South Eastern Regional College (SERC) is celebrating after receiving €74,530 from the Erasmus+ programme for funds to support staff exchanges with two colleges outside Europe.
International Credit Mobility is a new aspect to the Erasmus+ programme which has traditionally only supported student and staff exchanges within Europe but this year for the first time, was opened up to any country in the world.
SERC applied for funds to support staff exchanges in two key regions – Japan and Thailand – and was successful in both applications. SERC is one of 24 successful applicants in the UK and is the only Further Education College to have a project approved.
SERC Project Officer Sharon Browne said: “It is testimony to the growing reputation of SERC that we have been successful in securing these funds from the Erasmus+ scheme. The award is a further indicator of the success of the Colleges internationalisation strategy.
“The funds will allow staff to train at overseas partner colleges, to share their knowledge and expertise and develop new opportunities for other collaborations.”
The funding will give SERC the opportunity to develop their existing links with Toyama National College of Technology, Japan, and a new partnership with King Mongkuts Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Thailand.
Over the next two years SERC will be sharing their expertise in the areas of Active Learning and Business Engagement with the National Institute of Technology, Toyama College Japan, whilst receiving reciprocal training in Robotics. Where recently an inter-institutional agreement was signed.
SERC has secured funding to develop a new partnership with King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology where SERC staff will provide upskilling in Active Learning whilst developing skills and knowledge in specialist areas of Engineering.
The assessors were very impressed with SERCs submission commenting that the ‘application demonstrated a strong identity with the international strategies of the two institutions building on existing, successful cooperation.’ Feedback also stated that the application ‘exemplified best practice in a number of areas.’
SERC Principal and Chief Executive Ken Webb said: “SERC has many years of experience of sending staff on mobility programmes around the world. The College has been actively seeking to broaden these connections into countries where English is not the main native language.”
SERC’s international strategy is to seek opportunities through the development of sustainable global partnerships to develop lifelong learning opportunities for staff and students to meet economic and workforce needs, through raising skills and qualifications to address the needs of the local economy. This funding will enable them to do just that.
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