ERASMUS POLICY STATEMENT 2021-2027 - IN ENGLISH

In the 2014-2020 application period, University of Sopron underwent four higher education restructuring processes. In 2017, the institution with a long history and 10 faculties at the beginning of the period continued to operate with four highly prestigious faculties located in the city of Sopron.

The academic offerings of the four faculties cover a wide range of educational and scientific disciplines, in which we consider synergies and collaborations to be essential for strengthening the university. The most important fields of training are: agriculture (forestry and game management, nature conservation), engineering (wood industry, mechatronics, industrial design engineering, environmental engineering), applied art (architectural design, industrial and product design, graphic design, interior design), economics (business training branch) and teacher training, thus, in addition to the strategically important agricultural and technical sciences, our training offer also covers the humanities, informatics, social sciences and natural sciences.

In our Quality Policy, it states: “The main goal of University of Sopron is to carry out teaching and research work of international standard recognised in the region, in the country and in the European Education Area, to meet economic and social expectations, to stay on the path of continuous development, to strive for excellence. It considers the satisfaction of its customers and employees, the high-quality fulfilment of social obligations, the enhancement of workplace and partnership collaborations, innovation and creativity to be of key importance. ”

The international relations of the university are typically grouped around two basic activities: educational and research collaborations. The university’s teaching staff, researchers, and students hold positions in numerous international organizations.

Due to the geographical location of Sopron as a border city and our common history, we expand cross-border cooperation to Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania. For example, our Faculty of Economics is a member of the Amber Road - Central European Network of Faculties of Economics, to which 12 universities have joined from 9 countries.

Doctoral research is supported by the extensive international relations of doctoral schools with partners mainly in Germany, Austria, Finland, Slovenia, Romania and France.

In the field of training, the international dimension consists of the following elements: mobility, inter-institutional collaboration, and international education, all based on the support primarily provided by the Erasmus+ programme.

The university participates in several mobility programmes that enhance internationalization: ERASMUS+, Stipendium Hungaricum, CEEPUS, Campus Mundi, Makovecz Program. All Erasmus coordinators and institute secretaries of the faculties have proficiency certificates in English or German, sometimes in French or Russian, which is essential for mobility management.

The Internationalization Strategy of the university is defined according to a vision in which we envisage the university as a student-centred international institution, where high-quality education of international standards takes place in order to prepare students enrolled for succeeding in the international labour market and attract more Erasmus and self-funded foreign students to choose us for one or two semesters or a full-time degree programme. The first step in reaching this is quantitative growth, which is a prerequisite for sustainability. This needs to be partly strengthened parallel with the development of teacher and student excellence, which can be supported by the Key Actions KA1 and KA2 of the Erasmus+ programme. There can be no question therefore that we must continue to use the opportunity provided by the financial instrument supporting the Member States in order to achieve our goals.

In order to implement the strategy, it is necessary to build on strategic goals, tasks and results.

Strategic goals of the university are: strengthening internationally recognized education and research, international visibility, and inter-institutional partnerships, ensuring the sustainability of existing partnerships by expanding and filling them with content, and building mutually beneficial new ones.

Tasks required to achieve the strategic goals: expanding the range of study programmes offered through English language instruction, strengthening international marketing and mobility, enhancing foreign language skills of academic and non-academic staff, and improving teaching methods and learning contents and student services.

Expected results: international accreditation, increase of incoming and outgoing student and staff mobility, increasing number of self-funded full-degree foreign students, the university becomes a significant, value-creating institution also at international level.

Participation in the Erasmus+ programme contributes immensely towards achieving these goals: learning mobility (KA1) contributes to modernization as a driver of quality development, and partnerships (KA2) lead to educational and research collaborations that support innovation and the exchange of good practice. They are initiators of publications, know-how, and development of study programmes, creation of joint-degree programmes, enhancement of professional and language skills.

We expect from our participation in the Erasmus+ programme that 150-200 students and staff per year will benefit from mobility leading to personal and professional development which will in turn contribute to the development of the institution. With the guidelines in mind, we are set to take measures to implement full automatic recognition as soon as possible and introduce paperless mobility management taking advantage of digitization.

