Case study
The adoption of formal selection procedures that are applied at all levels of the institution
Description
Sending higher education institutions should have fair, transparent, coherent and documented procedures for the selection and award of grants to mobile staff and students, easily available for all participants. These processes and their corresponding criteria should be applied at all levels of the institution – including departments and/or faculties.
The approach taken at the University of Masaryk (Czech Republic) demonstrates how faculties or departments can effectively operate selection procedures within an overall institutionally set framework. The selection processes take place within individual faculties and they are under the control of the departmental coordinators. Once the selection is made, successful applicants are passed to the University’s Centre for International Cooperation, who assigns resources for approved mobilities, while the faculty retains overall responsibility for the preparation of the mobility.
Masaryk University is a large, traditional university, with more than 35,000 students. According to university statistics, the University of Masaryk receives between 300-400 students under Erasmus+ per year, and about 600-700 students go to study abroad annually.
The University of Masaryk operates a two-tier structure to process and support international mobility. This requires effective cooperation between the central office responsible for international activities and the various faculties. The Centre for International Cooperation (CIC) at Masaryk acts as the central repository and reference point for all internationalisation activity. It prominently publishes relevant information on the dedicated website for mobility and international cooperation. This information covers basic conditions of acceptance and eligibility of mobility periods, guidance, documents, templates and brochures. In addition, the Centre is also responsible for allocating grants to selected students and staff for their mobility.
The mobility selection process is managed and conducted within the university’s individual faculties. Specific information related to the individual faculties is available via dedicated departmental mobility web-pages where all departmental mobility coordinators are listed with their contact details. Taking the webpage of the Faculty of Social Studies (FSS) as an example, it contains relevant information for those interested in undertaking a mobility, whether incoming or outgoing, both for staff and students.
The image below shows a sample of the CIC webpage designed for Erasmus+ students:
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