Erasmus Programme
What is Erasmus+?
Erasmus+ is a European education programme that promotes exchanges between university students (both undergraduate and postgraduate), teaching staff and administrative staff throughout participating countries.
The main specific aims of the Erasmus+ programme are to:
· Improve the mobility of student and staff
· Increase the degree of transparency and compatibility between higher education and advanced vocational education qualifications gained in Europe
Erasmus+ supports activities in education, training, youth and sport across all sectors of lifelong learning including higher education, further education, adult education, schools and youth activities.
Aims and objectives of Erasmus+
Erasmus+ aims to boost skills and employability as well as modernise education, training, and youth work across Europe. It provides opportunitites to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad and will also support transnational partnerships between education, training and youth organisations, as well as support grassroots sport projects.
We are proud to be associated with the programme and were awarded the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2021-2027.
Click here to view the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2021-2027.
Erasmus Policy Statement
Internationalisation is one of our strategic objectives as laid out in the DBS Strategic Plan 2019 - 2023, which is aligned with the Irish Government’s Global Ireland 2025 vision for Ireland’s future by building global relationships in Education. This vision is aimed at “enabling the Irish education sector and individual institutions to broaden and deepen their international partnerships, increasing the diversity of the student population, and expanding Ireland’s formal and informal connections internationally.”
Under the banner Irish Educated, Globally Connected (International Education Strategy For Ireland 2016-2020), the current five-year strategy for International Education, sets out the Government’s vision “for Ireland to become internationally recognised for the development of global citizens through our internationalised education system and a market leader in attracting international student talent.” DBS is committed to playing a very active role in this. As this policy is currently being updated, DBS will align with any new policy guidelines as soon as feasible to do so.
DBS promotes cultural diversity, and is developing relationships all over the world, welcoming students and partners from over 80 countries. This creates the potential for a large global alumni network. We choose partners that offer programmes, student care, facilities and a teaching experience that will allow our students to thrive during their time abroad. We regularly visit partners to understand their needs, learn about their philosophy and get a sense of what our students would experience if they go there. We focus on geographical areas that have potential in terms of cultural, trading and economic links with Ireland, e.g. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, India, China, Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, the United States, etc. This could maximise future employability opportunities for our students.
DBS aims to be a natural choice for international students. We will enhance our global presence, both by attracting increased numbers of international students and by expanding our teaching and learning footprint abroad. Our success will be a function of the whole experience for the student, including the relevance of our programmes to international markets, our approach to student recruitment, the support we provide to students with little practical experience of Ireland, and the overall engagement that we enable for students.
To achieve this we will:
1) provide easily accessible information about the programmes, services and activities we offer
2) offer a learning environment and experience that explicitly meets the needs and expectations of international students
3) focus on developing strategic partnerships in a focused number of international markets
4) develop a strong international focus and awareness in all our staff
Over the course of SLATE (DBS Strategy for Learning, Assessment and Teaching Enhancement), DBS would be seeking to achieve one to three teaching exchanges per school, per academic year by 2023. DBS would also be targeting at least one non-teaching exchange for each non-teaching department by 2023. DBS’s targets for staff engagement with staff mobility under Erasmus would be reviewed in 2023 as part of the development of a new Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy. Similarly, DBS would be targeting one to three collaborative research projects per discipline, per academic year, with partner institutions in the period up to 2024, when the targets for such research projects will be reviewed as part of the development of a new Research Strategy.
DBS is starting to review its participation in VIFRE, DBS’s first engagement with an Erasmus+ project, as it ends. This review involves looking at the operational procedures that facilitated participation in this project. It is also examining the financial implications of the project for DBS and attempting to quantify the project’s impact on the organisation. The review is capturing qualitative data through interviews with the project staff. This review process will inform changes in how DBS engages in future Erasmus projects. On completion, the review process will also be assessed for its ability to capture the necessary data to inform improved decision making by DBS. The purpose of these reviews is to build up a measurement mechanism that will allow DBS to accurately reflect and report on its involvement in Erasmus mobility and research projects.
If you have any questions, you can contact our team on [email protected]