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Non-traditional and innovative forms of mobility require a broad understanding: it is about embedding learning experiences in the curriculum that create space for international and culturally reflective learning. New technologies open up possibilities for transcultural encounters in virtual spaces. HMIS2030 sets a forward-looking accent with >>Aim 3 - Develop and implement innovative digital forms of mobility .
Furthermore, integrating research experiences from different contexts and countries into students' education creates the conditions for future careers as researchers or highly qualified experts in the non-academic sector. Short-term mobility in various forms - e.g. research work, internships, excursions, international weeks - provide opportunities for international and culturally reflective experiences and can serve as door openers for longer stays abroad. Local diversity enables a variety of perspectives and is used as a culturally reflective resource "at home" (Internationalisation@Home).
Recommendation 1
Establishment of a broad spectrum of mobility formats with corresponding resource allocation and supportive framework conditions
The universities are recommended to provide a wide range of mobility formats to ensure access to international and culturally reflective learning for all students (e.g. through mobility windows). Higher education institutions should flexibly adapt different forms of mobility to their specific institutional and subject-related context as well as to the needs of students, including the needs of underrepresented groups, and also implement non-traditional and innovative mobility in a quality-assured manner. In terms of quality implementation, resources (time, financial and human) should be planned for the implementation of these non-traditional and innovative forms of mobility in order to enable maximum flexibility and create space for innovative development.
- Ensure the necessary additional national funding for Erasmus+/Higher Education and for successor programmes
- Strategic commitment to inclusive, affordable and innovative forms of mobility worldwide and, where appropriate, prioritisation of financial resources for the development and piloting of innovative forms of mobility tailored to the needs of students in terms of their diversity and of higher education institutions
- For students active in examinations: appropriate consideration of ECTS credits acquired abroad within the framework of funded mobility programmes, insofar as these are recognised by the Austrian university for study performance (further development of university funding)
- Provision of resources at higher education level for innovation in the context of internationalisation, the formulation of targets and the implementation of supporting structures
- Targeted networking by ministries and funding organisations at European level (e.g. Bologna Process, funding programmes such as Erasmus+) in the sense of taking non-traditional and innovative mobility formats into account in the design of the funding offer as well as in work programmes and guidelines
- Making visible as well as appreciating and rewarding the commitment of the developers of innovative mobility formats through awards and prizes - Adapting the legal provisions in all relevant laws on Austrian higher education institutions to enable the recognition of complete modules or parts thereof analogous to individual courses
- Adaptation of existing services at national level so that they are also applicable to non-traditional mobility, also going beyond Europe Strategic anchoring of non-traditional forms of mobility within the framework of university-wide strategies and internationalisation strategies that have clear goals as well as monitoring of the goals set through adequate indicators (in terms of the balance of quality and quantity) with a focus on ensuring the acquisition of international and culturally reflective competences and in whose development all relevant stakeholders and partners are involved
- Development and provision of mobility offers that take into account the different fields of study and programmes and allow flexibility (in terms of time and place) in the design of the mobility portfolio, taking into account the needs of the respective, in particular the defined underrepresented student groups
- Support and value initiatives by teachers and students for the development and implementation of mobility formats and learning activities that promote the acquisition of international and culturally reflective competences
- Support in the development, realisation and implementation of mobility and the establishment or expansion of networks and cooperation partners through service units at the higher education institutions, which are trained accordingly and whose use is recognised
- Ensuring that all committees promote mobility in the context of study programme development and that they think about its curricular anchoring through mobility windows or windows of opportunity "from the very beginning" and that they draw on the expertise of internationalisation experts in the process
- Ensure the involvement of students and their international and culturally reflective experiences as partners and active co-creators in curriculum development, especially in the development of offerings for underrepresented student groups
- Establishment of cross-university platforms - along the lines of the "Atlas of Good Teaching", which present examples from practice and thus provide stimulus and inspiration in the development and piloting of possible mobility formats
- Creation of a quality-assured framework for the implementation of the measures listed here
Recommendation 2
Curricular integration and further development
It is recommended that non-traditional and innovative forms of mobility be placed on an equal footing with traditional forms and be valued, and that international and culturally reflective learning and teaching thus be perceived as a necessity and obligation in the university's self-image. In doing so, the needs of underrepresented student groups must be taken into account. Adequate curricular opportunities should be created for these groups, thus preventing a prolongation of studies or a significantly increased workload in subsequent semesters. The development and communication of good practice examples for various disciplines is suggested.
(see also the recommendations and measures for >> Mobility of underrepressented student groups).
- Promotion and curricular anchoring of a broad spectrum of forms of mobility (short- and long-term) in the sense of the definition of a study-relevant stay, such as study- and work-related internships, international project weeks, virtual classrooms, research work, study trips, international weeks (summer/winter schools)
- Curricular embedding of the content and timing of mobility windows also in the sense of windows of opportunity with a defined number of "free" ECTS credits and thus guaranteeing the recognition of mobilities
- Ensuring the acquisition of international and culturally reflective competences through appropriate learning outcomes in the curricula and accompanying measures before, during and after mobility
- Development of low-threshold (short) mobility offers in line with the diversity of the student body, also in the sense of an incentive for more and/or longer mobilities
- Enabling the acquisition of international and culturally reflective competences through a change of perspective as well as experiences in unfamiliar contexts of action ("intellectual mobility") e.g. through
o Using cultural diversity in the local environment or in the multicultural classroom
o Classic tools of internationalisation at home (IaH) such as the use of case studies with
international/cultural reflective questions as well as the integration of guest lecturers
- Use new technologies and the achievements of digitalisation for virtual exchanges and blended learning, to promote international experiences, to strengthen foreign language and digital competences, to work together in diverse teams in virtual spaces and thus to take the first steps towards building an international network in one's own profession
- Award of ECTS credits for all mobility formats, in any case if they fulfil the definition of a study-relevant stay
- Mapping of non-traditional and innovative forms of mobility in the Diploma Supplement
- Making mobility options visible and promoting them, e.g. through
o Study Abroad fairs, pop-up information stands, blogs, social media
o Communication of personal, academic and professional added value through
o Role models motivating teachers or researchers and students as alumnae/alumni or
graduates as "ambassadors" based on their own biographies
Within the framework of the >> subject area groups of the >> HMS-Mobility forum, the participatory process for the further development of the HMS2016 into the HMIS2030, proposals for recommendations including respective measures were developed on the topic of innovative non-traditional mobility formats, which were thematically bundled and prepared as a basis for the formulation of the HMIS2030. They are documented here in this form as valuable results of the professional discussion process and reflect the views of the higher education experts represented in the thematic field groups.