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86Интернационализация высшей школы и роль
коммеморативных практик в современном университете
УДК 378:37.014
DOI: 10.30914/2227-6874-2018-11-110-117
Internationalization of higher education through academic mobility
A. Green, O. S. Safonkina
The article deals with Erasmus+ Key Action 1 International Credit Mobility, one of the most popular programmes under European Commission. The article considers the opportunities that it provides for the students and staff from European Universities and those beyond Europe: to study, teach or train in a new academic and geographic environment. It analyses the partnership of University of Bedfordshire (UK) and National Research Mordovia State University (Russia). From the position of programme requirements, it highlights its unique character to expand international cooperation, open up new regions and Universities for staff and students, develop and strengthen partnerships and engage with new fields of international research. The article discusses the relevance of the mobility to the internationalisation strategy of each University. It also talks about the quality of the cooperation arrangements which details previous experience of similar projects with the higher education institutions, and explains how the Partner Universities are planning to share responsibilities, roles and tasks during the life time of the project. Quality of project design and implementation is also highly important. It presents the different phases of the mobility project and summarizes the partner organisations plans in terms of selection of participants, the support provided to them and the recognition of their mobility period. Impact and dissemination of the programme considers the desired impact of the mobility project on the partner organisations at local, regional and national levels.
Keywords: Erasmus+, Credit Mobility, Key Action 1, internationalization, University of Bedfordshire, National Research Mordovia State University.
Citation for an article: Green A., Safonkina O. S. Internationalization of higher education through academic mobility. West - East. 2018, no. 11, pp. 110-117. DOI: 10.30914/2227-6874-2018-11-110-117
This article presents a case of the partnership of Ogarev Mordovia State University (Saransk, Russia) and University of Bedfordshire (Bedford, UK) in the area of Key Action 1: Mobility of Individuals.
© Грин Э., Сафонкина О. С., 2018
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Within Erasmus+ initiative, the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) supports various activities and one of them is Key Action 1 with the largest share of 63 % in Erasmus+ programme budget supporting [4]. Key Action 1: Mobility of Individuals provides beneficiaries with a unique chance to spend a period of time in another participating country [2]. Regardless of the status of the participant, they always can gain valuable experience of life, study and work. However, there are three category of beneficiaries within this programme: students, faculty and University staff not involved or not only involved into direct teaching. Thus, the action provides opportunities for students to improve learning performance and their skills, gain cultural awareness, improved foreign language competences, develop better awareness of the European project and the EU values and enhance their employability and career prospects by increasing the opportunities available to them in the future [5].
As regards staff both teaching and non-teaching, the mobility activities are expected to improve various competences in the area of their professional profiles (teaching or training), broaden understanding of practices, policies and systems in education in EU countries, increase capacity to foster changes in the area of international of tertiary education institutions, to increase the quality of their work and activities for the benefits of various relevant target groups as well as improve foreign language competences and increase motivation and satisfaction in their daily work [5].
The relevance of the strategy of the mobility project between Ogarev Mordovia State University (OMSU) and University of Bedfordshire (UB) is defined first of all by the internationalisation strategy of the higher education institutions. The aim of this mobility project is to promote staff and student mobility from OMSU to the Centre for Research in English Language Learning (CRELLA), UB, and correspondingly, the mobility of staff from UB to OMSU, and to enable staff and students at both HEIs to gain professional experience in another country, benefitting from knowledge transfer and intercultural experiences.
The University of Bedfordshire has a well-established tradition of training both international students and staff: it promotes effective English language education through research into English language learning, teaching and assessment. CRELLA at UB is the largest specialist university research institute in language assessment in the United Kingdom and is dedicated to research into the improvement of assessment of language abilities around the world. It has a high reputation for developing courses of English for varied HE contexts and purposes. CRELLA has long history of excellent research on the assessment of language abilities, not only impacting on training and students experience within UB but also influencing the theory, policy and practice of English language testing/learning worldwide. This was recognised when CRELLA was awarded 100 % for the impact of its research in the UK's most recent national research evaluation exercise, REF2014.
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CRELLA works with a number of international providers of language assessment including with Cambridge English Language Assessment in the on-going research programme into its English language proficiency examinations, with Trinity College London Examination Board to validate and revise their language tests and with the British Council, which we advise on its language testing programmes and their global impact. Projects such as the investigation into the use of academic English language tests to evaluate the language skills of foreign doctors for the UK General Medical Council and the development of the Password tests for entry to Higher Education, which involved original research into the language demands on students in HE, have given CRELLA unrivalled expertise in the areas of language learning, assessment and testing.
