-Guinean youth. This collaboration has resulted in an application of a KA2 project. In Malawi the grants facilitated the research collaboration focusing on the emerging medical need and inoculations for children. A foundation for a collaboration between scholars at UI and in Namibia was laid when two staff members visited the Faculty of Political Science at UI where the scholars focused on gender equality issues. We had a staff member visit UI from the Ukraine and one of our students went to the Kuras Institute for a traineeship. The student used part of their experience there in a book that was published in the summer 2021 (“Bjarmalönd”). In Azerbaijan we had staff visits to and from UI that enhanced an important partnership between the Middle Eastern Department at UI and the Scandinavian Study Centre in Azerbaijan. The partnership with University of Delhi was fruitful with 3 student mobilities to UI for a traineeship at the Faculty of Chemistry. For grants in North America only mobilities to the partner countries were realized and laid a foundation for further collaboration but all visits to UI from the partner countries were cancelled due to Covid19. It is our hope that the scholars will be able to pursue their joint interests in future KA171 projects.

This project covers all fields of KA103 mobility activity types: student mobility for studies, student mobility for traineeships, staff mobility for teaching activities and staff mobility for training. The University of Iceland (UI) has taken part in all four mobility types ever since they were opened to Icelandic institutions and these activities continue to lie at the heart of our institutional strategy for internationalisation.The objective of the project has been to give as many students as possible the opportunity to take a part of their studies abroad, as outlined in the current internationalisation strategy of UI, and to encourage staff members to seek international opportunities for both teaching and training. The mobilities also contribute to one of the main goals of UI’s strategy – maintaining a strong research infrastructure that supports the creation of knowledge and international collaboration. The Erasmus+ programme is integral to the university's international strategy as it offers some of the best mobility opportunities for both staff members and students to explore European cooperation.During this programme we sent a total of 256 participants abroad. Of those we sent 175 students, 30 for traineeships and 145 for exchange studies. We also sent 81 staff members abroad, 28 for teaching and 53 for training. UI continues to aim to increase both the quality and quality of mobilities within the Erasmus+ programme and promote opportunities to all students and staff members, regardless of their social backgrounds or academic fields. For the duration of this project we have continued to promote mobility opportunities to students and staff through regular presentations and events at the university. We increasingly use the positive experiences of previous participants to promote the opportunities available and use both statistics and personal experiences of participants in our promotion. We have also started to focus more on using social media to reach more people, which has proved successful so far.According to the final reports of all participants, both inbound and outbound, the vast majority of participants was very happy with their experience. 97,69% of outgoing students reported they were very satisfied or rather satisfied with their mobility experience in general. Similarly, 97,14% of inbound students were satisfied or rather satisfied with their mobility at the University of Iceland. Outbound staff members reported 97,47% satisfaction and inbound staff were 100% satisfied with their stay. Most students also report an improvement in various skills, such as problem-solving, adaptability, confidence and open-mindedness which will benefit them in their future academic and professional careers. Staff members also report that they have learned from good practices, increased their job satisfaction, enhanced their career opportunities and enforced and extended their professional network, which will benefit the university as a whole.

This current project covers all fields of KA103 mobility activity types: student mobility for studies, student mobility for traineeships, staff mobility for teaching activities and staff mobility for training. The University of Iceland (UI) has taken part in all four types ever since they were opened to Icelandic institutions and they lie at the heart of our institutional strategy for internationalisation. International relations are emphasised in all aspects of work at the university, and it strives to create opportunities for its students to take part of their education and/or research work abroad. The main aim is to increase quality and variety of the studies and to prepare students as well as possible for life and work after graduation. Welcoming international students and facilitating their stay in Iceland is also an important aspect of our strategy. Furthermore, UI aims to provide excellent opportunities for staff to create and maintain connections with colleagues abroad and to enable them to develop their skills and competences through mobility. The impact of such opportunities goes beyond the individual staff member - they benefit other staff members as well as students and the university as a whole. The objective of the project has been to give as many students as possible the opportunity to take a part of their studies abroad, as outlined in the internationalisation strategy of UI. Student exchanges are open to students at all levels, and most of the inter-institutional agreements are not limited to certain study cycles. This year, added emphasis has been placed on student traineeships in all promotional activities, and we have defined master students who benefit from practical research work abroad as a target group. Consequently, the number of students who have participated in traineeships has increased from the previous year by 58%. The objective of raising the number of traineeships has therefore been reached, and the outcome is well beyond expectations. This increased awareness of practical training as an alternative to the more traditional study exchanges has - not surprisingly - resulted in an 11% decrease in the number of study mobilities. Postgraduate students have now realised that hands-on experiences may be of more impact than following courses, which has led to a slight shift in the type of applications. The total number of students participating in the project remain more or less the same compared to the previous year. Also, it is worth noting that while the average duration of traineeships remains the same, the duration of study exchanges has increased from 4 to almost 7 months, showing that students now prefer to study abroad for a longer period of time, which increases the impact of the experience. Staff exchanges continue to be popular among UI staff. The number of participants in staff mobility for teaching remains stable compared to the previous year, while we see a 53% increase in the number of participants in staff mobility for training. As outlined in UI's international strategy, the main emphasis is on teacher exchanges, so we will continue to promote this activity type and aim for an increase there in the coming years. The impact of the mobility activities supported by this project is clear. The flow of incoming students and staff from abroad brings field- and country-specific knowledge and approaches to our campus and raises the international outlook of the university. Our outgoing students go abroad to study and train and return with better skills, both at the academic and personal level, which benefits not only them but also their peers at home. Mobile staff members raise their professional and personal competencies by going abroad and enable the university to maintain an excellent academic network that facilitates UI's competitiveness in terms of quality at a global scale.