www.unitbv.ro

The international context in which higher education operates has become more dynamic, more global and more competitive, requiring continuing adaptation, openness and collaboration. The university’s Strategic Plan takes account of the academic objectives comprised in the University Charter, the current and future requirements of the labour market, the development and extension of information technology (ICT), the enhancement of the "life cycle" in terms of information and specialisation. These objectives will be achieved by taking the following actions:

• • Improvement of the teaching-learning process by means of international partnerships, improvement of study programmes curricula, course modules, and didactic materials;
• • Stimulating interactive teaching activities and offering logistic and financial support to students for international practical training in Erasmus+ mobilities;
• • Offering students the opportunity to work out graduation/ dissertation theses in an international environment (university or company);
• • Stimulating outgoing and incoming student exchange for study with a view to developing transversal skills and enhancing employability;
• • Supporting the participation of academic and non-academic staff in international training programmes and thereby promoting the university at international level; this should bring to the fore both the traditional domains and the recently developed ones, as well as their outstanding results and achievements;
• • Increasing the number of study programmes taught in foreign languages and promoting the joint degree/double degree programmes especially for master’s degree programmes;
• • Strengthening the links between academia, research and business to promote excellence and innovation.

The Erasmus+ Office ensures permanent communication with the partner institutions and is governed by a Management Committee consisting of institutional coordinators and faculty coordinators.

For incoming mobilities, the Erasmus+ Office centralises the receiving applications from foreign students and staff and forwards them to the relevant faculty Erasmus+ coordinator. The incoming students and staff can opt for the Romanian language course offered by the Centre for Modern Languages at the Faculty of Letters.

The staff training mobility may be organised either by the Erasmus+ Office or by the faculty coordinators depending on the training objectives. The Erasmus+ Office assists the in-house staff to identify the most suitable mobility and to complete the administrative procedure. In addition, all the training offers received from the partner universities are posted on the website. The recognition of the mobility is grounded on the Certificate of attendance issued by the host institution and on the individual activity report.

Each year the Erasmus+ Office organizes two selection calls for outgoing students and at least two information events for the students and the academic and administrative staff. Each outgoing student has an assigned tutor who assists and mentors him/her in the host/ home institutions. All Erasmus+ coordinators arrange pre-departure meetings for the outgoing students, who are encouraged to seek advice from the previous year’s outgoing students. The reports of outgoing students on their time abroad are monitored so as to identify any problems and handle them with partner institutions.

UNITBV selects its international partners mainly considering previous individual experiences of its staff: fruitful cooperation at small scale may evolve in framework agreements at institutional level. Additionally, there are the UNITBV international vectors (alumni, former professors, etc. currently teaching in foreign universities) that identify and propose partnerships for UNITBV. Thus, our institution is expanding the international relations in Europe, North and Middle Asia, Africa, North and South America. International agreements with universities in Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union have also been developed recently.

Erasmus+ mobilities are valued by our university as means to enable students prolonged immersion in another country and culture. Therefore, our university takes substantial supporting action, such as offering foreign language courses in all the curricula and the full recognition and transfer of the ECTS.

At institutional level, we are keen to develop strategic partnerships and increase the number of inter-institutional agreements every year, assuring extensive international experience for both students and staff in our university and in partner universities.

The active implementation of the Erasmus+ programme has led to concrete outcomes, such as:

• • increased number of students and teaching staff mobilities in universities with tradition, who develop contacts and acquire new learning / teaching experience in a different academic environment;
• • development and adjustment of ECTS so as to cover all the fields of the study programmes for a better and faster contact of our university with the partner institutions and for a better match between the Learning Agreements. This activity complies with the Strategic Development Plan of our university and with the national regulations related to higher education.
• • Curricula development for courses and modules in the frame of national and international partnerships and projects at all three educational levels (bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees).

Transilvania University of Brasov respects in full the principles of non-discrimination set out in the Erasmus+ Programme and ensure equal access and opportunities to mobile participants from all backgrounds. Participation in the Programme advances our strategic engagement with the European modernisation and internationalisation agenda. Participation in the Programme will deliver benefits to a broader cross section of society by ensuring that students and staff are able to study and work across Europe and worldwide whilst equipping our graduates with skills, knowledge and competences that will help them integrate on a highly competitive global labour market. Even more, it is expected to enhance the attractiveness for our university and the quality of the prospective students.

