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Description
The project aims to continue and strengthen the academic mobility network between "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iași and universities in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein in order to achieve excellence in the field of education and research, by identifying the key themes for cooperation, capitalizing on complementary competencies and offering synergies essential for the progress and mutual benefit of the universities involved.
The EEA exchanges will provide students with specialized knowledge not only in their study fields, but also on the cultures/societies of all countries involved, meaningful experience and linguistic proficiency which will be used as assets in their future jobs. The staff exchanges will lead to new curriculum design and teaching/assessment methods, as well as the implementation of good practices.
The objectives of the academic cooperation project with the three countries are: active promotion of Iasi higher education in Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, improving and increasing the chances of employability of students and graduates, integrating research elements in doctoral and master exchanges, opening and expanding the scope of cooperation of UAIC with universities in these countries.
The proposed scholarships for incoming and outgoing mobility are aimed at both students (bachelor, master and doctorate) and staff from universities (didactic and non-didactic).
The target groups are represented, on the one hand, by the UAIC academic community (students, professors and administrative staff, as potential beneficiaries of outgoing mobilities) and, on the other, by the academic community from partner universities in the Donor States.
Donor partners are higher education institutions and private institutions (mainly hotels, where students can carry out placement mobilities) in EEA countries. Both HEIs and private institutions will play the role of host institutions for UAIC students and staff.
Summary of project results
The main objective of this project has been to develop the cooperation with institutions from the European Economic Area through the academic mobility of students, as well as of teaching and administrative staff in order to exchange good practices, acquire new knowledge and valuable information on a large scale, and thus balance the disparities between Romania and the EEA countries. The project has aimed to increase the number of beneficiaries, while ensuring the best conditions for study / practice / teaching / training as well as living at partner universities and institutions; to ensure transparency and equality of chances in all EEA actions; to increase the quality and volume of multilateral cooperation with academic institutions in the EEA, with the business, cultural and social environment of these three countries. Even though cooperation between Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (UAIC) and EEA HEIs is not something new, the project was needed to further expand the scope, both domain-wise and geographically, of UAIC academic international cooperation mainly by attracting EEA students and staff to UAIC as their exchange destination. In addition, this project has been a great opportunity to extend the collaboration with more HEIs in the EEA and also identify new institutions for student placement.
Taking into consideration the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on travel and academic cooperation at international level, the EEA Project has been rather successful among all the categories of participants (students and staff) of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, which is reflected in the number of mobility exchanges: 21 student internships, 14 study abroad periods, 6 teaching visits and 8 staff training visits (summing up 49 exchanges altogether). The number of both outgoing and incoming grantees was reached only partially. No incoming students carried out placement mobilities in our university and only 3 incoming staff came with a training mobility. The number of UAIC staff members interested of mobilities was considerably higher, but due to the incertitude caused by Covid-19, they did not participate to the selections, waiting for more favorable general conditions. In addition, colleagues from University of Oslo and University of Bergen expressed their wish to carry out teaching and training visits at UAIC, visits that were canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Summary of bilateral results
During the previous EEA projects, UAIC has witnessed a great desire for students to have academic experiences in the EEA outside the EU. This desire can be illustrated by the large number of applications and mobilities in the former EEA Programmes.Donor partners are higher education institutions and private institutions (mainly hotels, where students can carry out placement mobilities) in EEA countries. Both HEIs and private institutions played the role of host institutions for UAIC students and staff.The bilateral collaboration is planned to continue, both through the EEA Grants and through the Erasmus+ Programme.