Erasmus Mundus - Why it's Important

Today's the deadline for Erasmus Mundus Applications to be a Masters Course for 2010.  In all the rush of completing forms, it could be easy to forget why this is important.  It is important not for the international or European agendas but because it provides an education.  Both a formal education as part of a Masters Course but also a social, cultural and personal education.  I came accross the below 2 videos from 'my' EM SEN Cohort 4 which reminded me that, despite the hard work, it is really worth it. 

Higher Education and the General Election 2

Tonight was the third and final Prime Ministerial Debate and this time on the economy but was actually the strongest and most exciting of the three debates.  As you can imagine those of us in the public sector (including universities), watched listening for any sign of where budget and job cuts will be coming from but there were no real hints.  That said, following on from my last posting on the election, a few more reflections have come to mind. 

The economy has been hitting the headlines today with the Greek 'austerity cuts' and an article from the Economics Editor at the Telegraph saying that the Governor of the Bank of England thinks that whoever gets in will have to make such severe cuts that they will be voted out of power for a generation.  Both of these have given us a bigger hint on what we can expect under the next government than the actual parties fighting to form it.  There are going to be cuts and they're going to be severe but we're still not clear when or how bad they're going to be.  Immigration featured again in the debate but the issue of student immigration was not mentioned this time. 
Now the General Election's still continued to mention Higher Education at various points from Cameron getting a rather good grilling by a student on funding to articles in the Times Higher on the power of the student vote.  There was an article in Research Fortnight (which I can't link to as it is a subscription service) which has also discussed the Manifestos pointing out the Tory and Labour plans for £extra places, a bigger push for universities to commercialise their knowledge and a promise to consider an ongoing review into student fees."  They also pointed out that Labour and the Lib Dems plan to 'ring-fence' research (though the article questions what that means).  They have also counted the number of times each party uses the words Education or University: Labour wins (57), followed by the Lib Dems (35) and the Conservatives last (22). 

The best summary has been by International Focus, a newsletter for people working in that domain in HE.  Their analysis says Labour is the only one to actually tackle internationalisation of HE saying they want it to be "a great export business."  I disagree with this because education can not be seen purely as a business (though it needs a greater business sensibility, education is about people not numeric bottom lines) and also that education is something that is exported.  This implies colonialism, 'giving something to the world' when actually we welcome a huge number of students and the idea of cross-cultural exchange would reflect the nature of the UK's universities today.  The leaflet goes on to say that the Tories focus (vaguely) on student immigration and the Lib Dem's focus on HE from a domestic point of view.  Whatever it predicts that the new government's position on "HE will probably be to invest less and manage more."  Not rocket science as we've already seen it start but succinctly put. 

That's all the detail I'm going to have on education though I do miss the BBC's Daily Politics debate on education as I travel to France on Saturday.  Which means I now have all the information I will have to cast my postal ballet.  Now, as with all elections and all voters, this isn't a single issue vote.  How I much I want to pay in taxes, how I want those taxes spent, the role of society in the individuals' life, the economic downturn, who I believe I can trust to deliver their promises, the implications of a balanced parliament in a 3 party system and numerous other issues have influenced my vote.  The one option which was closed to me was not voting.  That said, looking at how one issue affects has shown how many areas impact on my career and my sector has been fascinating.  The words Higher Education or Universities may not be heard that much in this election but its spirit influences many areas.  From immigration to diplomacy, from home affairs to economic growth, from European relations to the value of education, it touches it all. 

Tomorrow I will have to take that decision. I have been betting for 3 years that there will be a Conservative/Lib Dem mix in the next government.  Will I be right?  What will be the impact of my and your vote?  What's the future for Higher Education under the next Government?  We can start (or continue) these questions in a week's time but I suspect the answer to them will remain unknown for some time.

Designing Multiple Choice Questionnaires

Just had confirmation that my Ethics Application for Questionnaires and Interviews related to my project has been cleared at school level with no corrections.  Just need it to go through the University Board on 18 May. 

