Amanda OSBORNEStudy Abroad Manager/Erasmus+ Institutional Co-ordinatorGlobal Engagement

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/studyabroad/

Study Abroad at Warwick: looking at two examples of funding opportunities (how they support engagement and the longer term impact on opportunities for students)

• University of Warwick• Background• Student population• Internationalisation

• Study Abroad at Warwick• Strategy: Internationalisation University level• Study Abroad Strategy• Participation

• % of student population• Numbers• Departments• Nationalities

• Training: Intercultural,

• Erasmus+ Widening Participation • In the beginning• In practice• Additional Financial Support• Warwick Bursary for Study Abroad

• Warwick – Monash Alliance• Background• Study Abroad and the Alliance• Erasmus+ Funding (KA107 HE ICM)• In practice• From the Students• Lessons

• EMPLOY• TBC

University of Warwick

4 FacultiesArts 13%

Science 35%Social Science 46%

Medicine 6%

Student body:UG 13,864PG 9,540

Located on the outskirts of

Coventry, West Midlands

19Departments

in the UK top 10

Graduates 3rd most targeted by

UK employers

Staff body5,926

2,318 - 41% of staff are non

UK

Go Global

IGGY

University of Warwick 1965 - 2016

Students Non UK

9,363UG 3,931PG 5,432

Goal one: Enable our students to succeedProvide a life-changing education, an outstanding student experience, a global perspective.

Objective 6: Global citizensWe will

✓ Increase the global mobility and awareness of students through our international partnerships, so as to offer more international opportunities and placements as integral elements of degrees.

✓ Launch flexible and distinctive transnational degrees with our international partners, providing an outstanding global learning experience for our students.

Warwick strategy

Warwick Study Abroad

Goal 1Study at Warwick: Provide a life-changing education, an

outtanding student experience, a global

perspective

20% of the undergraduate students

to study overseas by 2020

Review barriers to mobility: Academic

Risk Funding

Oportunities

Governance: review the credit transfer policies

Learning Experience: flexible opportunities

for study abroad Creation of a Study

Abroad Moodle

Erasmus+: International

Parntership Funding

Service: innovative and supportive service to enhance the student

experience

2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 *2015/2016 (expected)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Erasmus+ Student Mobility

Worldwide Outgoing Placement Nos

Erasmus+ Student Mobility Erasmus+ Worlwide Mobility [ICM] - outoundWorldwide Outgoing Placement Nos Visiting Outgoing Placement Nos

Outbound Mobility 2012 - 2016

Centre fo

r Educa

tion

Economics

Philosophy

Politics

and International S

tudies

Sociology

Warwick

Business

School

Warwick

School o

f Law

020406080

100120140

Social Sciences

Chemistry Computer Science

Engineering Mathematics School of Life Sciences

Statistics0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Sciences

0

20

40

60

Arts

Faculty/Departmental Participation

Erasmus+ study students eligible for WP

2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/20160.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Percentage of cohort Eligible for Erasmus+ students eligible for disadvantaged student grant

2011/2012

2012/2013

2013/2014

2014/2015

2015/20160

100200300400

Eli-gibl

e

Study Abroad Cohort

Eligible Study Abroad Cohort

Encouraging and supporting mobility for all

Open day presentations and stall at the fair

Information sessions Autumn Term

Pre-departure sessions Spring term

Study Abroad Team drop-in sessions

Intercultural Training

MOODLE

The inclusion of the Widening Participation element within the

structure of Erasmus+ grants in 2011/2012 helped with support for

mobility.

Erasmus+ Widening Participation

The eligibility of students for the additional

Widening Participation funds is established

through the Warwick student finance team,

who receive regular updates from Student

Finance England, and are able to easily

identify eligible students.

Any student who is not identified as eligible at the beginning of the

academic year, are directed to the student finance team

• They must submit a revised finance application to provide

evidence of their change in status

Students are paid the Widening participation grant at the same time

as their Erasmus+ grant unless there is a change of status during the

year

• Students who are not funded under Student Finance England are

assessed on an individual case by case basis and are required to

submit evidence of household income.

In practice

Students who are ineligible for WP, may become financially disadvantaged

during their Erasmus+ year. The University of Warwick protects funds from

their Erasmus+ OS grant to support them.

Students must submit a form through their departmental co-ordinator

who needs to assess and authorise the request. Funding up to an amount

of €500 can be granted to the student.

The limit of €500 was set to match the €500 WP grant in the first year of

introduction. This has proved acceptable as a standard amount, but can be

exceeded in exceptional circumstances.

Additional financial support

Authorised requests for additional financial support have been in regards to:

- issues with accommodation

- medical emergencies requiring support outside of that covered by insurance

- Crisis situations requiring immediate travel home, or preferred travel home due to individual reactions i.e., the bombings in Paris where some students wished to return home to overcome their feelings of shock and panic

In addition:

The University of Warwick has initiated a bursary to provide a reduced tuition rate for Erasmus students that have an income assessed by SFE as being below £25k. This is a specific Warwick Bursary initiative.