CRELLA also has extensive experience of working with teachers in higher education to improve the quality of assessment in line with best European practice. Recent projects include ProSET, with 11 partner universities in the Russian Federation, awarded 975,000 Euros under the TEMPUS programme and TALE, coordinated by the University of Cyprus and awarded 250,000 Euros under Erasmus+. These practical projects, have given us extensive insights into current practices and areas for improvement in language teaching and assessment in higher education in former Soviet countries.
This mobility project not only is in line with CRELLA's ambition to expand cooperation with partners across Europe, but it will also contribute to UB Global Engagement Strategy, particularly helping UB meet such objectives as developing multiculturalism and international awareness by providing opportunities for staff and students to gain intercultural experience and furthering the goal of offering opportunities for international scholars to engage in academic activities at the university. It will also strengthen and extend the links CRELLA has developed in the Russian Federation with these partners, in line with developing their international links and partnerships). In connection with development and enhancing their international research, enterprise and knowledge transfer profile, it will enhance the global reputation of CRELLA and UB, promoting research collaboration and knowledge transfer.
OMSU is a National Research State University with over 30,000 students. It is a classical University which means it pays equal attention to both Humanities and Science. The development of internationalization of HE is very important as it can influence all spheres of the HE development. OMSU runs a number of double degree programmes and is intensively involved into Erasmus+ programme, including Capacity Building in the area of Higher Education and Jeanne Monnet. However, the university realizes the importance of ongoing international cooperation, thus increasing competitiveness and innovativeness of the education offered by it.
The interest in international mobility is defined by the priorities OMSU sets within the Programme of University development for 2016-2020. It emphasizes
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the development of international cooperation in the field of academic research and academic mobility for both students and staff. OMSU has successfully implemented Individual Mobility programmes involving both students and staff with 12 European countries: UK, Italy, Finland, Romania, NL, Ireland, Bulgaria, Serbia, PL, Latvia, Hungary and France. Also, OMSY conducts mobilities and double degree programmes with a number of non-EU partners, such as China, Tajikistan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine, etc. However, it emphasizes that internationalization should be rooted in the EU experience, as this can foster the growth of national education and increase integration with international Higher Educational Institutions. The relevance of the Individual Mobility to the University goals is also clearly stated in Com-petiveness Programme of the University for 2015-2020, where academic mobility, EMI and international research are envisaged as the main strategic priorities for the University.
The internationalization policy of OMSU is based significantly on academic mobility for both staff and students, as the increase of the international University capacity and attractiveness is possible only within the participation of both categories in European exchange or research programmes. Thus, CRELLA and OMSU participated in the TEMPUS ProSET project, where OMSU was the national coordinator for the Russian Federation, providing the target audience of in-service and pre-service teachers with improved language skills and educational competences. This project, conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, dramatically improved the situation of Testing and assessment across the Russian Federation, making it possible to broaden the horizons of professionalism and support professional development, leading to better recognition of competences gained through the learning periods. [1] Therefore, the quality of the cooperation arrangements is detailed in the previous experience of both partners in similar projects with higher education institutions, responsibilities, roles and tasks which are defined in the Inter-institutional Agreements that the partners are to sign. According to them, both HEIs will be involved in developing the skills of particular groups of trainees.
All mobilities will take place within the period of two academic years and both HEIs will provide support for visas and accommodation. In OMSU the project will be administered by Erasmus+ Officer, who is the Head of International Relation Office of OMSU. That will guarantee the complete correspondence to the legislation for visa, insurance, and other legal procedures. At the level of the Department the project will be managed and supervised by Deans to provide the correct implementations of curricula for students' mobility and selection of candidates. The outgoing staff mobility from OMSU will be conducted by the people who will be chosen due to their professional relevance and competence as well as their expertise in training university teachers to achieve the sustainable
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multiplication results of the project though further training of the University staff. That is why they should have a prior experience in attending workshops by European teacher trainers and in conducting own workshops in teaching and assessing EAP for pre- and in-service teachers. Student mobility will be conducted on Master's level (in EAP, ELT and LTA), which will allow the participant not only participate in every day training, but also will enable them to collaborate on research and innovation projects. All in all, the selection will be made on the basis of academic and research merits as well their language skills. UB will ensure compliance with the legislation and Erasmus+ requirements for all relevant procedures and paper work. The outgoing staff mobility from UB will be conducted in a similar pattern to OMSU. The staff members will be selected for their professionalism as well as their expertise in training university teachers in order to provide sustainable multiplication results of the training programme delivered by UB.
The quality of project design and implementation is provided through the transparency of the structure of the programme, proper planning and monitoring structure. This mobility project is divided into 3 stages: preparation, implementation, and follow up. The preparation stage will cover encapsulating processes, systems and resources that will be undertaken to impellent planned activities. It will also cover in-depth needs analysis. English language levels of potential participants will be reviewed using a QA leveling test, students will be selected for the mobility based on their merits and language level. In this way, the selection of both HEIs for this project will reflect a deliberate choice to create a quality partnership that builds upon shared expertise between EU and Russian partners. The resulting project plan will reflect both the needs of each HEI and the administrative support needed to implement the activities. The Mobility Agreement will be signed to ensure the implementation of the project in line with EU rules and standards.