I was thinking in a Psychology Research Day that I attended this morning (as part of my work - really exciting even if I did not understand it all!) about my questionnaires.  A lot of questionnaires either ask people to rank a list of items or pick there top 1 (or so many).  Instead I have gone for a hybrid.  I ask them to select the respondents' top answers and then to select ALL that apply.  My logic being there will be a key top answer which I need to identify.  However, some of the other items may also be important but by asking the respondent to identify all relevant answers, I am not making them rank things which are hard to differentiate or not relevant to them at all.  Also my lists are intended as inspiration for the justification of the answer which provides the qualitative data I really want.  Let's hope it works ...

Certifying Internationalisation?

Just read an article in this month's International Focus on 'Internationalisaing Europe'.  Tad pedestrian to start off with: the magazine's for professionals in the international wings of universities - we don't need a summary of where the EU's thrown money at Higher Education in the last 20 years.  That said, two interesting points. 

Firstly, it previews the fact that on 10-11 May that the HE Ministers will "adopt a set of conclusions about the internationalisation of HE and it's importance for Europe's Universities".  This will be very interesting as one of the things I am questioning at the moment is what the EU means by internationalisation in its Erasmus Mundus legislation.  I am pretty convinced that the EU's understanding of the concept has shifted over the last six years (though the documentary analysis I plan to work on next week will give firmer answers).  The term has changed in meaning since Erasmus Mundus appeared on the scene and there are a variety of cultural impacts on how the term is understood.  This document may give me some hints as to how some see the term.  But a single set of conclusions and reflections on the importance of internationalisation may be tricky with the variety of cultural, legislative and educational frameworks operating in the EU. 

Secondly, the article previews the plans of the Flemish Dutch Accreditation Agency (NVAO) to issue a certificate of internationalisation.  This will be based on "vision or policy on internationalisation; learning outcomes; curriculum, educational practice and assessment of students in line with international goals; staff with international experience; and sufficient inbound and outbound mobility of students." This intrigues me. As with the EU guidelines, how can you certify something that is constantly changing and that people struggle to find a single definition for and, also, does this not risk allowing one version of internationalisation?  It is very good to see the impacts on the teaching and learning aspects of a university's life but the importance of international research is important.  I am not sure that NVAO's topics allow for understanding or impact; as I am finding looking at Erasmus Mundus, the policy or theory may be good, the reality may be different.  Finally, I wonder how well UK universities would be rated when the number of outbound mobile students is low and it is one of the fastest growing provider's of off-shore teaching.  Does this definition of internationalisation really feature in NVAO's above five headings?

The article concludes that a certificate will either be a useful tool or fade into insignificance (not much in between, apparently).  For me, the thing with 'certifying' anything is that is makes me think of 'certifying' in the madness sense of the word.  Perhaps I won't go any further with that idea! 

Shirley Valentine

Saw "Shirley Valentine" at the Mernier Chocolate Factory last night; a strong performance by Meera Syal but was helped no end by an excellent script.  It looks at an individual trapped in their everyday life (in this case a woman but I think the theme is broader than women's liberation), insanity (is this the world around us or the one we construct?) and experiences beyond our norm (in this case, an international experience). 

This gave me two thoughts which impact on my research.  Firstly, how much the world has changed since the play was set in the 1980s.  Travel, the freedom of the individual and education have widened the world around us.  The impact of internationalisation and, in my case, international education (whether formal like Erasmus Mundus or informal as in the holiday in this play) are important about allowing people to think about their identity and the role in the world.  Issues which are forgotten in everyday life and in our education system. 

The second thought was a personal one on where I want to be.  Do I feel trapped by my job?  Do I miss the time to do research?  Do I want that (international) academic career?  What about that trip across the Baltic and Nordic States?  Life traps people by accident - we all need food and something to excite our grey matter - but I do not want to regret not doing things.  And one of those things is finally becoming Dr. Christopher! 

First Conference Paper Accepted

Just had e-mail that my first conference paper has been accepted which is exciting, if a little terrifying.  What if no-one turns up?  What if, in the 10 minutes discussion after the 20 minute presentation, they ask me questions I cannot answer ?  Now I need to write the paper (3500 words or so), prepare slides and think through questions. 

