SPbPU Participates in New Erasmus+ International Educational Projects

Participation of university students in international educational projects is an important instrument of university internationalization, which can ensure successful professional prospects for them. Active integration of Russian universities into the global educational space through academic mobility programs, invitation of visiting lecturers, student internships and traineeships in leading national companies and corporations contributes to expanding opportunities for students, to organizing the prospective youth educational movement, to increasing competitiveness of students and graduates on the labor market.

Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University actively participates in international educational projects implemented within the Erasmus+ EU Program for education, training, youth and sport.

According to the Vice-Rector for International Relations in SPbPU D.G. Arseniev, "international educational projects make a great contribution to the development of mechanisms for educational program internationalization using the experience of leading countries".

In 2015 SPbPU became involved in eight Erasmus+ projects aimed at the support of academic mobility for students and teaching staff.

Within this program, lecturers, instructors and professors are offered short-term traineeships in the following universities: Ghent University (Belgium); Alliance of 4 Spanish universities (the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Madrid, Carlos III University, Pompeu Fabra University); Lund University (Sweden); the University of Regensburg (Germany); Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway); the University of Granada (Spain); Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" (Bulgaria); Brandenburg University of Technology (Germany).

In addition, it is worth mentioning that three new Erasmus+ projects (Кey Action 2) for 2015-2018: master's degree programs "Green Logistics Management" (coordinator: the University of Applied Sciences, Wismar, Germany) and "Innovative technologies in energy efficient buildings for Russian and Armenian universities (coordinator: the University of Genoa, Italy), joint PhD programs in IT (coordinator: Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland).

In late November 2015 SPbPU's Supply Center hosted the first coordination meeting of participants involved in the Erasmus+ international project "Development and implementation of the Master's degree program "Green Logistics Management". SPbPU was selected as a platform for the strategic event with the participation of partner universities from Russia, Kazakhstan, Sweden and Estonia due to SPbPU's competitive advantages in the areas of logistics, involvement of the teaching staff in the improvement of the current system. Besides, during this meeting the participants discussed the problems that arose in the Erasmus+ project implementation, and their solutions.

Today within the cooperation in the area of international educational projects, TEMPUS projects, which were started in 2012, are under way.

The experts of the International Educational Programs Office strongly believe that participation in new projects will lead to the promotion of university achievements all over the world, to the improvement of its competitiveness, to the increase in the quality of education and to enhancing mobility of students who rely on promising education.

For reference:

The Erasmus+ program is a new EU program that aims to foster cooperation in education, training, youth work and sport for the period 2014-2020. The program integrated the earlier Tempus, Erasmus-Mundus and some other programs.

The new program aims to become an effective instrument which helps develop the human and social capital in Europe and beyond. Participating countries are all EU member states, non EU countries - Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey. Partner countries include Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership countries, South Mediterranean countries, Russian Federation and other partner countries from Central Asia, Latin America, Africa and Caribbean region, in total 13 regions.

In organizers' view, the principal objectives of the Erasmus + program are to improve the quality of education, to develop student mobility and cultural relations

Within the cooperation in higher education, Erasmus +has the following actions:

• Key Action 1: Learning/Credit Mobility of Individuals – mobility for higher education students and staff;
• Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and good practice – cooperation for the development of the university potential and exchange of best practice.

International Educational Programs Office