University of Sopron, as holder of the ERASMUS CHARTER 2014-2020, continues to agree to comply with the fundamental principles of the Erasmus+ mobility programme detailed in the Charter. To meet its internationalization objectives, University of Sopron continuously promotes the principles of environmental awareness, equal opportunities, and social responsibility during mobility, with special emphasis on all Erasmus+ activities.

One important element of the strategic goals is a permanent increase in the number of student and staff mobility (for learning/teaching or training purposes), which would not be possible without the financial support provided by the Erasmus+ programme. In order to achieve these goals, the university intends to participate in Key Actions KA1 and KA2 of the programme during the application period 2021-2027 as folows:

• The mobility of higher education students and staff
• Partnerships for Cooperation and exchanges of practices
• Partnerships for Innovation

Strategic goals that can be achieved with the support of the Erasmus+ programme:

1. Enhancing learning and training mobility (student and staff exchanges) - KA1
   1. Doubling student mobility:
      1. website development
      2. more effective use of social medi
      3. organization of mobility information events (#ErasmusDays–Mobility Day)
      4. organization of mobility report events, Erasmus fairs
      5. sharing good practices
   2. Tripling teaching staff mobility - KA1
      1. organization of mobility information events (#ErasmusDays–Mobility Day)
      2. organization of mobility report events
      3. sharing good practices
      4. mobility support to prepare for English proficiency examination prescribed by the university management (STT language training courses)
   3. Involvement of administrative staff in the programme - KA1
      1. organization of mobility information events (#ErasmusDays–Mobility Day)
      2. sharing good practices
      3. targeted information on professional workshops abroad available with STT grant support
      4. information on language courses available with STT grant support
      5. cooperation with unit managers to support the participation of their employees in Erasmus+ STT programmes
2. Support for the integration of international students - KA1:
   Strengthening the activity of the International Relations Group
   1. development of student recruitment
   2. expanding organizational activities
   3. development of communication
3. Organizing intercultural programmes
   1. expansion of the regularly organized programmes (Welcome Day in September and February, Santa Claus and Carnival intercultural afternoons, end-of-term events and excursions)
   2. initiating sport programmes for both Hungarian and international students
4. Strengthening the mentoring system
   1. motivating Hungarian students to perform mentoring tasks, e.g. by introducing an optional course unit with related content for ECTS credits
   2. involvement of international full-degree students in the mentoring system

• Our goal is to expand our KA2 cooperation opportunities, and to initiate new collaborations in the future, e.g. in the field of educational science (early childhood education, special education, etc.).

Impact of participation in the Erasmus+ programme on our strategic goals – Expected implementation results:

1. Through increasing mobility, our study programmes become known and recognized (KA1),
   1. development of study programmes, creation of joint-degrees,
   2. development of students’ and staff’s professional and language skills,
   3. exchange of good practices on issues related to institutional managment.
2. New international partnerships are established (KA2), which
   1. result in educational and research collaborations,
   2. and new joint EU projects may be established.
3. Other results:
   1. international publications,
   2. know-how.

In addition, we expect also indirect results from participating in the Erasmus+ programme:

1. Establishing double degree study programmes with partners outside of the region
2. International accreditation of study programmes
3. Expanding international network memberships

Indicators:

• Increase in outbound staff mobility: base value: 66 people, target value: + 5% per year until 2027
• Increase in inbound staff mobility: base value: 26 people, target value: + 8% per year until 2027
• Increase in the total number of international students: base value: 100 people, target value: + 5% per year until 2027
• Increase in outgoing student mobility: base value: 73 people, target value: + 5% (by 2023 at least 20% of the number of graduating students)
• Increase in incoming student mobility: base value: 30 people, target value: + 5% per year until 2027
• Launch of new study programmes through English language instruction: continuously - Increase in the number of teaching and research staff with a CEFR B2 level English language proficiency certification: all teaching and research staff members under the age of 53
• Increase in the number of inter-institutional collaborations: base value: 200, target value: + 2-5 per year

Supporting documents:

• Institutional Development Plan of University of Sopron
• Internationalization Strategy of University of Sopron
• University of Sopron Student Requirements System