The abstract which has been accepted was as follows:

The European Commission envisaged its Erasmus Mundus (EM) programme as having 2 purposes, offering both “a framework for valuable exchange and dialogue between cultures […and] a distinctly ‘European’ offer in higher education to those beyond EU borders.” (European Commission: 2008) To this end, Masters Courses created by European collaborations and inspiring international collaborations were formed. Amongst the masters courses was EM SEN from which 110 students from 39 countries have graduated following studies in the UK, Netherlands and Czech Republic.


This is an example of what some have called ‘soft power’ (Nye 2005, Trilokekar 2009) and what others have seen as “globalisation from below” (Malhroum 2008): using networks of students to facilitate change in collaboration with European organisations. However, a pilot study into the student experience has found that although 66.7% of EM SEN’s students were interested in changing inclusive education in their home context and 32.0% recognised the European Union’s drive for collaboration through the EM programme, only 18.5% of students actually wanted to work in collaboration with other countries after graduation.

This paper will discuss some of the academic, policy and legislative discourses around the EM programme and specifically the EM SEN course before examining the students feelings towards collaboration to work on inclusion. Perhaps, following time as part of a global cohort, EM SEN’s students find ‘being with others’ is the greatest inspiration for collaboration in inclusive education.

Becoming An Academic

Sometimes one goes to a lecture having read an abstract and the speaker comes out with a totally different opinion to the one you expected.  This happened on Friday when I heard Prof Bruce Macfarlane talk about ‘Academic citizenship and the hollowing out of academic life.’  Now glancing at his abstract I thought he was criticising the 'upskilling professional support staff and de-skilling of academics' from the perspective that support staff aren't capable of doing an academic's job something I regularly come across in my employment and somewhat disagree with.  His actual argument was that academics not undertaking their support roles (from personal tutoring to academic skills development, from mentoring colleagues to peer-reviewing) undermines the academic community as they are not engaging in a 'service' aspect to their role.  Which was a relief as I can agree with that argument somewhat.  However, there are 3 issues I have with it:

(1) It promote an overly romanticised view of academia where academics were kind, interested in their students general development and about playing a full role as an 'academic citizen'.  Now the 'Blogging Don' Mary Beard wrote on a subject aligned to this a couple of weeks ago.  This argument that the unstructured, informal systems were better misses the students (like my parents) who were lost and forgotten at university.  They passed but the academic experience could have been stronger which is where professionals come in.  Also, a different type and level of service is required when students are paying more for their education. 

(2) It questions, for me, the role of institutions which do both research and teaching/learning.  Some countries separate 'research' into separate institutions to those who do 'teaching'; this is common in America, affected the Dutch institution in my Erasmus Mundus consortium (though they are increasing their research profile), means Teacher Training cannot be in Universities in Austria but is rare in the UK.  I asked about this and his response was that although focusing on teaching would improve the 'service' element, it might weaken the teaching as it might be less up-to-date and would not involve teachers who themselves were still learning. 

(3) I actually see convergence with more academic staff (and more 'service' staff for that matter) taking on work which is more administrative and the actual way to progress is holding both sets of skills.  Young researchers can use this as a way up and I think is helping us move towards a more professional Higher Education Sector. 

Therefore, two lessons have been learnt.  Firstly, not to pre-judge an academic's argument and, secondly, to question the role I want research, teaching & 'service' should play in my career.

Strikes in Higher Education

The University and College Union has announced that London's Universities may be hit by a wave of strikes on 5 May including my own institution, the University of Westminster (UoW).  Now The Socialist Worker has confirmed the statistics with 61% in favour of strikes and 64% in favour of action short of a strike.  That said, there's been no confirmation of turnout and it's worth noting that unions at universities do not have a huge membership.  That said, the vote reflects the unhappiness and uncertainty over the 'financial crisis' which is affecting universities.  Job losses, cuts and restructuring are all the order of the day and I suspect that's what's behind these proposed strikes (which may be cancelled if negotiations are concluded). 

