Erasmus Policy Statement (Overall Strategy)
ESCUELA SUPERIOR DE CONSERVACIÓN Y RESTAURACIÓN DE BIENES CULTURALES, DISEÑO Y CERÁMICA DE CASTILLA-LA MANCHA
Our HEI was born after two different schools merged and became one Higher Educational Institution. Our institution's participation in the Erasmus programme is part of our own overall strategy of modernization and internationalization. This will be attained by giving staff and students mobilities a key importance as well as taking part in international cooperation projects. Our overall strategy of internationalization will be therefore based on cooperation with other HEIs as well as other strategic partners such as enterprises or regional authorities. Therefore, our institution will make cooperation and mobility the core elements of our institutional policy and, to this end:
a) We will choose partner institutions which offer similar courses to the ones we offer in our institution. Our institution offers two Bachelor of Arts courses in its two separate campuses: Product Design in Tomelloso and Graphic Design in the Ciudad Real Campus. A commission consisting of the Erasmus Coordinator, the Principal, the Head of Studies and the Head of Departments will study the curricula of the courses in the partner institution in order to establish validations for our outgoing students. On the other hand, the Erasmus Coordinator will be responsible to establish relations with the partner institution in order to promote and support teaching staff mobilities in International Weeks organized by partner institutions. We will recognize the importance of this type of mobilities, the results of which will be made visible to our educational community, both teachers , students and parents.
As for mobilities to enterprises, we will organize students' internships and staff training mobilities to well-known design studios or those recommended by foreign partners. The recruitment of students will be based on learning achievements, language skills, compatibility of placement’s subject with field of study and detailed application questionnaire (with students interest, needs and previous professional experience) and other formal requirements, such as the optimal fit of the student’s profile to the enterprise’s profile (student has to use and extend professional skills acquired during studies).
As for staff training mobilities to design studios , our institution will also take into consideration selection criteria such as language skills of the language used in the design studio, the teacher’s field of study and the training programme proposed by the teacher, accentuating, of course, the benefit their students will get from his/her mobility as well as innovation.
b) Our two schools offer English as second language in both degrees. So, we will promote and support the signing of bilateral agreements with institutions using English as instructional language or countries where English is an official language. However, due to proximity, our institution will also encourage bilateral agreements with institutions in Portugal and France, although the recruitment, of course, will be based on language skills both of teachers and students. However, they will be informed of language courses organized by partner institutions prior to their mobility.
c) Students will only be allowed to study abroad from Year 2 on. On the other hand, as for SMP, students will be encouraged to do their internships in the second semester of Year 4, as they have to be enrolled in our institution at all times during their mobilities and it will be in that semester when they are expected to do internships in our country. Their placements must last at least for three months, as they are Bachelor of Arts and they will be validated for their training in companies in Spain, as it is part of the curriculum in our institution. In any case, students will obtain the ECTS credits after successfully completing placement in accordance with their curriculum.
d) As for teachers, we will encourage mobilities of teaching staff in both Product Design and Graphic Design degrees. We will improve the contact with partner institutions and design studios through monitoring visits, regular meetings, workshops and participations in European conferences and International Weeks. Our staff exchange will increase the quality education in our institution by using new learning techniques adapted from partner universities and design studios. It will also consolidate existing cooperation both with other universities and design studios, as well as prepare the rest of our teaching staff for new common activities, projects and training periods in design studios.
Our institution considers the implementation of international cooperation projects both in teaching and training within the Erasmus Framework of the utmost importance. For this purpose we will strive to organize cooperation projects with partner institutions, involving both teachers and students. With this purpose in mind, we will form a commission to suggest innovative themes to be discussed and proposed to partner universities. Therefore, we will increase our level of participation in thematic programs and intensive programmes by developing research collaboration and cooperation. The commission will be formed by the Erasmus Coordinator, the Principal, the Head of Studies and the Head of departments. They will be in charge of developing a clear policy towards the implementation of international projects in teaching and training according to common necessities and/or interests with our partner institutions and European enterprises. They will establish from the very beginning the objectives for its participation, the role to play and the expected result. They will prioritize the development of relations with current and future partners with a view to embarking on this joint activities. The results of this cooperation project must have a benefit on all the students in our educational community and will be included in our General Annual Project and published on the website of our institution. What's more, we will raise awareness within the academic community of the funding possibilities of these activities which could lead our institution to other cooperation initiatives with the Erasmus Framework. Our institution will fully support any student and staff participating in these activities, both as coordinator and partner, and will ensure visibility on the website. Participation in international cooperation projects is an important aspect of the development of our staff and therefore, the overall modernization of our institution.
Our institution will benefit from the participation in the Erasmus Programme and this will have a direct impact on the modernisation of our institution:
a) Through the mobilities of students to partner institutions to study , students will benefit from new contents related to their field of study, methodology and, in general, a different vision with which the partner curricula will contribute to our students' formative needs.
b) Through the mobilities of our students to design studios, by means of which they will get in contact with the labour market. This will allow them to develop their job-related skills, communication and people skills, IT skills as well as technical and practical skills. They will be allowed to see how a real design studio works, the different job titles in it, duties, tasks and develop their competences in a real situation.
c) Through our staff participation in training and teaching mobilities, which will let them incorporate new skills to their CVs and will have a direct positive effect on our institution as far as incorporation of new contents to subjects and the signing and participation in new cooperation projects are concerned.
d) Through all our educational community participation in cooperation projects with other European institutions, not only universities but also enterprises. The participation in such international projects is seen by our institution as one of the main aspects both for the professional development of our staff and, as a result, the overall modernisation of our institution.
Our institution will implement the results of all these mobilities and will make sure it is visible to our educational community. All this considered we expect to accomplish the following objectives:
a) Increase every year the number of outgoing and incoming students in the three Upper Vocational training courses offered by our institution.
b) Increase every year the number of teaching staff mobilities in Design Schools of Europe.
c) Organize a yearly International Week, where our institution invites teaching and administrative staff from partner institutions to take part in workshops and lectures in our institution. This International Week will be celebrated in the first semester with the aim of letting students who do not participate in the Erasmus programme benefit from it by attending workshops and lectures organized by partners institutions on design. Innovation will always be the key.
d) Increase every year the number of partner enterprises, allowing our students do their internships in a company in Europe. We are also committed to letting students who do not participate directly in the Erasmus programme benefit from this collaboration with enterprises. That is the reason why we are fully committed to inviting responsibles of enterprises to participate in our future International Week. Their contribution will be a key factor in the internationalisation of our institution.
