STUDENTS

eCampus intends to contribute to the improvement of the society, offering online and blended high-quality courses and developing advanced research projects. A momentum for internationalization is the  distinctive sign of eCampus' strategy, also when it comes to teacher recruitment. The eCampus strategic plan establishes a significant increase of the teachers: during 2014, 71 researchers, 26 associate professors and 18 full professors have been recruited. Many of them have extensive international experience and several of them have a background in european projects.

eCampus promotes the international mobility of students and personnel. The University is part of several academic networks and has also developed several bilateral cooperation agreements.

Up until now the most important collaborations with the other universities are focused on:

• the active participation in the RIUL- Red Internacional de Universidades Lectoras where 53 universities, coming from over 10 countries, promotes the reasearch and the exchange with several european universities even outside of the EU programmes;
• the establishment of courses equivalent to the first two years of the Physiotherapy degree at the "Universidad Rey Juan Carlos" (Madrid);
• the formalisation of an agreement with the European Interuniversitary Association (Chiasso, Switzerland) for the provision of services. The international association directly manages the first two years od medicine in accordance with the Medical University of Sofia (MUS);
• a cooperation agreement with the Department of Sciences and Technology of the chinese province of Yunnan, in order to promote projects in the field of technology and science; 
• collaboration agreements for research and study exchange with the Catholic University of America (Washington), the University of Jaén (Spagna), the University Ibaguè (Colombia) and the LEILAC network (Latin America);
• a de-facto cooperation with the IILA - International Institute on Latin America and with Territories of Tomorrow Foundations, on adult education, distance learning, social and international cooperation and long-life learning programmes;
• a series of International Agreements for the Erasmus Mobility programme (Agreements.pdf)

The number of foreign students is approximately 5% of the total enrolments, and it is constantly growing. Taking into consideration the last years the University has registered a foreign student growth of the 29%, both from Europe (+40%) and from other countries(+24%). This is the result of an internationalization process based on the integration of the global dimension into the didactic and research activities, and of the expansion of our presence abroad. Taking advantage of its distance learning experience, eCampus hase developed a network of foreign partners capable of recruiting foreign students complementing the tutaring activities and the administrative support. At the same time eCampus has stipulated, and is in the process of stipulating, agreements with European Universities for the transnational management of the degree courses and for the mobility of the students and of the personnel.

The cooperation agreements are focused on Central and Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, and America, additionally a network of affiliations in Africa, China and Southeast Asia is being enstablished.

The participation to the Erasmus Plus programme is important for the achievement of the following objectives:

Valorization of the mobility and international linguistic competences of academic teachers, students and administrative personnel; 

Participation in the planning and realization of common activities of education and research, in order to improve furtherly our standards and in order to promote the visibility of eCampus on a european and international level;

Improvement of the eCampus didactics, through a greater europeanization and internalization of the curricula;

Promotion of the knowledge on european integration and of its value for eCampus and for the society in general, also through the partecipation in the Jean Monnet Action.

eCampus disposes of a vast campus near Milan, which can accomodate as many as 260 people students and staff. The majority of the students lives in the campus, and other use it whenever they come to the headquaters for seminars, exams, etc. The campus allows to conjugate telematic education with blended courses, in addition to facilitating international mobility abroad.

The eCampus students are increasingly homogeneous with regard to the age, and in addition to the working students, who have a more limited preference for the mobility, the students between 18 and 27 years are a significative component. During the last years the average age of the eCampus students has decreased from 39 to 29 years, increasing the request for an international mobility opportunity.

In the global world the contact among different cultures, a European identity and sense of belonging are crucial. Erasmus+ offers a great curricular opportunity, therefore the students for the mobility programme are chosen on the basis of their merit and motivation, while the incoming students are chosen on the basis of the available places and the Country of origin (in order to promote a fully international environment), in relation to the bilateral agreements.

The students are under the supervision of a tutor with whom they maintain a close contact. The academic coordinators organize meetings before the departures, and the students are encouraged to ask for the advice of other students with mobility experiences. The reports on the activities abroad are monitored in order to identify eventual problems and difficulties to discuss with the Partner Universities.

1. Promoting the mobility, the internationalization of the academic environment, the development of joined Courses and Research Projects, eCampus is a point of reference for the students interested in a modern and telematic University and who look at the international dimension for their professional growth. The encouragement to the use of English, and then Spanish, as languages used for teaching, facilitates the students who want to attend to their courses abroad.

2. The Erasmus+ program inserts the University into the european public thanks to the mobility of the teachers and to the possibility to realize international Research projects, promoting the increase in the quality and relevance of the curricula. A further international plus regards the providing of courses entirely in English, impacting also on the local students, who will have a higher possibility to be exposed to a course conducted in a foreign language. We also welcome any initiative aimed at promoting a european perspective on their courses on the teacher's part.

3. Considered the budget constraints and the absence of national financing, Erasmus+ represents for the eCampus students an essential opportunity for a mobility support. International cooperation is promoted for the students, the teachers and the staff, along with the participation in project financed by the EU with regard to the didactics and research. With the mobility we also intend to promote the excellence in research and contribute to the European Research Area.

4. eCampus is a private non-profit University, located in the heart of the highly industrialized Lombardy, which constantly cooperates with the companies.  The link with the territory is strategic to eCampus, since it can offer to the nearby companies students with international experiences. The participation to Erasmus+ allows the eCampus students to join their academic results with greater international experiences and greater occupation opportunities. Mobility and Research and cooperative research and didactic projects facilitate a continuous link between innovation and research.

5. eCampus is leader or partner to European Erasmus Plus projects for the planning and experimentation of new methodologies and didactic contents, in particular those aimed at promoting research activity and information for the european public and of european interest.