International Cooperation
eCampus’s mission is to contribute to the improvement of society by offering quality on-line and blended education and carrying out advanced research. A strong drive towards internationalization is the hallmark of eCampus strategy, including its academic recruitment. eCampus strategic plan foresee a very significant increase of its academic staff: in 2014 and 2015 it recruited 71 new lecturers, 26 associate professors and 18 full professors. Many of them have impressive international experience and network of relations, and several have coordinated European projects.
eCampus encourages international mobility of students and staff. Several potential partnership could not be finalized in the absence of the ECHE. However eCampus is members of some Universities network, such as the Red Internacional de Universidades Lectoras, which currently gathers 53 Universities from Europe, Asia, North and South America (http://universidadeslectoras.org/miembros). And it has several bi-lateral cooperation agreement. Therefore, some academic staff did manage to spend periods abroad, both in Programme Countries and in Partner Countries, and some foreign scholars spent short periods at eCampus. With ECHE eCampus will be able to finalize new agreements and increase mobility, possibly also for longer periods, counting also on the EU support. The drive for the partnership comes from eCampus academics, and Partner Universities and Network have been selected that share interests in mobility and research cooperation with at least 1 of the 5 eCampus Faculties.
So far the main collaborations with other Universities focus on:
· the active participation in the RIUL – International Universities Network for Reading, where more of 50 universities from more than 10 Countries promoting research and exchange relationships with many European Universities also beyond EU Programmes;
· the provision of the first two years courses fully recognized by Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid) as part of the degree in Physiotherapy;
· the formalization of an agreement with the inter-institutional association (Associazione Interuniversitaria Europea), based in Chiasso (Switzerland) to exploit eCampus staff and facilities. The international association is directly managing the first two years of Medicine as part of the courses provided by the Medical University of Sofia (MUS);
· a cooperation agreement with the Department of Science and Technology of the Chinese province of Yunnan, to promote joint projects in the field of technology and science;
·cooperation agreements for research and exchange students with The Catholic University of America (Washington), the Jaén University (Spain), the Ibaguè University (Colombia), the network LEILAC (Latin America)
· a de facto cooperation on the adult learning, distance learning, e-learning, international and social cooperation, longlife learning programs is in place with the International collaboration of IILA – International Institute of Latin America, and the Territories of Tomorrow Foundations.
The number of foreign students is about 5% of the enrolment, and continuously grows. Considering the two last academic years with complete figures the University recorded a 29% per cent growth among the foreign population, both from the EU (40% growth) and from third countries (24%). This is result of eCampus internationalization process, consisting in the integration of the world dimension within teaching and research activities, and expanding abroad its brand. Exploiting its expertise in long distance learning, eCampus is developing a network of foreign partners (affiliate) able to recruit foreign students as well as being providers of local facilities, tutoring and administrative support. On the other, in a more traditional fashion, eCampus is forging ties with European and non-European University to manage cross-national degree, students and staff mobility.
The cooperation agreement in place or ready to be concluded if eCampus ECHE application will be successful focus on Central and Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, and the Americas. While initiatives and missions have been undertaken to create a network of affiliates in Africa, China and South East Asia.
The possibility to participate in the Erasmus Plus Program is seeked to pursue the following goals:
•Enhancement of international mobility and language skills of academics, students and staff.
• Participation in joint design and implementation of training and research activities, to improve our own standards further, and to foster eCampus visibility at the European and international level.
•Enhancement of eCampus teaching and offer, through increased Europeanization and internationalization of curricula.
•Promotion of European integration knowledge and value within eCampus and in the wider society, through participation in the Jean Monnet Action.