Erasmus Staff Mobility in the Building of a European Network: The Case of a Central European University

Abstract

Globalization now applies to almost all aspects of life, and it also applies to the world of science. Internationalisation and interdisciplinarity are fundamental determinants of modern research and education. The foremost factor of functioning in the international world of science is the mobility of students and scientists. Considering this context, the objective of this study was to analyse the staff mobility for teaching under the Erasmus+ programme at the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences (UPWr). The research took into account the mobility of staff for teaching (STA) within the period of the academic years from 2009/2010 to 2020/2021. The methodological approach applied in this study is based on the concept of mobility network analysis and mobility flows. The geo-visualization was prepared with the use of a spider diagram. Using this approach, the connections between spatial locations and domains of scientific activity were analysed. The results show that the mobility flow at UPWr rose significantly after the authorities of the university decided to increase the funding for STA, and eventually was slowed down by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the findings in the geographical aspect show that there were two main regions of destination, which were the Iberian Peninsula and the closest neighbouring countries, where the predominant institutions could be observed. The most mobile group of teachers were the ones representing environment sciences. The STA flow is not reflected in the students’ mobility flow. COVID-19 has enhanced the virtual component of learning, resulting in the strengthening of the blended mobility model.

TQM and SDGs for Erasmus+ Programme—Quality Education, Reducing Inequalities, Climate Change, Peace and Justice

“…The notion of sustainability has a close association with the Erasmus Programme (Kafarski and Kazak 2022). The authors mentioned that the studies carried out by Nogueiro et al (2022c) andDe La Torre et al (2022) led to similar results, showing the relevance of certain SDGs for the Erasmus Programme, including SDG 4 (Quality Education).…”

Ensuring sustainability in internationalisation efforts at higher education institutions

“…According to Kafarski and Kazak (2022), the promotion of global education experiences has clear effects on the economy in many professions and domains, putting sustainability into action, requiring assistance to transition from traditional teaching to a more global setting, with the Erasmusþ Programme contributing to the SDGs, in particular SDG4 (inclusive and equitable quality education), SDG5 (gender equality) and SDG8 (decent work and economic growth). Foreign language programmes have been identified as good platforms to advocate for the SDGs (Makarova, 2021).…”

The state of academic careers in OECD countries

“…The major policy shift came after high enrolment rates had been attained and the focus moved more clearly towards public accountability and efficiency questions (McNaughtan, García and Nehls, 2017 [21]). This involved reforms to institutional governance, the expansion of quality assurance, and the adoption of new funding models through performance-based institutional funding, competitive and fixed-term research grants (Eurydice and Crosier, 2019 [6]; Jongbloed et al, 2023 [52]; OECD, 2020 [1]). These reforms have transformed the academic profession, expanded the role of higher education professionals, and changed academic career appraisal (Teichler, 2021[53]).…”