The main subject of the Erasmus+ KA103 project Individuals mobility among program countries are outgoing mobilities of students and staff. In case of student mobilities, it is both incoming and outgoing mobilities for study stay and internship. In the case of staff mobilities, it is incoming and outgoing mobility for the purpose of teaching or training.The Technical University of Liberec (TUL) understands the international mobilities of students and academic and administrative staff as an integral part of its internationalization strategy.Foreign visits aim to develop expertise, improve the quality of language skills, improve analytical skills, enhance personality development, and, last but not least, promote intercultural communication.In the academic year 2017/18, 148 students and 94 employees, i.e. a total of 242 people, travelled abroad with the support of an Erasmus+ grant. 243 students and 51 employees chose TUL as the destination of their mobility. The most frequent type of mobility were students' outgoing study stays with an average duration of one semester. All the students’ achievements were recognized and the credits were entered into the university information system in accordance with the TUL Rector's regulation. Mobilities for a study stay help students not only to develop their expertise and improve language skills, but also to become self-sufficient, to increase self-confidence, to establish new contacts, and to increase attractiveness for future employers. Another option of the Erasmus+ project was the internship. It allows students to complete their professional experience at a company or partner university. Internships contribute to the employability of students, both by gaining new experience from practice, which often differs significantly from the theoretical knowledge gained during study, and by improving language skills. It also helps improving intercultural communication and spreading the dissemination of the results of work on a much larger scale. The possibility of participating in international mobility was provided to all students regardless of their social status, opinion or religion, and in accordance with equal treatment and the prevention of discrimination. The selection of students was based on transparent selection procedures, taking into account the learning outcomes, language skills and previous participation in the Erasmus+ program.Another point of the TUL internationalization strategy is the implementation of staff mobilities. In this academic year, more teaching mobilities than training took place. The average duration of teaching mobilities was five days, during which 8 teaching units were taught. These mobilities help develop expertise, expand pedagogical skills, improve the quality of foreign language teaching and to deepen cooperation between partners and promote TUL abroad. The main purpose of the training mobilities is to improve quality, to establish effective scientific research cooperation, and to implement new teaching methods. Mobilities for training have also made it possible for non-academic staff to gain incentives for future work. The opportunity to participate in the program was provided to all employees regardless of age, nationality, sex, occupation and length of employment. The final selection took into account the outcome of the mobility, the expected contribution and the need to support cooperation with specific institutions. In academic year 2017/18, mobilities decreased by approximately 26% compared with the last year. The reason for the decrease is mainly the demographic situation responsible for the constant drop in the total number of students in all higher education institutions in the Czech Republic. Thanks to the increased promotion of international mobility within TUL, the interest in student mobilities could be kept at about the same level when looking at the overall ratio of the student numbers and the mobilities. On the other hand, we have seen a 10% increase in staff mobilities. The number of both types of mobilities for teaching and for training has increased. Despite the fact that, overall, compared to the previous grant period, the number of mobilities is about 15% lower, the number of outgoing people is still higher than the allocated budget, and funding from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports is needed for their successful implementation.The dissemination of the project takes place through ambassadors who contribute to disseminating the good reputation of Czech higher education institutions. A notable result of the project implementation is the increase in the number of partner institutions. The dissemination also takes place internally with the help of diverse activities including promotion in social media. The main long-term benefit of mobility remains the increase in the quality of teaching, the provision of services and the improvement of students’ readiness for their professional life.

The Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (ICM) aims to develop expertise, improve the language skills, improve analytical skills, enhance personal development, and, last but not least, promote intercultural communication. The mobilities are an integral part of the Strategy of internationalization of the Technical University in Liberec (TUL) and the involved partner institutions. The possibility of participating in international mobility is provided to bachelor, master and doctoral students, as well as to academic staff.The aim of the project number 2016-1-CZ01-KA107-023074 is the realization of student and academic incoming and outgoing mobilities between the Technical University of Liberec and institutions from the partner countries. As part of this project, mobilities are based on long-term cooperation between eight institutions from Egypt, Ecuador, the USA, China, Thailand and Ukraine. In case of students mobilities, it is a study stay, and in the case of academic mobilities, it is a teaching mobility. During the project in the academic years 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, there were 43 mobilities in total, including 19 student incoming and 4 student outgoing mobilities, followed by 6 academic incoming and 14 academic outgoing mobilities. The Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education, the Faculty of Textile Engineering and the Faculty of Mechatronics, Informatics and Interdisciplinary Studies were involved. The most common mobility was student incoming mobility for a study stay lasting an average of 3 months. Students have completed a course in the field that they choose to study at a home university. Subsequently, all the student achievements of the receiving institution were recognized. In case of outgoing TUL students, the credits received were entered into the university student information system according to the Directive of the Rector of TUL. Foreign study visits help students not only to develop expertise and improve language skills, but also to become self-sufficient, to increase self-confidence, to establish new contacts and to increase attractiveness for future employers. The opportunity to take part in mobilities was provided to all students regardless of their social status, opinion or religion, and in accordance with equal treatment and the prevention of discrimination. In the transparent selection procedure, the academic achievements and the knowledge of foreign language of the applicants were taken into account.The second implemented activity of the ICM project was the mobility of academics for teaching, which is in line with the Strategy of internationalization of all institutions involved. A total of 20 academic staff took part in the teaching mobilities and 278 teaching units were taught. The average length of stay was 12 days, but there was also one long-term arrival of an academic at TUL (60 days). Learning mobility serves not only to enhance pedagogical skills and improve the quality of foreign language teaching, but also to deepen cooperation between partner institutions and promote TUL abroad. The main objective of the teaching mobilities remains to deepen the expertise in the given field, to support the long-term scientific research cooperation and to get acquainted with new teaching methods. The opportunity to participate in the mobility was again provided to all employees regardless of age, nationality, sex, occupation and length of employment. The final selection took into account the outcome of the stay, the expected contribution and the level of involvement within the given cooperation with the institution.The ICM project was implemented at TUL for the first time in 2016-2018. The originally planned number of mobiles was increased on the basis of great interest and 43 mobiles were implemented compared to 36 originally planned. Between the plan and the reality there was an increase of 19%. This increased interest is attributed to the good cooperation between TUL and partner universities and to the excellent organization of individual mobilities and the pursuit of 100% efficiency of individual stays. Additional mobilities were funded with the help of Erasmus+ funds for organization of mobilities and own resources of faculties.Implementation of ICM greatly helped to consolidate existing partnerships between TUL and partner institutions. The presence of foreign teachers and students helped to implement the Strategy of internationalization. The project outputs were completed as planned. This included, in particular, joint publishing in scientific journals, increased public awareness of cooperation with non-European institutions, improving language skills, developing specialist skills in academics and exchanging expertise in case of students. The project outputs were presented to public on websites, social networks, conferences and public lectures, both at TUL and at partner institutions. TUL will continue the cooperation with all institutions involved.

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

Technical University of Liberec (TUL) realized the project under the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility program for the second time. The main objective of all international mobilities of incoming and outgoing students and employees was to develop professional knowledge, improve the quality of language and analytical skills, enhance personal development and support intercultural communication. The realization of international mobilities has been identified as an integral part of TUL’s strategy of internationalization. All institutions involved have a similar development of internationalization in their strategies. The project was attended by students of bachelor, master and doctoral studies, academic and administrative staff, both at TUL and at partner institutions. The subject of the project No. 2017-1-CZ01-KA107-034883, at all involved institutions, was primarily the development of internationalization through the realization of student and employee mobilities. Mobilities were solely based on prior cooperation between 12 institutions from 11 partner countries: Egypt, Chile, India, Israel, Japan, Canada, Korea, Russia, Thailand, USA and Vietnam. The purpose of student mobilities was a study stay, for academic staff it was teaching mobility and administrative staff attended training. During the project period, i.e. in the ac. years 2017/2018 and 2019/2019, a total of realized mobilities was 62, namely 21 study (15 incoming and 6 outgoing), 33 teaching (19 incoming and 14 outgoing) and 8 trainings (5 incoming and 3 outgoing). With regard to the focus of all institutions, departments focused in various fields were involved in the implementation. From TUL it was: the Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education, the Faculty of Textile Engineering, the Faculty of Mechatronics, Informatics and Interdisciplinary Studies, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Faculty of Arts and Architecture and the Faculty of Economics. Most activities of the project included incoming academic teaching mobilities, which lasted from 5 to 60 days with total number of 295 teaching hours. Teaching was in both technical and humanity fields. Employee mobilities served not only to gain new experience within employee’s field, to extend pedagogical skills and to improve the quality of teaching in a foreign language, but also to make the offered courses more attractive by foreign specialist teachers and to deepen cooperation between partner institutions. An integral part is also the promotion of TUL abroad and partner institutions in the Czech Republic. The main objective of teaching mobilities, at all involved institutions, is to deepen expertise in given fields, to support long-term research cooperation and to become familiar with new teaching methods. Student incoming mobilities were the second most frequent and lasted 4 months on average. Students have always completed the study corresponding to the field they study at their home university. Study results of all students were properly recognized by the home institution. For students of all involved institutions, international study stays are a source of development of professional knowledge and language skills, but they are also essential for self-reliance, self-confidence, establishing new contacts, as well as increasing attractiveness for future employers. All students and staff, regardless of age, nationality, gender, social status, opinion or religion, professional status and employment duration, and in accordance with equal treatment and the prevention of discrimination, were given the opportunity to participate. For students, the study results and the level of language were indicators in the selection. For employees, the content of the mobility, the expected benefit and the degree of involvement in cooperation with the institution were taken into account. Compared to the first project, 6 more partner institutions and 5 more partner countries were involved. Based on the induced changes during realization, the originally planned number of 57 mobilities was increased to 62 realized mobilities. This increase was possible thanks to a well-functioning cooperation between TUL and partner universities, a great organization of individual mobilities, effort to reach 100% efficiency of mobilities and utilization of provided funds. Overall, the realization of the project significantly helped to consolidate existing partnerships. The presence of foreign teachers and students had a significant impact on the fulfillment of the internationalization strategy of all institutions. The project outputs were fulfilled according to plan and were publicly presented. These included, in particular, joint publishing in professional journals, broadening public awareness of cooperation with non-European institutions, language skills improvement, professional skills development of employees, and expertise exchange of students. TUL will continue to cooperate with all institutions.