ERASMUS POLICY STATEMENT OF TRANSILVANIA UNIVERSITY OF BRAȘOV

Aware of its potential in affirming values in society and contributing to the goals of building a European Education Area, Transilvania University of Brașov (UNITBV) adds the international dimension to the other three basic components that contribute to achieving its mission (i.e. teaching & learning, scientific research and service to society).

The strategy of internationalization of UNITBV has recently opened a new chapter, as part of the general strategy of the institution for the period 2020-2024. It is based on one of the three institutional priorities set for the next period, namely the intense promotion of internationalization activities, as a means of enhancing the performance of the university community. The achievement of seven out of the ten strategic objectives related to internationalization involves participating in the new Erasmus Programme. These objectives are the following ones:

• 1. Developing the institutional capacity and increasing the international visibility of the university through international counselling;
• 2. Increasing the university's potential to attract international students by setting up at least one programme taught in a foreign language in each faculty (including double degree/ joint programmes), especially at master's and doctoral degree levels;
• 3. Improving the language skills of academia, administrative staff and students and stimulating academic staff to teach in foreign language programmes;
• 4. Stimulating the participation of university staff in international teaching & learning, scientific or educational events, as a premise for the development of international cooperation, improving the visibility of the university and enhancing quality;
• 5. Stimulating the participation of academia and students in international mobility and cooperation programmes funded by national and international agencies/ organizations, of which the Erasmus Programme has the most important role;
• 6. Increasing the contribution of international reputed specialists in the teaching & learning, research and administrative processes of the university;
• 7. Adjusting the organizational structure and periodically organizing actions and events for international students, in order to increase the level of their adaptation and integration, as well as the interest in studying at UNITBV.

Regarding the first objective, UNITBV considerably values the international exchanges of experiences and best practices mainly in the fields where development of new policies and tools is needed. The epidemiologic crisis we are currently facing all over the world has revealed the need of reconsidering issues such as digital skills, sustainable development or inclusive education as key elements in consolidating the institutional capacity. We would certainly value the contribution of our long-term partners in the Erasmus Programme to enhancing the institutional capacity of the university. The International Advisory Board which is going to be established by UNITBV will consist of highly reputed specialists with large experience in university governance and who have been previously involved with our university; most of them are reliable partners since the first years of the Erasmus Programme implementation. Continuing the participation in the Programme will enable us to permanently ensure the expertize we need for external peer counselling on issues related to the university modernisation and development.

The achievement of the second and third objectives is very much relying on the opportunities offered by our participation in Erasmus: starting with the international experience gained by the academia participating in teaching assignment mobility, continuing with the language skills developed by attending different courses organized within the programme both for students and staff, or designing course modules and double/ joint degree study programmes in cooperation with our Erasmus partners.

For implementation of the fourth objective, the university has a clear view for stimulating its members to take part in international events as it has been proved that increasing research-development-innovation capacity of the institution and its international visibility can be also achieved by working in joint research teams, at international level. The partnerships established initially through Erasmus projects and strengthened by mutual trust gained in time have usually evolved towards long-term cooperation extended also to the research field. On the other hand, not only is the research targeted here; the participation to international events organized by our Erasmus partners on key issues related to higher education (i.e. digitalization, virtual mobility for a green environment, equal opportunities to learners for an inclusive education), as well as the events organized by UNITBV itself, contribute to enhancing the dialogue among partners with a view of identifying common solutions to challenges all of us are facing nowadays.

The participation of academia and students in international mobility and cooperation programmes is one of the constant objectives of UNITBV, always present in the internationalization strategy over the years and valid also for the next period. In this respect, the Erasmus Programme, in all its actions, is going to play a major role, as it has been until now. Full recognition of Erasmus mobility, both for students and staff, is granted and incentives for academic staff involved in education and research projects will continue. Additional support will be given to develop inter-institutional agreements for the less represented academic fields of the university offer. In response to the EC recommendation for active citizenship, UNITBV will set and activate the Erasmus Ambassadors Corps, as a vector for stimulating students’ participation in international mobility. The members will be trained to get motivation, education and accountability for the successful accomplishment of the mission. Besides that, specific actions are foreseen to improve dissemination on the opportunities offered by the Erasmus programme, within the entire university community.