Additional support will be offered to Warwick Bursary students going abroad under the Erasmus+ Programme (whose family incomes are less than or equal to £25,000) to cover the amount of fees charged for that Erasmus year (£1,350 for 2016/2017). For Warwick Bursary students whose family incomes are between 25,001 and £35000, a reduce fee waiver of £650 will be offered in their year abroad.

Warwick Study Abroad Bursary

Lessons and impactBest left forgotten and is the communication in which we introduced the identification of the Widening participation grant in 2011/2012.

An email was sent to all students to say that we had finance set aside and that requests could be made by students who felt financially disadvantaged. This caused an influx of forms requesting additional financial support.

Few of these requests were because of genuine financial need, and many were because the student felt they should be able to travel and wanted support for this. Many student were left disappointed by our inability to fund their vacation time travels.

Identifying the team that has access to the information that Student Finance England have on eligible students for the WP grant and developing a sound working relationship with them.

This is the same finance team who manage the payment of Erasmus+ grants. They have a comprehensive understanding of the process

The ability to offer students financial support in crisis situations, is vital and can act as the main impetus for a student remaining on placement. Providing a level a financial security or the means to return home following a crisis may help the student maintain their emotional position to allow them to continue.

The Warwick – Monash Alliance

“We look at everything the Universities do and ask the question: Is it better done

together?”

“We look at everything the Universities do and ask the question: Is it better done together?”

Background to the Alliance

• Developing since 2009

• Launched Nov 2012

• Joint University chairs

• Joint UG, PG courses and doctoral research supervised by academics in both institutions

• Joint alumni, fund-raising, communications

• Shared systems, shared best practice

• Reinforcing each other’s global links

The Alliance is designed to ensure that both universities are positioned to compete in a changing environment and offer global opportunities to students, faculty and staff

The strategic potential associated with this global partnership is continually evolving, as new models for education delivery emerge and develop and, perhaps, new institutions join the alliance

Study Abroad and the Monash Alliance• Warwick's student mobility programme with Monash is an

essential part of the broader Alliance

• A key aim of the Alliance is to help meet the increasing student, industry and government demand for universities to produce graduates with a global education

• Student mobility opportunities are strategically important to both universities as students from both the UK and Australia increasingly recognise the intercultural and employability benefits of study abroad

• From an ambitious start of 10 places each year, the numbers have grown at a remarkable rate and in 2015 could exceed over 90 students going out from Warwick from 15 different departments

It is recognised that not all students will be able to take up this opportunity, and this was one of the drivers for the Erasmus+ bid for funding for 2015/2016

Support through Erasmus+ (KA107 HE ICM) would provide greater scope to encourage as many students as possible to take up the opportunities available to them to experience study abroad:

• boost participation in study abroad at Warwick from the current levels of 16% of our undergraduate population to our target of 20%

• help to grow the numbers of incoming exchange students to Warwick from Australia, helping to enrich and internationalise an already-diverse campus community

Erasmus+ Funding

Warwick was successful in 2015/2016 in the Erasmus+ Programme Countries bid for funding for:

– Students to and from our partner institution Monash, Melbourne Australia

– 8 students each way received amounts of: Outbound from Warwick €650 per month for a maximum of 4 months 27 days, plus €1100 towards travel expensesInbound to Warwick €850 per month for a maximum of 4 months 27 days, plus €1100 towards travel expenses

From the students

The process for the selection of the successful students for the Monash Erasmus Grants:• Confirmation of their participation in publicity events and

marketing materials• Expectation to attend two study abroad sessions

• The successful candidates have created a blog and are actively engaging with this providing excellent materials for the Study Abroad opportunity

In practise

Integration of Erasmus+ programmes and Worldwide University exchanges

- Diversity- Equal opportunities- Higher level of cross team support - Simplification of Study abroad team responsibilities = increased and

consistent provision of support forStudentsPartnersColleagues across the University

- Consistent overarching processes- Consistent responsibilities and

requirements for all Study Abroad students

Integrating systems and unifying programmes is hugely beneficial and the positives definitely outweigh the negatives, despite difficulties this is definitely worth pursuing. Be prepared to protect the time needed to be spent working through how the different programmes can be simply administered using the same processes.Erasmus+ forms which are perceived by Erasmus+ students as onerous, are now used for all Study Abroad Students. This has helped us manage our essential monitoring points for all Study Abroad students whilst bringing the process into line. It means that any study abroad student has a responsibility to complete the forms, with the exception of the Erasmus+ student contract and grant receipts. BEWARE of the differing academic calendars across the world!

Lessons and impact