Initiatives for policy innovation (SocialErasmus+)

Key action: Support for policy reform
Action type: Foward looking cooperation projects
Duration: from 1 November 2017 to 31 October 2019
Total budget: 491,538.00 €

Partners

UVigo team

María Isabel Doval Ruiz
Project coordinator

Eva Garea Oya
Project technical coordinator

Ana Fernández Mosquera
Researcher

Project description

Many HEIs are seen as ivory towers that are disconnected from the wider community. While problems of social exclusion, unemployment etc. do not stop at the gates of a campus, a better connection between HEIs and their surroundings is needed. In order to overcome this problem, eight partner organisations and two associate partners have teamed up to build on and improve an existing project, the highly successful SocialErasmus, in which exchange students at European HEIs do voluntary work in their local communities. The partners represent exchange students, HEIs and schools and by joining forces they will be able to improve the existing activities, spread them to more HEIs and schools all over Europe and eventually include them in important policy tools related to the Erasmus Programme.

The project will propose both macro solutions (changing practices of HEIs) and micro solutions (tools for students, schools, associations).

Objective

AIM

  1. To increase the number of exchange students at European HEIs taking part in voluntary work in their local communities, in particular in schools

OBJECTIVES

  1. To develop guidelines and frameworks for exchange students, student associations, HEIs and schools who want to encourage voluntary work in local communities
  2. To develop a platform for cooperation between exchange students, HEIs and schools who want to encourage voluntary work in local communities
  3. To provide formal recognition of volunteering activities by defining learning outcomes achieved by means of volunteering in local communities of exchange students
  4. To further spread the practices of exchange students volunteering in local communities by influencing important policy tools related to the current and future Erasmus+ Programme. During the course of the project, we will build a one-stop-shop where all information related to SocialErasmus+ can be found and where interested parties (exchange students, HEIs and schools) can find each other and establish new partnerships

Role of UVigo

University of Vigo will, together with the other university partners, be highly involved in everything relating to the academic side of support to SocialErasmus+ activities, validating competences and academic recognition of credits.

University of Vigo will also be leader of WP7, and therefore have a crucial role in the evaluation and quality assurance of the project. In this role, University of Vigo will stay in close contact with the project manager and the Advisory Board, and liaise with the external evaluator.

University of Vigo will also contribute to the implementation in WP1 by being part of the Steering Committee, participating in all SC meetings and in the final conference, and by hosting one of the Steering Committee meetings in Vigo. It will also contribute to the dissemination and exploitation of the project results.

Activities

Major milestones established in the project description were the following ones and the report will assess if all partners produce them within the fixed deadlines:

  • WP1: Kick-off meeting in Brussels (December 2017)
  • WP1: SC meeting in Faro (September 2018) and Vigo (March 2019)
  • WP2: Drafting the competence framework, academic guidelines and practical guidelines (January 2018)
  • WP2: Finalising the competence framework, academic guidelines and practical guidelines (July 2018)
  • WP2: Validation workshop and Toolkit production (July 2018)
  • WP3: Online platform development (January 2018)
  • WP3: SocialErasmus+ database of HEIs and schools (August 2018)
  • WP3: Integration of WP2 results into the one-stop-shop (August 2018)
  • WP3: SocialErasmus+ Charter (promoted throughout the second half of the project)
  • WP3: Final one-stop-shop (January 2019)
  • WP4: Small-scale testing of SocialErasmus+ activities in Belgium, Spain and Austria (Spring 2018)
  • WP4: Large-scale SocialErasmus+ activities carried out all over Europe (fall 2018 and spring 2019)
  • WP5: First round of multiplier trainings in Poland, two trainings for 25 participants each (September 2018)
  • WP5: Second round of multiplier trainings in Slovakia, two trainings for 25 participants each (February 2019)
  • WP6: Campaigning for improving Erasmus+ Charter for Higher Education, the ECTS Users’ Guide and other key documents from the Erasmus+ Programme (second half of the project)
  • WP6: Internal and external conferences (second half of the project)
  • WP6: Final conference in Brussels (October 2019)
  • WP7: Evaluation and quality assurance plan (December 2017)
  • WP7: Advisory Board meeting in Faro (September 2018) and Vigo (March 2019)
  • WP7: External evaluation report (October 2019)

UVigo Activities

II Steering Committee, 27-28 February 2019 (Vigo)

I Steering Committee meeting, 8-10 October (Faro, Portugal)
It took place at Hotel Eva, Faro, Portugal. Partners are almost 12 months into a project of 24 months so there was a review of all the different things already done in the process of the Project.

Multiplier training, February 2019 (Wien)

7-13 February 2019
13-19 February 2019

The training was facilitated by trainers from YEU and focus on four aspects: How to best implement Erasmus in School activities; how to use the tools that are being developed in the SocialErasmus+ project; how to support international students in upscaling the content of Erasmus in Schools activities on topics such as cultural heritage; intercultural learning and tolerance for intercultural differences and how to teach and inspire other ESNers what you have learned on SocialErasmus+.

Multiplier training, September 2019 (Črnomelj, Slovenia)

Trainings were organized in Črnomelj, Slovenia.

First training was held from 17th until 23th, and the second training from 24th until 29th of September.

Both trainings gather 50 participants in total. The trainings were focused on creating a set of tools for Erasmus Students, ESN Sections and Universities in order to provide students with more hands on experiences. The profile of the participants will be participants who are interested to learn both about how to do high-quality Social Erasmus activities and how to spread what they have learned so that more volunteers take part in these activities in the future. Upon return to their home countries, they will organise their own activities with local student volunteers.

The Validation Seminar, 2-4 July 2018 (Besançon, France)

The Validation Workshop took place at 2 Place Saint-Jacques in Besançon and members were welcomed by ESN Besançon.

The Academic Framework was outlined during the Validation workshop and the complete Competence Framework was written based on ESN Besançon current project about Additional Educational Unit. The Competence Framework is a set of documents that are collected into a toolkit that people interested in organising a SocialErasmus or Erasmus in School activity can consult.

SocialErasmus+ charter was already discussed in Besançon. This Charter points out the different benefits the Erasmus+ programme can have on exchange students as well as on local communities. The focal point of the charter is the social impact of the Erasmus+ programme.

Kick-off meeting, 18-19 December 2017 (Brussels)

The official kick-off seminar was held I Brussels. Two members of the team travelled to Belgium to attend the meeting, Eva Garea Oya (Technical Coordinator from University of Vigo) and Rafael De Paz Uruena (External Evaluator from University of León, Spain).