Margaret Ross, Professor of Software Quality, Southampton Solent University

Margaret wanted to take part in Erasmus to increase her knowledge of other academic processes and widen her knowledge of educational systems in other countries - and also saw it as a great networking opportunity. She had made a contact at the University of Tampere, Finland, so chose to go there for eight days. It allowed her to identify and build relations for future joint proposals between the universities in a number of areas and proved to be the ideal way to identify good practices to implement on returning. She made the most of her time by presenting a seminar to post graduates, staff and outside bodies and undertaking tutorials with post graduate students. She also had meetings with members of the university and helped organise two international conferences at the University of Tampere. She gained a wider understanding of their system, particularly relating to postgraduate study and was interested to find out about the serious IT skills shortage in Finland. She has found the experience to have been a great help with various areas of her research, generating new ideas which she has been able to implement and share with her students. She enjoyed the wonderful local food, the marvelous open-air markets, the spectacular views and above all the helpfulness and friendliness of everyone at the university.

Lloyd Peters, School of Media, Music & Performance
University of Salford

Lloyd went to the Tampere Polytechnic in Finland to cement the new bilateral Erasmus postgraduate agreement between their two institutions and spent a taxing, yet highly productive five days of training, exchanging knowledge and best practice, negotiation, form filling, clarifying statements of intent  and script workshops with the Salford undergraduate Media students who were also there enjoying their work-study exchange programme.

"Without the Erasmus programme I would have missed out on the experience of a lifetime. The culture, the sights, the engagement of the staff and students, all confirmed that not only does travel broaden the mind (and the stomach!), but it is an essential component of understanding more about our place in Europe and beyond. But it was not simply the opportunities for educational stimulation that I would recommend to staff and students alike contemplating an Erasmus trip. The hospitality, generosity and just plain humanity of my hosts were a deeply moving and a humbling experience – one which will stay with me for a lifetime. "