memo© in media
The Guardian: It must be love: what makes university partnerships tick?
Uwe Brandenburg, The Guardian, May 4, 2016
A couple of years ago, my colleagues and I conducted a study on decision-making in university partnerships. Our findings suggested that good university partnerships did not depend on rational management decisions so much as human emotion.
Studenta.cz: To go or not to go, that is not the question (Czech only)
Když jdeš studovat do ciziny, změní tě to. Musíš ale vědět, jak moc. A právě v tom by měla hrát roli tvoje škola. Povídali jsme si s panem Brandenburgem, který nedávno se svým týmem provedl rozsáhlý výzkum na téma internacionalizace vysokého školství.
"Lidé z různých zemí přemýšlí o stejných věcech totálně rozdílně. Když se škola otevře světu a dělá to dobře, přináší jí to výhody. Nové nápady pro studium, nové způsoby vyučování, jiný pohled na svět. Neměl by to ale být cíl sám o sobě jen proto, že se to teď nosí. Školy musí vědět, čeho tím chtějí dosáhnout. Obecně si myslím, že internacionalizace je důležitá pro každou univerzitu, ale ne pro každého studenta a v každém předmětu."
IHE: The Value of Administrative Staff for Internationalization
International Higher Education, No 85, Spring 2016
"From the data, we can infer that, in general, recruiting staff with prior international experience has a stronger impact on internationality than developing the capacities of staff through internationalization activities (such as mobility or intercultural trainings). Recruiting is more relevant when seeking to increase the level of internationality of higher rank positions, and of staff at the international offices, while staff development is especially effective for lower rank positions, and for higher rank staff not focused primarily on internationalization. Staff recruitment is nevertheless pivotal for setting a framework for internationalization in any HEI," claims Uwe Brandenburg, PhD, referring to the results of the InHoPe study employing the memo© methodology.
Lab Times: Should you Study Abroad? Yes!
"As it turned out, when compared to students that prefer to stay at home, Erasmus students have higher scores on traits such as confidence in own abilities and curiosity, even before going abroad. “These are different personalities from the outset, essentially different from those who make a decision not to go,” says Brandenburg. For the researcher, this means the “idea that you can just open a programme and everybody will use it, is an illusion. You have a certain amount of people who have the predisposition, which makes them likely to want to go abroad and there's a lot who don't”."
UWN: EU mobility grants at record high, but impact varies
University World News, February 6th, 2016
"The European Union’s Erasmus+ programme offered approximately 650,000 individual mobility grants for people to study, train, work or volunteer abroad in 2014, the first year of the programme, according to Tibor Navracsics, the EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.
However, a regional impact study, whose results were published by the European Commission, or EC, at the same time as the figures on Erasmus+, suggests that the impact of mobility is being felt in different ways in different regions of Europe."
THE PIE NEWS: Southern, Eastern Europeans reap most benefit from Erasmus
The PIE News, February 2nd, 2016
"Studying or working abroad through the European mobility programme Erasmus has a notably bigger impact on students’ long-term employability in Eastern and Southern Europe than elsewhere, a new study has found."
INSIDE HIGHER ED: The Study Abroad Advantage
Inside Higher Ed, February 1st, 2016
"Study abroad alumni have better career outcomes, according to two studies assessing the impact of Europe’s Erasmus exchange program."
TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION: Spain sends and receives most students through Erasmus
Times Higher Education, January 29th, 2016
"Students from Southern and Eastern Europe have the most to gain from undertaking an Erasmus programme.
That is the main finding from a new Erasmus Regional Impact Study from the European Commission, which shows that student exchanges significantly improve young people’s chances of securing high-quality managerial jobs in those regions in particular."
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Erasmus+: Providing more and better opportunities to support Europe's future generations
European Commision, January 26th, 2016
"A new Erasmus Regional Impact Study confirms that while undertaking an Erasmus student exchange significantly improves young people's chances of securing high quality, managerial jobs, this is especially true for students coming from Southern and Eastern Europe."
TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION: Internationalisation is not an end itself
Times Higher Education, January 15th, 2016
"It’s not good enough just to jump on the internationalisation bandwagon – we have to measure outcomes, says Uwe Brandenburg"
TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION: Universities ‘should measure outcomes of internationalisation’
Times Higher Education, January 14th, 2016
"More universities should measure the impact of their internationalisation strategies rather than assuming their initiatives will be beneficial, an international higher education expert has claimed.
Uwe Brandenburg, managing director of higher education consulting firm CHE Consult and former international director at Humboldt University of Berlin, said that many institutions implement internationalisation strategies “because everyone else does it” but that usually means they do not measure the outcomes on staff and students and adapt their policies accordingly. He cited the effects on student and staff mindset and personality traits in particular."