Before I go any further it is worth noting that I am not unionised (they are not that powerful in my sector and I am not a huge fan of them anyway) and below are personal reflections unlinked to my institution.  It's not the first time I have seen strikes at universities, as part of my Masters, the University of Sheffield refused to mark work until a pay dispute was resolved (which may be one of the 'actions short of strike' which may affect students at UoW as we enter exam season) and there have already been substantial protests at UoW in the 2 months I've been there. 

That said, they are all (relatively) tame compared to the action I saw in France in Spring 2004.  Though my University - Universite Stendhal, Grenoble 3 - continued to operate, this strike was led by the students' unions (which are more like trade unions than the drinking holes seen in the UK) and somewhat supported by the teaching unions.  Students were protesting over cuts in the grants to graduates (particularly those unemployed), unhappiness over reforms and uncertainty about the new 'Bologna Process', installing the Degree-Masters-Doctorate progression that we are familiar with in the UK. 

What resulted was several weeks of sit-ins, noisy invasions of lecture halls and general unrest.  One rapidly got used to negotiating these things and there was a genuine excitement, a feeling of witnessing (if not actually participating) in something important.  French academics are always a little nervous about striking students as they did nearly topple the government in May '68 and then, as in 2004, the students soon went back to work as soon as they realised that they risked failing their degrees. 

However, I think it illustrates a key point when the sector feels threatened, in whatever country, it wants its voice heard and strikes can be a tool.  The French have traditionally been very good at this and universities in the Greek sector likewise (particularly after the recent budgetory cuts). In the UK, Academics have been less militant over recent years, there's a slight sense that the sector is there to serve and strikes would get in the way of that.  That said, attack the status quo too hard or too fast and people will react against it. 

The return of striking (or at least the threat of it) is in part due to the cuts from the economic downturn, reforms in universities and the general election with its resulting political shifts (note this new strike is scheduled for the eve of us going to the polls). People will agree with change until their lives are disrupted, as seen in students fearful of failing exams, and at which point the modern trend in strikes seems to be to urge people to return to work. Now, I think striking is going to be more assertive in a sector that is under-threat though I do wonder how effective it can be in academia which prizes academic and intellectual independence (something that the political bias of the unions threatens).  For the main part, though, I think there is a growing realism in the UK (as there was in the strikes I saw in France in Spring 2004) that the changes will happen, no matter what, so the best possible victory for all the sides is that their opinions and justifications for action are heard even if the final outcome remains unchanged. 

Higher Education and the General Election

It was debate number 2 this evening and it focussed on international affairs for at least some of the time.  Not much to do with education though the last debate had very little on it, as well.  Education policy in the UK seems to end at 18 when big public statements are made, leaving Higher Education (HE) somewhat out of the frame and International Education completely out of the frame unless it relates to immigration or Europe.  

Now, the education policies of each of the parties have been compared with passing references to universities.  The Conservatives and Labour have surprisingly close policies for HE: await the outcome of the Browne Review.  Lord Browne is looking at student finance and how universities will finance themselves; he's widely expected to recommend lifting the cap on tuition fees so that universities can increase what they charge to help balance the books when there is less governmental support.  In addition, revisions to student loans is expected (when to pay them back and how much) and adaptations to the scholarships schemes (who receives them and how much).  None of this has been sorted and there have been various calls for an announcement ahead of the election by each of the parties on tuition fees but I doubt one will appear.  That said, the Lib Dems have been discussing this and in his interview with Dermot O'Leary on BBC 3 discussed his plans to scrap tuition fees over 6 years and it was good to finally have a commitment to this even if it does fall slightly short of the immediate scrapping of all fees promised in 2005.  Nothing much was said of removing the target of getting 50% of 18 year olds into HE though this is partially the way of funding the ending of tuition fees; fewer people going to university so more money to spend on those that do.  Clegg did point out that this is a false claim by Labour saying this had been down-graded from attending to simply having an experience of Higher Education which could be as little as a couple of weeks. 

