You could be forgiven for thinking that over the summer months activity slows in the mobility team, with no students on campus and academics focusing on research, and perhaps we find ourselves with less work. But that is definitely not the case!
In addition to processing all of the paperwork for incoming students, finalising payments for the outgoing students who are finishing their Erasmus placements, and drafting exchange agreements, we also made time to attend some mobility events and build networks with mobility colleagues from other UK universities.
In June I attended a Westminster Higher Education Forum Seminar on ‘Challenges and Opportunities for Increasing Outward Student Mobility’. It was a morning full of interesting presentations, and ended with a question and answer session with the panel. For me, the most interesting and informative talk was given by Frances Rix, a Business Graduate from Kingston University London. Frances enjoyed her study abroad so much she has become an ambassador for the Erasmus + programme. It was refreshing to hear her talk honestly about overcoming challenges, and how even small achievements can be a cause for celebration when you are adjusting to living in another country and culture.
In August I, along with my colleagues Agathe Lairy and Francesca Ajello, went to Coventry University for a two-day HEURO (Association of UK Higher Education European Officers) workshop. The main focus of this workshop was European mobility and Erasmus +, and the two days were roughly split into incoming and outgoing – although there was a lot of commonality across the two areas.
There were informative talks from a number of members. The workshop provided us with the opportunity to discuss challenges and share best practice between members. One of the sessions I found most useful was about the research that shows links between mobility and employability: less likely to be unemployed, more likely to work abroad, more likely to achieve a 1st or 2.i, and more likely to have a higher management role.
As well as all the facts and figures, this session also covered tips for students to translate a study abroad experience for CV and interviews. All of this will definitely be useful for Bath students embarking on their final year, and we look forward to sharing this information with them.
If you would be interested in having a member of the International Mobility Team talk to your students, please contact us at student-exchanges@bath.ac.uk
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