Increased quality, more mobility

The project is divided into four thematic work packages:

Work Package 1, Quality, involves the annual development of good mobility agreements with subject packages for semester mobility and agreements on Blended Mobility, including the use of COIL methodology in collaboration. It also includes the development of VID's quality system to incorporate parameters related to mobility.

Progress:

• All study programs have had new partner agreements established through visits to other higher education institutions in Europe, and new contacts outside Europe have been established through participation in the EAIE conference, where international coordinators in the faculties participated together with advisers from the section for internationalisation.
• Subject packages have been developed with partners, and the process of publishing these is underway.
• Plans have been made for the development of BIPs in all professional educations and several consortia have been agreed. BIPs have also been carried out in all study programs.
• VID has contributed to a national forum for the use of COIL in education, and has joined a HKdir-funded project on COIL as a method, together with the AAC&U VE/COIL Institute in New York. The results from that project are fed into this and provide a basis for the development of the course "Introduction to Virtual Exchange," in work package 2, and contribute to the revision of the quality system by taking into account learning outcomes related to internationalization in digital educational collaboration (COIL).
• A plan has been drawn up for the revision of the quality system, to meet the study leaders' need for information in assessing the quality of mobility and the effect of international agreements. This has been expanded to include a new routine for documentation of academic assessments related to exemptions for subjects, on the basis of study credits from abroad.

Work Package 2, Competence, involves the development of two e-learning courses aimed at staff. One course focuses on internationalization at the curriculum level and targets study leaders, while the other course focuses on digitalization and internationalization and targets all staff with teaching responsibilities. The work package also aims to increase students' competence through the development of a guidance and follow-up program for students on international stays, in collaboration with NMS Exchange.

Progress:

• An e-learning course for employees on internationalization was piloted with good feedback in the autumn of 2022. It will be adjusted somewhat, and has been rolled out as part of the VID academy for all heads of studies in VID in 2023. We are particularly pleased that NOKUT has agreed to contribute a presentation to the course.
• The e-learning course "Introduction to Virtual Exchange" was planned to be completed in autumn 2022. It will be made available in Canvas to make it easy for academic staff to share it with international colleagues with whom digital collaboration is planned (BIP, COIL). However, the course has had a revised progress plan to extract learning from another project, also funded by HK-dir, on the use of COIL. Results from the COIL project will be drawn into the e-learning course "Introduction to Virtual Exchange," which will be completed in autumn 2023.
• The development of the guidance and follow-up program for students has had a run-through in the Faculty of Health, has received an initial evaluation, and is being revised in collaboration with NMS Exchange. From 2023, the Faculty of Social Studies will also use the program, and will build on it with a debriefing module, which the other faculties can also use.

Work Package 3, Promotion, involves the development of two promotional films and a routine for using Instagram takeovers for students on international stays.

Progress:

• Adjusted in 2022: Following advice from the marketing department, the planned two promotional films, which were to be aimed at specific study programmes, have been replaced with a promotional film, which in return will be more general and have a greater focus on culture and experiences during the exchange stay. The film will be produced during autumn 2022. Procurement of promotional material such as roll-ups, posters and certain props, for use during promotional activities on the campuses, is being planned.
• Several Instagram take-overs have been carried out so far, with a good response from students, and good visibility beyond VID's student body.

Work Package 4, Sustainable Administration of Mobility, will test how the educational plan in FS (Felles Studentsystem - Joint Student System) can be used to visualize mobility opportunities for all students and explore the possibility of combining the use of a robot with a third-party solution for mobility administration to achieve efficient mobility management.

Progress:

• The Norwegian BOTT institutions decided in 2022 to purchase a third-party solution for mobility and work for an integration solution with FS. As integration is more effective in terms of managing mobility, the plan to develop a robot was shelved in favor of using the same solution that the Norwegian sector chooses. Mobility Online was chosen, and the BOTT institutions began a collaboration with SIKT to create an integration solution between Mobility Online and FS.
• In 2022/2023, VID entered the SIKT-driven project for the development of an integration solution between Mobility Online and FS, together with HVL and NTNU. APIs for the integration will be developed in the autumn of 2023. VID will further develop its own user interface for students and employees in Mobility Online based on the simplifications resulting from the integration. This will take place in winter 2023 and spring 2024.
• The project has settled on the use of "path selection" in FS, as the best means of making the mobility window visible in education plans, and promoting that students take an active position on whether they want/don't want mobility during their education.
• Use of pathway selection in a pilot for a bachelor's in occupational therapy started for the cohort that was admitted in autumn 2023. Path selection will also be included in the project "My Side" for students. This will be developed in autumn 2023.