So not a hugely engaging start to a discussion on HE - nothing on reducing the grants to universities, research funding levels or a vision for the future of our universities.  The issue of immigration was discussed at the first leaders' debate and this affects HE more directly than many would think.  Now the Tories want to crack down on Student Visa Abuse which is fair enough (particularly when some students are conned into studying at the non-existent University of Kensington), Labour are asking all foreign nationals to have ID cards which seems an extension of the current visa (though why not make them carry their passports and visa - is that not enough proof?) and both the 'main' parties want to make English Language Testing harder.  I haven't forgotten the Lib Dems but they don't seem to focus on this as much.  The Tory and Labour policies follow on from the new points-based system which Labour introduced and the Tories would extend.  For HE, this moved the emphasis to them acting as the police at times and having to track student movement.  The harder regulations did result in a delay of some students' arrival.  The further hardening of entry requirements could make studying in the UK less attractive and at a time when International Students help 'balance the books' for universities, this could make the economic situation worse for them. 

Another possibility for such changes in UK immigration for Universities is where the student actually studies.  There has been a growing trend (as highlighted by the UK Council for International Student Affairs) for students to study for a UK qualification but to never set foot in the UK.  In 2007/8, 341,795 students came to the UK to study at a university (this number is before the new visa regulations so a drop is anticipated when figures are released) but 196,750 students studied for a UK qualification and never set foot in the UK.  This latter number is expected to grow and actually exceed the number of students who undertake 'physical' mobility to the UK, with students instead preferring 'virtual' mobility and still receiving a British Degree.  Now, some of this has been due to UK government support through the British Councils UKIERI and PMI2 schemes (which should feel threatened in any spending review) but much of it was happening anyway.  This could be the way forward for the funding of UK Universities if immigration policy changes after the election but needs continued investment from the government - and no-one seems to be talking about it. 

And what about Europe?  The EU funds a surprising amount of UK research and Education through its FP7 (research) programmes, the educational Lifelong Learning Programme (which includes the famous Erasmus Scheme) and, of course, Erasmus Mundus!  Now, we all know Labour would continue its relations with Europe (and supports its expansion), the Conservatives are more cautious (and would probably draw us to one side of the EU) and the Lib Dems are the most in favour of our participation in the EU.  With the volume of funding which comes from the EU and the academic richness which is borne out of relationships with other European HE Institutions, would this be something universities (or governments for that matter) would be prepared to lose?  But this evening's Leaders' Debate focussed on the Euro and socio-political discussions without actually looking at some of the close relationships we have with our nearest neighbours at an informal, extra-governmental level. 

As to the wider world, Higher Education has quite a role to play in international policy and diplomacy.  The variety of schemes funded by the British Council (including the UKIERI and PMI2 schemes mentioned earlier) are examples of where we are trying to use diplomacy and gradual education to change the world around us rather than force and tanks!  Joseph Nye (former Dean of the JFK School of Government at Harvard) has described this as 'soft power' which roughly equates to the over-used idea of winning 'hearts and minds'; higher education has the real possibility to change international relations.  Possibly not the driving force of any foreign policy but one which surely should be considered by all of the parties; instead of the large sums spent on defence, smaller and strategically aimed sums for global partnerships in Higher Education may be just as effective.  None of this featured in the debate; there was no real fundamental debate on a direction for international policy instead the leaders focussed on military issues. 

In a sense, education has featured in the discussions of this general election but not in a direct, concrete way.  Universities feature in the international economic, diplomatic and political relations of this country and aren't simple 'ivory towers' to educate Britain's teenagers.  The power of Higher Education may not have featured but each of the leaders in tonight's debate might want to consider their potential role in any future government. 

And how will I vote?  Well, the debates go on but as an individual voter I feel engaged in politics and policy in a way I have not felt before; there is a real  three-way choice this time and I am going to wait to make a decision. 

An Ideal University?

Just on train reading collection of articles from 2006 special edition of 'Higher Education in Europe' on European university culture. All of them seem to form part of the idealisation of the universities in either the 60s/70s or the medieval period. Weren't they elitist in their subject areas, staff and students? Not sure universities ever had a golden age. Don't think they can ever attain their utopic visions, either. Universities are constantly changing as new knowledge uncovered, populations to teach found. And was there ever or can there ever be a single national or European university culture due to this individuality?