Another strategic objective for internationalization aims to increase the contribution of international reputed specialists in the teaching & learning, research and administrative processes of the university. One of the main ways to achieve this is through Erasmus staff mobility programme, which allows our international partners, reputed specialists in different education fields, to carry on teaching assignments at UNITBV; at the same time, our staff and students are expected to benefit from their extended experience.

Last but not least, the university aims to adjust the organizational structure and periodically organize activities and events for international students, in order to increase the level of their adaptation and integration, as well as their interest in studying at UNITBV. Some examples are: ensuring updated information regarding the course catalogue on the institution’s website; intensifying the activities carried out by the UNITBV Student Welcome Team; involving the Erasmus Ambassadors Corps in support activities for the international students in mobility at Transilvania University; providing counselling and guidance for the Erasmus incoming students’ adaptation in a different cultural environment, as well as organizing events dedicated to them (Erasmus Welcome Day, International Student Cultural Night Out); stimulating the Erasmus incoming students to take part in short and medium-term scientific projects carried out together with their Romanian peers and to disseminate the research results by participation in student scientific events organized by the university.

Besides everything already mentioned above, it also needs to be added that, although the internationalization strategy of UNITBV is developed for the next four years, being a subsequent document of the general strategic plan, the commitment of the institution for internationalization and participation in the Erasmus Programme is conceived for a long term, definitely covering the period of the new Erasmus Charter, 2021-2027.

UNITBV aims to continue its involvement in all Erasmus actions, since they are all considered to play an important role in the implementation of our university strategy for internationalization and modernization. As it yields from the explanation presented above, all key actions contribute to at least one, if not to all seven strategic objectives.

KA1 – Learning mobility: The mobility of higher education students and staff is entirely managed by the Erasmus+ Office, which ensures the permanent communication with the partner institutions. This structure is coordinated by the Management Committee, consisting of institutional coordinators and faculty coordinators. The operational and communication methods are based on periodic meetings, direct contacts, and internet communication.

For incoming mobility, the Erasmus+ Office centralizes the receiving applications from students and staff interested in mobility at Transilvania University of Brașov (UNITBV) and passes them to the specific faculty coordinator. Each faculty Erasmus+ coordinator ensures mentoring to incoming students. A Romanian language course is offered to the incoming students and staff, on request, by the Faculty of Letters, through the Centre for Modern Languages.

Each year the Erasmus+ Office organizes two regular selection calls for outgoing students and at least two information events for the students and university staff (academia and administrative staff) during which the participants are familiarized with the Erasmus+ mobility and the international partners’ offer. During the latest years, additional selection calls were organized in order to increase the number of outgoing students. Special attention is paid to disadvantaged students (with low income) and to the students with disabilities; they are encouraged to participate in mobility and are informed about the facilities they could benefit of.

Each outgoing student has an assigned tutor and mentor, providing monitoring in the host as well as home institutions and assuring the mobility full valorisation. All Erasmus+ coordinators arrange pre-departure meetings for the outgoing students, who are encouraged to seek advice from the previous year’s outgoing students. The reports of outgoing students on their time spent abroad are monitored to enable any problems to be identified and discussed with partner institutions.

Starting with 2020, UNITBV is going to set up the Erasmus Ambassadors Corps, consisting of former Erasmus students willing to contribute to stimulating students’ participation in international mobility. They will be trained by the Erasmus coordinators for the successful accomplishment of their mission. At the same time, incentives will be provided as a reward of their supporting activity carried out with both outgoing and incoming students.

The staff training mobility may be organized either centralized, by the Erasmus+ Office, or by the faculty coordinator, depending on the training objectives. Erasmus+ Office assists the staff to identify the most suitable mobility and to complete the administrative procedure. In addition, all the training offers received from the partner universities are published on the website. The mobility recognition is based on the Certificate of attendance issued by the host institution and on the individual activity report.