Work Packages 2-4 are mainly carried out in the first half of the project to support the development of mobility in the second half of the project.

The purpose is to increase the proportion of outgoing students in the professional education programs for disability studies, occupational therapy, social work, and nursing at VID Specialized University. Additionally, the project aims to establish a culture of mobility linked to the understanding that mobility plays a role in the quality of education within academic communities. Another goal is to develop an administrative platform for mobility, which, in the long run, will provide a basis for a significant increase in mobility without requiring a corresponding, significant increase in administrative resources to support mobility.

To achieve this, by the end of the project period, the project will:

• Establish a minimum of four well-functioning package solutions for semester mobility (predefined practice and subject combinations with a partner) for disability studies, occupational therapy, and social work, and between four and six for nursing.
• Establish a minimum of four well-functioning programs for Blended Mobility/COIL collaboration for disability studies, occupational therapy, and social work, and between four and six for nursing.
• Develop VID's quality system to incorporate parameters related to mobility, which study programs will report on annually.
• Develop employees' competence related to internationalization through an e-learning course on internationalization in study plans, which will be mandatory for new study leaders.
• Develop employees' competence related to internationalization through an e-learning course on digitalization and internationalization for staff with teaching responsibilities.
• Develop two promotional films for mobility targeted at students, along with a routine for using Instagram takeovers for students on international stays.
• Conceptualize and test active deregistration from mobility in the Bachelor's program in social work as a pilot.
• Conceptualize and test a robot for transferring student data related to mobility, from the third-party system Mobility Online to FS (Felles Studentsystem - Joint Student System), and vice versa.

VID expects that these elements will collectively lead to a significant increase in student mobility in disability studies, occupational therapy, social work, and nursing study programs by the end of 2025. Additionally, the academic communities associated with these programs will have a positive attitude towards mobility as a quality-enhancing element in education.

Resources, Competence, Role Distribution, and Collaboration

The project is organized with a central project group/workgroup where all project participants are involved. Six of the project participants in work package 1.2: "Quality Assurance of Mobility in Professional Education Programs" have the responsibility for follow-up and progress in the work package within their respective study programs. These individuals are the international coordinators for the study programs, also known as the core group.

The entire project group meets twice per semester in 2022 to review progress, assess possible challenges/problem areas, and discuss potential solutions to these issues. In 2023, there are plans for one meeting per semester for the entire project group, and from 2024, the larger project group will meet once a year. The core group will meet at least once per semester to share challenges and opportunities related to researching new partners and planning partner visits. Whenever possible, this meeting will be integrated into the meeting for the entire project group. Since all study programs in the project belong to the health and social sector, it is often relevant to find mobility opportunities for more than one study program with a partner.

A reference group consists of a study leader from nursing, a study leader from social work, a study leader from disability studies, and one from occupational therapy. The reference group's task is primarily carried out during 2022, as the work on developing the quality system, e-learning courses, and promotional materials is conducted without active participation from the faculty/study programs. Adjustments from the reference group's participants are needed to ensure the quality of the deliverables.

Internationalization is a priority in VID's strategic plan for 2018-2028. The strategic plan is long-term and supplemented by a two-year operational plan, where the board sets guidelines for priorities that the university's units should follow. For the period 2020/2021, the board has prioritized internationalization, including increased internationalization and mobility in VID's overall portfolio of studies and research. It is explicitly stated that expectations for exchange programs should be incorporated at both bachelor's, master's, and PhD levels. The board has also set performance goals for VID, including mobility. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, VID chose to cancel all mobility outside of Europe from fall 2020 to fall 2021. Since approximately 80% of all mobility in VID is practice-related and in countries outside of Europe, the pandemic resulted in a dramatic decrease in mobility. It is expected that all types of mobility can resume in spring 2022, and the university is now planning how to resume activities in a way that ensures predictability, meets the board's goals for mobility, and aligns with the Ministry of Education's long-term ambitions for mobility. VID's board has signalled that internationalization will continue to be a high priority on the agenda beyond 2021. Therefore, VID has established a working group for an internationalization strategy, which will be presented to the board during the fall of 2021. Mobility will be a part of this strategy.