Ash and the Future of the Travelling Academic

OK so planes are now back in the sky and everyone is busy counting the cost of the Ash Cloud (or Ashmagedon as I heard it referred to by Evan Davies on this morning's Today Programme). 

Business will have done particularly badly out of this and the difficulties facing schools have been highlighted but what about universities?  Emails have been sent out to students about missing deadlines, alternative plans have been put in place whilst the School Research Director is stuck in Spain and the sector-specific magazine 'Times Higher' has documented some of the problems.  However, I think this asks some more fundemenatal questions of Universities. 

If natural events such as these cause the suspension of flights then the impact of restricted flights through global warming could have a wider impact.  Could this mean fewer international students?   Or more students on remote campuses or learning electronically?  Could this mean fewer international conferences and 'flying professors'?  Could video conferencing become the next big thing to hit universities?  The financial impact could be huge - the technology is not widely or cheaply available in many Higher Education Institutions - and the academic impact of less face-to-face interaction could be interesting. 

And what about schemes like Erasmus Mundus which are founded on physical mobility?  When changing mobility patterns (due to environmental issues) was raised at a recent meeting of Erasmus Mundus co-ordinators it was dismissed as 'Erasmus Mundus is a physical mobility programme' but the concepts and impact of virtual mobility must be also discussed now? 

So was the Ash Cloud just a hint of the world to come?

Questioning and Answering?

Welcome (back?) to my blog!  Now I have blogged in the past but have decided to start a new, research-orientated one in place of the older, personal one. 

So, why have I restarted? Well, I have been doing a PhD for a little over 12 months now and have been told that I need to keep a diary. And I’m not very good at it. I tried keeping a diary as a child and I got bored. Later, I tried keeping a blog and I became too busy. The thing which is different now is that my current research changes daily and I have notes with reflections on them everywhere and regularly lose them. So it would be good to put them all into one place so that they are not lost. I sort of regret not doing this sooner but can email in my thoughts to this blog using my mobile as the ideas come to me. Now Twitter is still a bit too fast for me right now but may be used in due course.

What can you expect? I plan to hand out this address at conferences and other such events so it is going to be semi-formal blog but a little more personal than some of the more formal academic blogs out there. So you’ll learn about how about the PhD is going (though I can't promise to be as funny as Piled Higher and Deeper) and about me but the focus will be on the research in the broadest sense. Now that could mean discussing the Parties' statements on higher education in the General Election, research methods, some of my latest findings or simply something I want to be feedback on.

What am I researching? Well, the official title of the PhD is “European Masters: The Student Experience, A Case Study of Erasmus Mundus."   It's a bit of a mouthful but as with all PhDs it has the necessary colon in it.  Let's go backwards a bit and explain how I got here: I used to work on a cross-European Masters degree in Special Education Needs (EM SEN) run jointly by Roehampton University (London, UK), Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic) and Fontys University of Applied Sciences (Tilburg, The Netherlands).  This was funded by the Erasmus Mundus Programme (EM) from the European Commission and thus offered large scholarships to students from outside the European Union.  Therefore, I welcomed some 110 students from 39 countries.  What I am looking to find out is the relationship between the aims of the European Commission for Erasmus Mundus and the aims of the students.  This boils down to half a dozen questions:

I aim to answer these through documentary analysis (looking at European Legislation is more interesting than you would expect!), questionnaires (would a PhD in the social sciences be complete without them?!) and interviews (with students, alumni and the EU). 

So this research looks at how European Policy is implemented, how Europe and its universities interact with the wider world, how students' views of the globe change through such a course and what they actually learn - as well as how they use the skills/knowledge imparted by EM SEN. 

So what next?  Well, I'm hoping to blog regularly and at least once a week.  Entries will be shorter than this and may just be passing thoughts or one-liners.  Now the title of the blog comes from the fact that a lot of my work comes from the fact there are often more questions and any answers I have are only provisional and I expect people to disagree.  Come back and discuss with me how you see Higher Education, internationalisation or anything else mentioned.  Now just to be clear, this research is independent of the European Union, my employers and the participating institutions so opinions on this blog are my own and no-one else's! 

Until the next time!