Erasmus Policy statement (EPS)

Description of the international strategy:

Scuola Superiore per Mediatori Linguistici Prospero Mosé Loria (UNIUMA) is a university school whose aim is to promote the furthering of a culture founded on universal values such as human rights, peace, respect for the environment and international solidarity. The main vocation of UNIUMA, which was founded in 2005 is to promote language learning, to enhance cooperation between countries, people, institutions within the fields of international relations, forensic communication, diplomacy, culture, marketing and tourism.

Our students attend courses to become language and cultural mediators in several fields and contexts and so international mobility plays a crucial role in their CV. Hence the importance the institute gives to international mobility and its efforts to promote it.

UNIUMA offers high profile undergraduate degree courses in Language Mediation focusing in the following key professional sectors:

• Ethical Marketing and Digital Enhancement
• Human Rights and International Diplomacy
• Languages and Culture for Multicultural Communication
• Defense and Social Protection Policies (Criminology)
• Tourist Planning and Environmental Sustainability
• Business Management

UNIUMA has a long-standing policy of international interdisciplinary exchange designed to meet the global challenges currently facing university education. We are convinced of the need to establish partnerships that offer our students the opportunity to gain university qualifications recognized in different countries.
International mobility increases not only students’ and staff’s knowledge (i.e. developing best practice), but it might increase resilience and the ability to adapt. In a world where global challenges might put a lot of pressure, being adaptable, resilient and flexible is necessary.

Furthermore, incoming students coming from so many different places are able to enrich our academic community, contributing in the reciprocal understanding of different cultural background, and the spreading of universal values and tolerance.

Placement mobility has also been implemented for outgoing students, both for enrolled students and post-graduation students (within one year from the acquisition of their BA).

In addition, every year incoming SMP students are coming from several partners (particularly UK universities).

The participation in all mobility programmes is guaranteed to all students and staff members, with no discrimination on any grounds. An important reference – when running all selection processes – is given to equal opportunities, and facilitations for those individuals with special needs is provided.

When looking for and selecting new partners, we have tried, and we still try, to find other language and translation institutes, but also faculties of the main subjects of our fields of study, such as Law, Economics, History, etc. The inclusive and eclectic nature of the courses we offer, has allowed UNIUMA to make agreements with very different partner-institutions and to help the students to choose the destination that better suits their interests and special study and research requirements.

Our current partners include faculties of Law, Criminology, History and Geography, etc. , besides Languages and Translating. We tend to find partners in areas where the languages taught at UNIUMA are spoken (English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, plus courses of Chinese and Arabic), but we also encourage students to study new languages taught or spoken in the different destinations (for example Catalan, Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Slovak).

Expected impact of the participation in the Erasmus+ Programme within the frame of the ECHE 2021-2027.

UNIUMA confirms that its participation in Erasmus+ is part of its own strategy for modernization and internationalization, and an opportunity to strengthen the importance of technology (e.g. EPW) to respect the environment. Furthermore, UNIUMA is actively committed in the realization of the goals laid down in the communication on “Strengthening European Identity through Education and Culture” published ahead of the EU Leaders’ meeting in Gothenburg on 17 November 2017.

“As for the numbers” of mobility:

• We expect to enhance the number of outgoing and incoming students through the ratification of other InterInstitutional Agreements IIAs with other HEIs. Our short-term expectations would be to reach at least a total 15 IIAs with an annual flow of 30 EU-outgoing participants, while also increasing the number of incoming students from our partners (achieving at least 10 students per year).
• We expect to enhance the number of teachers involved in STAFF mobility, both outgoing and incoming. From a technical and didactic point of view, the interaction with international partners stimulates a rethinking of teaching and evaluation methods that raises the level of transparency and pushes UNIUMA to expand and rationalize the didactic offer. The Direction and the Teachers Board are therefore actively collaborating with the International Relations Office to further internationalize the institute and to further improve the implementation of the ECTS system and other guidelines of the Bologna Process.
• We expect to increase the number of participants in the Erasmus+ SMP, both as enrolled and just graduated students. We do believe that the SMP experience can increase our students skills, making them ready for the job market challenges.

To realize these goals within the activities under Key Action 1, we will ensure:

• A high quality mobility of students and staff. We are committed to achieve this goal by selecting the best participants within a fair, open to all, equal opportunities and transparent public selection process, in which curricula and motivation of candidate will be evaluated impartially by the UNIUMA scientific committee. We have already established a mechanism of selection that has ensured an equal, fair and transparent process of selection for all participants. In other words, according to the principles of nondiscrimination, the selection and the award of grants is fair, transparent, coherent, and documented in line with the provisions enshrined in the National Agency signed Convention. These principles are applied throughout all stages of mobility and in the process of responding to queries/complaints from mobile students/staff.
• A better inter-connections with our territory, in particular by reinforcing our partnerships with local and regional enterprises and authorities. In addition, since UNIUMA has become an important and stronger actor, thanks to its internationalization that has been fostered during the last years, we are now a relevant reference for the local community.
• To further develop non-discrimination policies by making express reference to the nondiscrimination principle in all Erasmus+ related activities (selection process, presentations, etc.).
• To develop integrated transnational teaching activities, by increasing the number of visiting (and outgoing) professors through the organization of seminars and conference with an international dimension.
• To publish in our website and disseminate properly the results achieved by our staff members engaged in individual mobility or in cooperation projects with strategic partners. As we started doing in 2019, we will make Erasmus+ projects results (concerning staff and students mobility) available on our website in a specific page. In addition, during frequent meetings during the year, presentations will be provided to potential participants in order to explain the potential underpinning the Erasmus+ programme.
• A full recognition of acquired ECTS for all outgoing students. In this context, the OLA will play a crucial role giving the possibility to monitor possible LA changes and establish – ex ante – the full recognition to be given to selected courses followed at the host institution. The recognition procedures will ensure that students’ mobility activities will be recorded transparently (i.e., indicating the original course / subject titles at the receiving HEI in the national language and English or another widely spoken language) and the recognition will be a full recognition within students’ academic career (as integral part of their degree programme). All credits agreed in the OLA or Training agreement (for SMP students) will be recognized by UNIUMA. Students will be considered full-time students and they will be required to complete a number of credits proportional to the duration of their mobility. Thus a one semester student will be required to achieve 30 ECTS as an annual student will be required to achieve 60 ECTS.
• Equal treatment, and full opportunities for incoming students. To achieve these goals we will reinforce our established practice of creating mixed students group within classes (during courses). We will issue transcript of records within the terms established in the Inter-Institutional Agreement IIA. As for the promotion of academic inter-exchange, we will adopt measures ensuring incoming mobile participants the possibility to Integrate into the wider student community and in the Institution’s everyday life. We will encourage incoming students to act as ambassadors of the programme and share their mobility experience. As we have always done, we will provide appropriate mentoring and support arrangements for mobile participants, including for those pursuing blended mobility. In addition, whether needed, we will support incoming mobile participants in learning our home language (though, being a language mediation university course, students usually know Italian and English quite well).