Have you considered visiting another country with Erasmus?
Thursday, 18 October 2012
'Taking part in an Erasmus placement offers lots of benefits including sharing ideas and best practices to bring back to the UK, enhancing your language skills and experiencing a new culture.'
Last year over 12,000 UK students travelled to another EU country to study or work, funded by the British Council through the Erasmus scheme. But did you know that over 2,000 members of staff in the higher education sector did too?
Members of Reading staff from across the University including IT Services, the Library, International Study and Language Centre and the Department of Archaeology, travelled to 12 EU countries in 2011-12. Staff visited institutions in Italy, Sweden and Germany for placements of one to six weeks, to undertake teaching, job-shadowing and training.
The scheme currently involves nine out of every ten European higher education establishments and supports co-operation between the universities of 33 countries. It encourages staff to work for short periods of time in another country while promoting trans-national projects among universities across Europe.
Marcus Dowse, Erasmus and Study Abroad Manager, said: "Going on an Erasmus placement is a great opportunity for both academic and administrative staff to teach or work in another EU country and get to know the workings of their educational system. There are lots of other benefits including sharing ideas and best practices to bring back to the UK, enhancing your language skills and experiencing a new culture."
The University also welcomes visitors from other EU countries through the scheme. In June this year the Communications Office hosted Li Gessbo, Communications Officer from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala, Sweden for a week-long visit.
Alex Brannen, Head of Media and PR, in the Communications Office said: "There is a strong synergy in research terms between the two universities and Li's visit gave us an opportunity to re-examine the work that we do to promote this University. It was great to get a different perspective on what we do during the week that she visited and to gain fresh ideas and energy from her work."
If you want to find out more about opportunities for staff through Erasmus please contact Erasmus and Study Abroad Manager Marcus Dowse: m.a.dowse@reading.ac.uk. Marcus is happy to talk to individuals or departments who would like to discuss placement ideas.
There is also more information for staff on the Study Abroad website.