UNITBV chooses the international partners mainly based on previous individual experiences of its staff: fruitful cooperation at a small scale may evolve in framework agreements at institutional level. On the other hand, there are the UTBv international vectors (alumni, former professors, etc. currently teaching in foreign universities) that identify and propose partnerships for UNITBV. As a consequence, our institution is expanding the international relations in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America and the number of inter-institutional agreements with universities from outside Europe (the so called ‘Partner countries’) has grown exponentially.

The opportunity represented by Erasmus+ mobility is recognized in our university as a valuable means that allows students prolonged immersion in another country and culture and there is considerable effort made across the institution to support mobility, in terms of language preparation through foreign language courses included in all curricula and full recognition and transfer of the ECTS. At the same time, ensuring an inclusive education by equal access to mobility of all students is part of UNITBV general strategy.

The last statement above is fully supported and the strongest argument is the university’s active involvement in KA2 – Cooperation among organisations and institutions: Partnerships for excellence – European Universities. Transilvania University of Brașov is part of the European University Alliance of Inclusion, Integration and Involvement - 3IN - together with other six universities: Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Finland, VID Specialized University, Norway, University of Applied Sciences Wurzburg-Schweinfurt, Germany, University of Malaga, Spain, ISAVE lnstituto Superior de Saude, Portugal and University Sorbonne Paris Nord, France. The fundamental purpose of the 3IN Alliance and the ambitious long-term goal is to co-create an innovative European University modus operandi for a better world - a world where no one is left behind. The participation in the Erasmus Programme - KA2 will definitely contribute to achieving this generous goal.

According to the long-term theory of change of our alliance, our vision of comprehensive inclusion is achieved through societal change and transformation, which are made possible through the following steps: 1) Higher Education Institutions' value-based cooperation applying an eco-social approach; 2) The formation of 3IN European University Alliance (Alliance of Inclusion, Integration and Involvement); 3) Contribution to Inclusive European Education Area (EEA), Leaving no-one behind; 4) Impact and dialogue between future change-makers and diverse local and global communities.

3IN Alliance provides added value to our students, staff, to the cities, regions and nations to which we belong, and to the European education area by means of following instruments and methods: 1) joint pedagogical, methodological and technological innovations, shared virtual and physical learning environments, support services and resources, courses and materials at all levels of HEIs; 2) inclusive opportunities to physically, virtually and mentally immersing into and exploring new cultures, languages and communities, 3) purpose-driven knowledge creating communities/hubs to increase scientific and applied understanding of cross-cutting issues in migration, populism, aging population, gender relations, and discrimination 4) flexible lifelong-learning paths created within the alliance and with other European alliances; 5) feasible ways to scale the results into other academic fields within the alliance and with other European alliances; 6) inclusive contact-points, networks and partnerships for our students, staff and stakeholders. All these have been already endorsed by the partner universities in the mission statement of the 3IN Alliance, signed by the rectors on February 13th, 2020, in Paris.

KA2 – Cooperation among organisations and institutions: Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degrees continues to be of great interest for UNITBV, as developing joint degree programmes especially in the master's and doctoral cycles is a priority in the next period. The experience gained by participation in such projects confirms that implementation of Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degrees has a major contribution to the quality enhancement of teaching & learning, as well as to increasing the university's potential to attract international students, mainly from emergent countries.

As for the other key actions, KA2: Partnerships for cooperation and exchanges of practices and Partnerships for innovation, and KA3: Support to policy development and cooperation, UNITBV will continue to play an active role in participating in different projects developed together with its Erasmus partners and to provide support for the modernization of higher education institutions from partner countries. The university’s activity carried out so far can be viewed on the website, at https://www.unitbv.ro/en/research/rezultatele-cercetarii/international-competitions.html, where those projects are presented.