The implementation stage will cover all incoming and outgoing mobilities of students and staff. UB will offer training in teaching English for Academic purposes including testing and assessment module and English as a Medium of Instruction to OMSU staff on site; the latter will then participate in teaching and observing its staff delivering such courses. UB staff will then train a large group of OMSU staff on their sites respectively and will also deliver teaching as part of in-service teacher training for MA courses. Participants from OMSU are English language teachers so no additional language support is necessary. MA students will spend 5 months in the Institutions participating in study activities and conducting their MA research.
At the Follow up stage, the mobility period and the training delivered will be recognised by UB as an output for Knowledge Transfer both in the Programme Country and in the Partner Country and the materials produced will also be
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recognised as research and scholarly activity outputs. For the Partner Country, the training will be recognised as evidence of Continuing Professional Development while the outputs produced will be recognised as outputs for scholarly activity.
The mobility project will have an impact on several levels. At the local level, it will contribute to the development of the expertise in teaching foreign languages and academic skills. The participation of UB will provide knowledge transfer in terms of expertise in teaching foreign languages and relevant academic skills, which allow both HEI to promote sustainable inter-university co-operation in the relevant fields. For UB the programme will contribute to the university's internationalization agenda. By developing competence in teaching through the medium of English, this gives the students of UB the opportunity to study at partner institutions such as this one so one positive outcome would be the introduction of an exchange partnership with OMSU. This will also have a positive impact on UB as OMSU students will be able to come to UB and contribute to the intercultural experience of both categories of students. It will also enhance the reputation of UB as a teacher training institution on the national and international stage.
On the regional level for OMSU, the programme will facilitate the establishment of an experienced pool of teaching staff who, after participating in this programme, will have acquired the necessary skills and experience to develop and introduce a new course in languages for in-service university staff, undergraduate, postgraduate students and new career development courses for various categories of people. Fostering the reciprocal development of human resources will also improve and develop the issues related to teaching foreign languages to provide the comparability of university curricula to EU standards and to the quality of qualifications.
The impact of this programme will be evident on a national level, too. Empowered with EU quality standards in language related areas, OMSU staff and students will contribute to the development of national qualification frameworks in line with Russian national priorities by promoting the introduction of English into all circles of tertiary education. The participation of the University of Bedfordshire will enhance mutual understanding between peoples and cultures of the EU and of Russia, reform and modernise higher education and develop the quality and relevance of higher education.
Therefore, the project will make it possible to promote development of LTA at a new UK proved quality level in Russia; the insights drawn from this development will provide UB researchers with new, context-specific perspectives. This Mobility programme is also expected to bring positive and long-lasting effects on the participants and participating organisations involved, as well as on the policy systems in which such activities are framed.
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Refrences
1. Borisova S., Chmykh I., Gvozdeva M., Kalinina A., Kozhevnikova L., Kuznetsova O., Levchenko V., Milyavskaya N., Mironova O., Novikova V., Onoprienko E., Polshina Yu., Sadovskaya T., Sadykova A., Safonkina O., Sannikova S., Shablikova N., Shkuratova T., Simonova O., Solnyshkina M. other. Course handbook for promoting sustainable excellence in english language testing and assessment. Moscow, 2014. URL: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=25380096 (accessed 20.01.2017).
2. Erasmus+ Programme Guide. Version 2. 2017. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/ erasmus-plus/sites/erasmusplus2/files/2017-erasmus-plus-programme-guide-v2_en.pdf (accessed 20.01.2017).
3. Green A. B. Exploring Language Assessment and Testing. Routledge: Introductory Textbooks for Applied Linguistics. 2013.
4. Key Action 1. Available at: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/key-action-1 (accessed 20.01.2017).
5. Key Action 1. URL: Learning Mobility of Individuals. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/ erasmus-plus/programme-guide/part-b/three-key-actions/key-action-1_en (accessed 20.01.2017).
6. Safonkina O. S., Burenina N. V., Kalinina A. G. Assessment of english for russian universities: implementing new techniques and moving forward. Yazyk, kul'tura i obshchestvo v sovremen-nom mire: materialy Mezhdunar. nauchnoi konf., ed. by: B. A. Zhigalev (otv. red.), E. S. Gritsenko, E. P. Savrutskaya, E. R. Porshneva, S. N. Samozhenov, I. Yu. Zinov'eva, E. V. Plisov, T. Yu. Ko-losova, S. M. Fomin, Yu. N. Terekhina (executive secretary). 2012. C. 173-176. Available at: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=20576513 (accessed 20.01.2017). (In Russ.).
