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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.
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