Colin Keenan, Senior Lecturer, Course Leader PG Dip/MSc Social Work,

Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

Colin first started taking advantage of the Erasmus programme ten years ago and was keen to learn about different approaches to both social work practice and training students in Antwerp, Belgium. He usually goes for five to six days at a time and over the years he has been involved in teaching, student placement support, meetings, involvement in intensive study programmes and much more.

His Erasmus experience has allowed him to both expose students to methods and approaches to practice that challenge UK orthodoxies and also to bring new concepts to enhance course content back in his home institution. This adds a comparative and critical dimension to the programme that really enhances it for post-graduates and has been identified as a commendable aspect of the course in the process of reviews by both the national professional body and the university’s internal review system.

English speaking in Flanders is so widespread he has no language difficulties and enjoys the cultural and culinary delights the region has to offer, especially the beer, waffles and chocolate! He also praises the public transport system and flat countryside, particularly important to him as he suffers from a walking disability.

The impact of the experiences in, for example, the area of asylum seeking, has yielded a number of dissertations and some specialist practitioners in that field of practice. The course has a European dimension to it that has evolved and developed over the years of his Belgian connections. The Robert Gordon University maintains close relations with institutes elsewhere in Europe, in the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Finland and all of that feeds into its courses, but Belgium remains at the centre of it all.

Colin strongly believes that as well as benefiting his institution it has been a huge benefit to him personally and professionally, by providing fresh ideas, valid alternatives and a much more European perspective, “I think it has given me a broader and more critical capacity to appraise professional practice here because I now know of effective alternatives. I think also now that I’m near retirement it has helped to keep my outlook fresh and positive. I honestly feel it has been life enhancing”.

Allan Neave, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama

Allan, who is a lecturer at the School of Music and runs the guitar department, took part in the Erasmus programme and went to the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallin in order to improve his abilities as a teacher and as a performer, exchange ideas, learn about each other's culture and compare working environments. He particularly enjoyed the opportunity this gave him to work with the young Estonian musicians and to hear material that is not normally available in the UK.

During his four day visit he was able to both teach and perform, allowing him to witness first-hand the great pride that Estonian musicians have in their heritage. Through working with local,skilful players he discovered a whole new genre of music previously unknown to him. Although only there for four days he was also able to get a brief glimpse into the lives of the people of Tallinn and their city. He felt the experience helped him to rationalise his position back home in the UK, as well as giving him new experiences to share with his students and the college as a whole, not to mention broadening his musical horizons. He also enjoyed broadening the musical horizons of the Estonians by introducing them to Scottish music and highly recommends the Erasmus programme to his peers.

Eric Bourguignon, European Research Project Officer, Aston University

Eric took part in the Erasmus exchange programme for staff and went for one week to the Technisches Universität München, Germany. His goals were to exchange good practice and to improve his knowledge of Research Funding and thus his ability to provide relevant advice to researchers at Aston. He also wanted to establish long-term, international networks and foster further exchanges with the Technischen Universität München. Eric believed that this opportunity let him benchmark his skills against other foreign colleagues who were working in a similar field and allowed him to evaluate the management skills and written EU research bids of German colleagues.

As well as benefiting him and his university professionally, he feels that it has benefited him personally, “It gave me a “new push” and new ideas to implement at work, especially in terms of research policy, bids writing and research area shaping. I also improved my international networking with one of the most dynamic research universities in Germany.” Eric appreciated both the academic and cultural benefits this exchange programme offered him and highly recommends it to staff who want to test their skills in a different environment and improve their career options.

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.

Dr Marius Turda, RCUK Academic Fellow, Oxford Brookes University

Marius wanted to take part in the Erasmus exchange programme to gain teaching experience in other countries, to learn about their universities and to help with student recruitment. He went to the Medical University of Wroclaw (Poland) and the University of Peloponnese (Greece). He’s also planning to go to the Central European University in Budapest (Hungary). The universities selected are emerging within the new European scene of higher education and it is important for Oxford Brookes University to recruit students from the newly integrated Eastern European countries.

Marius spent one week in each location teaching and carrying out research, helped by the fact that he could speak the local language. The experience enabled him to meet young scholars and broaden his knowledge about these countries and has also helped him in his work as it attracted interest in the research topics offered by Oxford Brookes University. One of his definite highlights was being able to work with the local students and strongly recommends the programme, advising his peers to be prepared to experience new things and really appreciate the local knowledge.

Hilary Spilsbury, Senior Lecturer in Nursing, University of Huddersfield

Hilary had found out about Erasmus from her International Office and decided to take part in the programme in order to facilitate overseas colleagues in communication and cultural diversity.

Through teaching and engaging with students and staff in Norway she would be able to offer them a different perspective. Hilary visited Norway twice, for a week on both occasions, teaching, attending meetings, visiting hospitals and patients as well as meeting the local students. She found the attitude towards life as well as the quality of life were very interesting and that the people she met had little experience of a diverse culture. Hilary felt it helped her both personally and professionally, helping to increase her confidence and giving her a great sense of fulfilment, something she could take home and share with her students. When asked if others should take part, Hilary states, “Absolutely, it’s potentially a life changing experience and can really put things in perspective.”