The participation of UNITBV in the Erasmus Programme is expected to contribute to achieving the goals of the internationalization strategy developed for the following period. Thus, the aims and indicators for monitoring the impact are set according to the actions foreseen in the strategy, as presented below:

• • to identify the appropriate members of the International Advisory Council of UNITBV and to ensure the periodic updating of the membership list in line with the university’s general strategy; the traditional Erasmus partners are of major interest, in this respect;
• • to set up at least one study programme taught in a foreign language, especially at master’s and doctoral degree levels in faculties that have not yet included such programmes in their educational offer; Erasmus projects under KA2 will continue to be considered as means for curricula and/ or course moduls development, as well as for setting up double degree/ joint programmes, especially for master’s and doctoral degrees;
• • to undertake periodic internal evaluations of the study programmes taught in foreign languages, both in terms of the quality of the processes and the number of Erasmus incoming students who participate in these programmes; the evaluation will take account of several indicators such as: total number of Erasmus incoming students per year, the rate of Erasmus incoming students participating in programmes taught in foreign languages out of the total number of incoming students, level of satisfaction of Erasmus incoming students on the quality of the courses, new and modern methods applied in the teaching & learning process, etc.; the students’ feedback will be taken into account for quality improvement in the study programmes;
• • to improve the language skills of the UNITBV students and staff, by their participation in language courses offered by the partner universities within the Erasmus programme, as well as by efficient use of the instrument provided by EU, On-line linguistic support (OLS); the Erasmus projects developed in the next period under KA2 will consider organizing international summer / winter schools with intensive language courses for university staff and students;
• • to increase the number of students participating in the Erasmus mobility programme, both outgoing and ingoing; while the amount of incoming mobility is slightly increasing each year, thus confirming the international visibility and reputation of UNITBV, the number of student outgoing mobilities has been relatively constant over the last years; we intend to stimulate the students' participation in study and placement mobilities more intensely during the next Erasmus programme by: continuing to ensure the full and automatic recognition of ECTS credits gained in the host institution; making the Erasmus Info Days more relevant to students, using the Erasmus Ambassadors Corps as communication vectors for students; diversifying the dissemination methods, with increased focus on the social media platforms, etc. At the same time, we aim to increase the number of disadvantaged students/ students with disabilities participating in mobilities; quantitative indicators will be used for impact assessment, such as number of students (outgoing and incoming), rate of disadvantaged students/ students with disabilities out of the total number of outgoing students, level of interest shown by UNITBV students towards the information events: number of participants and number of applicants for an Erasmus grant out of the total number of participants in the information events, etc.;
• • to increase the number of academic and administrative staff participating in the Erasmus mobility programme, both outgoing and incoming; It is widely acknowledged that staff mobility has a major impact on the enhancement of the university internationalization process, for example by increasing the institutional capacity to deliver courses, even full programmes in foreign languages; during the next period, it is expected that all the academic staff members take part in international mobility or in international events of different kinds, the Erasmus mobility programme being the first means for achieving this goal; further measures will be taken to improve the recognition of skills acquired during mobility and the dissemination of the gained experience among the peers.
• • to improve the quality of partnerships in the sense of ensuring bilateral exchanges as well as joint involvement of partners in educational projects under Erasmus KA2 and KA3 actions; we expect not only an increase in the number of inter-institutional agreements but also their implementation with a high degree of satisfaction among beneficiaries; at the same time, we intend to raise the capacity of our partner universities (especially the ones from partner countries) to initiate and/ or participate in Erasmus projects that would help them to develop and modernize.

UNITBV fully complies with the principles of non-discrimination set out in the Erasmus Programme and ensures equal access and opportunities to mobile participants from all backgrounds. Participation in the Programme advances our strategic engagement with the European modernisation and internationalisation agenda, being committed to the three attributes of the future Erasmus programme: digital, green and inclusive. Participation in the Programme will deliver benefits to a broader cross section of society by ensuring that students and staff are able to study and work across Europe and worldwide whilst equipping our graduates with skills, knowledge and attributes that will assist them in a highly competitive global labour market. Even more, it is expected to enhance the attractiveness for our university and the quality of the prospective students. Last but not least, the participation of UNITBV in the European university consortium 3IN Alliance is expected to have a strong impact on the overall institutional modernization and development.

Prof. Dr. Eng. Simona Lache,

Vice-Rector for Internationalization and Quality Assessment
Erasmus+ Institutional Coordinator

Brașov, May 21st, 2020