University of Dundee Erasmus Policy Statement

Erasmus Charter 2007 - 2013

I (a) Institution's strategy, objectives and priorities for its Erasmus activities and any other actions in the context of the Life-long Learning Programme (2007-13)

Objectives in relation to Erasmus are embedded in the University's Learning Teaching Strategy 2006 – 2010, aims of which include:

• To increase the diversity of the student body so as to enhance the quality of students' experience, enabling interaction with a wider range of cultures, personal encounters, knowledge systems and beliefs.
• To promote international partnerships that facilitate international student and staff exchanges and international recruitment, creating a wider range of study opportunities for students, professional development opportunities for staff and enabling greater international benchmarking of University programmes.

The University has recently integrated its formerly peripherally located Erasmus office into the central International Office. The move aims to lend increased visibility and co-ordination to the University's Erasmus activity and ensure a consistent and student-centred approach for incoming and outgoing Erasmus students. The University is currently developing a promotional plan that aims to stimulate interest in Erasmus opportunities. Ultimately this aims to address the current imbalance between incoming and outgoing student numbers. The University's priority will continue to be student mobility based on shared academic interests.

I (b) Information on specific actions planned to give visibility to Erasmus activities, Erasmus University Charter and the Erasmus Policy Statement (EPS).

The University intends to give visibility to Erasmus activities, the new Charter and the policy statement by:

• Holding events and developing materials to promote opportunities to first year undergraduates
• Establishing 'Drop-In' information sessions within the International Office
• Highlighting the Charter and Policy statement through articles in the University's internal publication (contact magazine) and on the University website
• Incorporating Erasmus activity into a 'Global Citizen' award scheme

Information on kind of arrangements the Institution has to ensure compliance with non-discrimination objectives.
The University has formally adopted policies to combat discrimination based on gender, race and social background. Its performance, as measured in UK funding council performance indicators, is good in terms of admission of people from disadvantages social backgrounds. University staff and students have access to a well-established disability support unit. Programmes are designed to be accessible to disabled students in both delivery and assessment.

II Quality of academic mobility activities

Responsibility for the quality of the exchange experience rests ultimately with the programme/school in which the exchange agreement has been established. Arrangements are the initiative of academic staff who often have a personal connection to the partner institution, linked to other collaborative activity.

To strengthen the management and internal accountability of Erasmus activity, the University will consider the need for a university-wide forum of academic and appropriate administrative staff to guide and oversee developments.

Annual evaluative reports of academic mobility activity will be compiled by the Liaison Officer (Exchanges and Study Abroad) and scrutinised either by the new forum or by the Admissions, Recruitment and Development sub-committee of the University Learning and Teaching Committee. At programme level, reports on exchange activity form part of the annual programme monitoring process.

III Quality of student placement activities

The University intends to focus primarily on promoting the academic mobility aspects of the scheme in order to increase take-up from the student body. To date, this has not involved the provision of placements to students under the Erasmus scheme. It is anticipated that, although it will be promoted alongside the wider scheme, take-up of placement opportunities is likely to be limited.

The University has significant experience of arranging, co-ordinating and evaluating placements within undergraduate degree programmes – notably in social work, teacher education, community education and medicine. These are high in quality and meet the standards required by the relevant national professional and regulatory bodies. Any new procedures developed to accommodate Erasmus placement requests will be based on this experience and will conform fully to the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education's Code of Practice for the Assurance of Academic Quality and Standards in HE : Placement Learning.