Submitted20.07.2018; revised20.08.2018.
All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
About the authors
Anthony Green
PhD, Professor, Professor in Language Assessment, University of Bedfordshire,
tony.green@beds. ac. uk Olga S. Safonkina
Ph. D. (Philosophy), Associate Professor, Ogarev Mordovia State University, Saransk,
olga. safonkina@gmail.com
Интернационализация высшего образования через академическую мобильность
Э. Грин, О. С. Сафонкина
В статье рассматривается программа Erasmus + Key Action 1 International Credit Mobility, одно из самых популярных направлений работы Европейской комиссии, а также возможности, которые программа предоставляет студентам и сотрудникам европейских университетов и вузов за пределами Европы: учиться, преподавать или стажироваться в новой академической и географической среде. В данной работе анализируется опыт сотрудничества Университета Бедфордшира (Великобритания) и Национального исследовательского Мордовского государственного университета (Россия). С позиции программных требований подчеркивается уникальный характер этой программы для расширения международного сотрудничества, открытия новых регионов и университетов для ППС и студентов, развития и укрепления партнерских отношения и участия в новых областях международных исследований. В статье обсуждается актуальность мобильности для стратегии интернационализации каждого из вузов-участников. Обсуждается качество
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соглашений о сотрудничестве, в которых подробно излагается предыдущий опыт подобных проектов с высшими учебными заведениями, а также объясняется, как университеты-партнеры планируют делиться обязанностями, ролями и задачами в течение всего жизненного цикла проекта. Качество проекта и его реализация также очень важны для рассмотрения в рамках данной работы. Представлены различные этапы проекта мобильности, обобщаются планы партнерских организаций с точки зрения отбора участников, поддержки, и признания периодов мобильности. Рассматривается потенциальный итог проекта с точки зрения распространения результатов на местном, региональном и национальном уровнях.
Ключевые слова: Erasmus+, Credit Mobility, Key Action 1, интернационализация, Университет Бедфордшира, Мордовский государственный университет им. Н. П. Огарёва.
Для цитирования: Грин Э., Сафонкина О. С. Интернационализация высшего образования через академическую мобильность // Запад - Восток. 2018. № 11. С. 110-117. DOI: 10.30914/2227-6874-2018-11-110-117
Список литературы
1. Borisova S., Chmykh I., Gvozdeva M., Kalinina A., Kozhevnikova L., Kuznetsova O., Levchenko V., Milyavskaya N., Mironova O., Novikova V., Onoprienko E., Polshina Yu., Sadovskaya T., Sadykova A., Safonkina O., Sannikova S., Shablikova N., Shkuratova T., Simonova O., Solnyshkina M. other. Course handbook for promoting sustainable excellence in english language testing and assessment. М., 2014. URL: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=25380096 (дата обращения: 20.01.2017).
2. Erasmus+ Programme Guide. Version 2. 2017. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/ sites/erasmusplus2/ffles/2017-erasmus-plus-programme-guide-v2_en.pdf (дата обращения: 20.01.2017).
3. Green A. B. Exploring Language Assessment and Testing. Routledge: Introductory Textbooks for Applied Linguistics. 2013.
4. Key Action 1. URL: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/key-action-1 (дата обращения: 20.01.2017).
5. Key Action 1. URL: Learning Mobility of Individuals. URL: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/ erasmus-plus/programme-guide/part-b/three-key-actions/key-action-1_en (дата обращения: 20.01.2017).
6. Safonkina O. S., Burenina N. V., Kalinina A. G. Assessment of english for russian universities: implementing new techniques and moving forward // Язык, культура и общество в современном мире: материалы Междунар. научной конф. / редкол.: Б. А. Жигалев (отв. ред.), Е. С. Гриценко, Е. П. Савруцкая, Е. Р. Поршнева, С. Н. Саможенов, И. Ю. Зиновьева, Е. В. Плисов, Т. Ю. Колосова, С. М. Фомин, Ю. Н. Терехина (отв. секретарь). 2012. С. 173-176. URL: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=20576513 (дата обращения: 20.01.2017).
Статья поступила в редакцию 20.07.2018 г.; принята к публикации 20.08.2018 г.
Все авторы прочитали и одобрили окончательный вариант рукописи.
Об авторах Грин Энтони
PhD, Professor, Professor in Language Assessment, University of Bedfordshire, tony.green@beds. ac. uk Сафонкина Ольга Сергеевна
кандидат философских наук, доцент, доцент кафедры английской филологии, Национальный исследовательский Мордовский государственный университет им. Н. П. Огарёва, г. Саранск, olga.safonkina@gmail.com
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