Mobility windows – from concept to
practice
Irina Ferencz, ACA Policy Officer
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
Gent, 6 November 2014
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
Outline
Why discuss ‘mobility windows’?
Mobility windows – what are they?
Mobility windows – a new phenomenon?
Types of mobility windows
An example – a Bachelor programme with multiple
windows
6. Impact and recommendations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
1. Why discuss ‘mobility windows’?
 Student mobility is high on the European political agenda – push to
increase current volumes:
 EU and Bologna Process 20% benchmarks
 Even more ambitious national or regional goals (50% - AT, DE; 33%
Flanders)
 ‘Mobility windows’ – one increasingly often quoted solution to
overcome mobility obstacles
 But, highly unclear what ‘mobility windows’ are – lack of precision,
user-driven definition(s) → need for some clarity and for a rational
discourse
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
1. Why discuss ‘mobility windows’?
 Project: MOWIN Mapping "mobility windows" in European higher
education. Examples from selected countries
 Duration: October 2011 – September 2013
 EU co-funded (ERASMUS Multilateral Projects)
 Aimed to:
 propose a clear definition of mobility windows;
 create a typology of mobility windows that reflects the variety of practices and
models in encountered in the European higher education context; and
 further investigate how the different types are implemented in five selected
countries and institutions (DE, FI, IT, NL, RO), to draw broader lessons about the
‘DOs’ and ‘DON’Ts’ of such models.
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
2. Mobility windows – what are they?
 Definition: A mobility window is a period of time reserved for
international student mobility that is embedded into the curriculum
of a study programme.
 ‘Curricular embeddedness’ =
 The mobility period is an explicit part of the home curriculum and study plan
 The home curriculum and study plan create transparency about the possibility
of recognising the stay abroad.
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
2. Mobility windows – what are they?
 Beyond the ‘standard ERASMUS mobility’
 Physical, international mobility
 Length? Looked at windows with min. ‘duration’ of 3 months (15
ECTS)
 In total, MOWIN covered 32 study programmes at Bachelor’s and
Master’s level, with 42 mobility windows.
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
2. Mobility windows – what are they?
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
3. Mobility windows – a new phenomenon?
 Old model (structured, integrated mobility), new label
 “Mobility windows” – name traced back to mid-2000s
 Linked to the new degree architecture introduced by the Bologna
Process
 Some examples
 CRUS (2004)
 DAAD national conference – “Mobiliteit Fenster” (2005)
 EU level – Jan Figel (2008) as a “remedy […] for the overloaded study
programmes” created through the Bologna reforms.
 LERU paper (2013) – windows used to describe „networked mobility“
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
4. Types of mobility windows
 Typology generated by crossing 2 main characteristics of mobility
windows:
(a)
(b)
the status of a mobility window (mandatory or optional) within the study
programme and
the degree of curricular standartisation of the mobility experience facilitated
through a window (highly-prescribed or loosely-prescribed)
 Other characteristics,
e.g. purpose of mobility (study vs. internship), number of partners, funding
arrangements, etc.,
deemed of secondary importance for articulating the definition.
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
4. Types of mobility windows
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
4. Types of mobility windows
Dimensions
2. Degree of standardisation of window's (academic)
content
Mandatory (Ma)
Optional (Op)
1. Status of the window in the study
programme
Loosely-prescribed (Lop)
Ma-Lop
Highly-prescribed (Hip)
Ma-Hip
5a1, 11a, 11b, 14, 16, 29a
7, 8, 15a, 17, 24, 26a,
27a, 28a
Op-Lop
Op-Hip
1, 2, 3, 4, 5b, 6, 9, 10, 15b,
23, 25, 26b, 27c, 28c, 29b,
29c
12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,
27b, 28b, 30, 31, 32
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
4. Types of mobility windows
Dimensions
2. Degree of standardisation of window's (academic) content
Mandatory (Ma)
Highly-prescribed (Hip)
Ma-Lop
Ma-Hip
5a, 11a, 11b, 14, 16
7, 8, 15a, 17, 24, 26a, 27a, 28a
29a
Mixed or
either/or
For study For internship
Optional (Op)
1. Status of the window in the study programme
For study For internship
Loosely-prescribed (Lop)
Mixed or
either/or
Op-Lop
Op-Hip
5b, 6, 9, 10, 23, 25, 26b
12, 13, 19, 21, 27b, 28b, 31, 32
27c, 28c
30
1, 2, 3, 4, 15b, 29b, 29c
18, 20, 22
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
5. An example – a Bachelor programme with multiple
windows
Full programme
name / field of study
Duration of the
programme
Number of mobility
windows
Type and purpose of
mobility window
Bachelor in Tourism Management (Saxion University of Applied
Sciences)
4 years
3
Length
1. ‘Mandatory window-Highly prescribed content’ (Ma-Hip) for
internship – year 2
2. ‘Optional window – Loosely prescribed content’ (Op-Lop) for
study and/or internship – year 3 or 4
3. ‘Optional window-Loosely prescribed content’ (Op-Lop) for study
and/or internship – year 4
5 months for each
Number of foreign
partners
About 30 institutions for study abroad and 300 companies for
internships abroad
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
6. Impact and recommendations
i.
ii.
Do many programmes and institutions implement mobility
windows? – Not as many as expected (not a very frequently-used
model so far)
Do the windows support the mobility of most or just a minority of
students? – 10-20% of all enrolled students in programmes with
windows
 The benefits not really window-specific
 For the programme/institution: multiplication, quality boost, reputation
enhancement, internal change, staff mobility, closer impact, better
graduates.
 For the students: same as for other forms of mobility (but seem
essential for students less likely to go abroad)
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
6. Impact and recommendations
1) Discuss the proposed definition and typology of mobility windows.
2) HEIs to develop institutional approaches to and intra-institutional
partnerships for window mobility and curricular internationalisation in
general.
3) HEIs are encouraged to explore the benefits of different types of
mobility windows and develop comprehensive internationalisation
policies, of which outbound credit mobility in general, and window mobility
in particular, should be key instruments – but by no means the only ones.
4) Ways to ensure sustainability of mobility windows should be explored at
the institutional, national and European levels.
5) Continue to work on the removal of obstacles to student mobility,
because the quantitative contribution of window mobility might be limited.
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?
Thank you for your attention!
Questions?
irina.ferencz@aca-secretariat.be
MOWIN publication download:
http://www.acasecretariat.be/fileadmin/aca_docs/images/members/ACA_2013_Mobility_windo
ws.pdf
Windows for Mobility: Windows of Opportunity?