The main objective of the Erasmus+ Programme mobilities is to support the professional development, linguistic competence, analytical skills, personal development and intercultural communication. This support is provided to students and to academic and administrative staff within the Technical University of Liberec. International student and staff mobilities are integral to the internationalization strategy of the TUL.In the framework of the ERAMUS+ project, 262 students, academics and other staff members travelled abroad in the academic year 2015/2016. The most frequent mobilities under the programme are the student ones, and they last one semester on average. Students attend classes corresponding to their study field at the TUL; afterwards their study achievements are recognized and entered into the university information system according to the TUL Rector’s regulation. Study stays abroad lead outgoing students not only to increasing their professional development and linguistic competence, but also to gaining independence, increasing self-confidence, establishing new contacts and improving their position at the labour market. Practical internships are the second option for students within their studies. Students can acquire professional practice in a foreign enterprise or at a partner university. Completion of the practical internship stay contributes to a better position at the labour market, namely on the basis of gaining new experience from practice, which often differs significantly from the theoretical knowledge gained within the study course, and also to the extension of language competence. Another benefit gained in the field of intercultural communication competence is also considerable and guarantees the dissemination of the results of their own work in a much wider area. The opportunity to participate in the mobility was provided to all students regardless of their social status, opinion or religious belief and in accordance with the policy on equal access and avoiding discrimination. Study results, language competence and previous participation in the programme were taken into account in the transparent selection procedure. The provided grant enables the TUL employees to participate either in teaching or training stays. Most academics choose the option of the teaching stay, which serves not only to extend their professional knowledge, pedagogical skills in a foreign language, but also to deepen the cooperation between the partner universities, and to promote the TUL at international institutions. The main impact of teaching abroad is deepening the participants’ expertise in the given field, establishing or supporting the already formed scientific and research cooperation schemes and familiarization with new teaching methods, which are used to enrich teaching at the TUL. Training mobilities are available to the non-academics too, and thus they greatly extend the opportunity to gain new experience from the foreign partners. During the training stay they can gain valuable experience and new impulses from their international colleagues, which they subsequently apply in their work. The opportunity to participate in the mobility was provided to all employees regardless of age, nationality, gender, vocational status and the length of employment. The mobility content, expected benefits and current need to promote or enhance the existing cooperation were taken into account in the final selection. In the academic year 2015/16, in comparison to the previous academic year there has been a reduction in student mobilities and practical internships within the student mobilities. This fact occurs on the basis of demographic decline in the number of students at the TUL. Another unfavourable factor is connected with the development of the European security situation presented by the media. In view of the above mentioned facts we can state that there was only a small decline within student mobilities; despite this problem the budget requirements were met in the situation when the student demand still exceeds the allocated budget. On the contrary, the number of both types of staff mobilities increased. The interest in mobilities of academics and administration staff tends to increase, which implies that even within these mobilities the allocated grant is lower than the TUL requires. Outgoing students and employees carry out the function of ambassadors of the TUL and universities in the Czech Republic in general; thus they contribute to spreading a good reputation of higher education in our country. The result of mobilities abroad is also an annual increase in the number of bilateral partners in the programme countries. However, the main long-term benefit of these mobilities is increasing the quality of education at our university and improving students’ readiness for their professional life.