Customised assistance: social integration and daily life issues (accommodation, health care providers, childcare, etc.)

Customised assistance regarding social integration and daily life of incoming international PhD students, academics and their families helps to make a better experience of settling-in in a new place, whether it is finding housing, opening a bank account, finding a suitable health care provider (s), securing childcare, building a new social network, learning a foreign language and generally, getting accustomed to a new culture and way of life. It can also include information on local/regional public transportation, host city parking policy, waste collection, registering a car, bringing in a pet, etc. Various levels/intensities of service provision might be opted for based on specific needs and available resources. The service might also be helped to deliver by a trained buddy/guide.

Goals

Improved access to information Better communication and cooperation Improved visibility Improved quality of service

Basic information

Practice setup

The customized service could be provided in different ways of intensity/detailedness:

• Signposting: is a referral to a specific source of information or assistance, both an online resource or specialized service office (e.g., EURAXESS service centre, real-estate agencies, health care facilities/providers, etc).


• Short inquiry response: is immediate delivery of the short information or assistance to an incoming PhD student, academic/researcher.


• Personalized assistance: is an individual or collaborative effort which requires research and/or repeated communication/meetings with an incoming PhD student/academic/researcher and/or other parties (e.g., prefilling forms, accompanying incomings to a bank to open a bank account, communication with real estate agencies, schools and childcare providers, registering a car, contact to a vet, etc). 

When setting up this service consider the following aspects:

• Identify relevant areas and external partners for collaboration facilitating social integration (for more details see the practices: Collaborations facilitating social integration (e.g. administrative procedures, accommodation, language, family issues, socialising), and Collaboration with external partners and customised assistance in offering accommodation)


• Plan a budget and appoint responsible staff members for providing the service,


• Train the support staff,


• Prepare easy-to-follow guidelines for the standard procedures, e.g. instruction on childcare institutions' requirements and ways of functioning, specificities of local real estate market, on how to open a bank account and health care)


• Set up a dedicated website compiling all the relevant information regarding the social integration of internationals


• Define a way of promoting those services and events via a dedicated website, social media, newsletter


• Define (if necessary) different intensities of customised assistance (e.g. targeted reference to applicable internet resources in advance of the arrival, provision of specific email advice, pre-check of documents before submission to authorities, pre-filling forms, personal accompanying to various offices) and make clear for what target groups they are available (e.g. based on academic ranking, research experience, or family members) and by whom they shall be delivered (e.g. support administrative staff, trained buddies/guides) - this can help manage expectations and keep control of the workload of support staff. Optimally, however, the higher the intensity of the customised assistance the better for the PhD students, academics, researchers, and their family members. 

Databases of external partners (it is highly recommended to build, but then further updates need to be ensured)

• Database of accommodation facilities/real-estate agencies (e.g. internal academic rentals, proven real-estate agencies, vacant internal and privately owned rental properties, and rooms to let) where you would collect, translate into English, and harmonise the accommodation information. The database can be kept internal or published on the HEI website. If published, the accommodation opportunities listed in the database need to be translated into English and can have different additional services (e.g., filtering options, accommodation tour videos, useful information sections including public transport information, rental legal issues, housing areas comparison, moving-in, and moving-out rules, FAQ, Reference section). 


• Database of English-speaking (or other foreign language speaking) medical doctors/specialists (general practitioners for adults, pediatricians, dentists, private clinics, emergency telephone numbers, contact information to the clinic (s) for exotic diseases for residence permit purposes). 


• Database of child care facilities and schools (facilities categorised according to a type and category of the facility such as nursery, private/ public/ bilingual / church / international school / with the specific language of instruction, etc., as well as children's interests – leisure time activities (sports / music / art).  It would be also useful to create a database of babysitters (among university students, ideally from language departments and the field of pedagogy), who would be willing occasionally to babysit young children of international academics. 

Buddy/Guide assistance

• Set up a buddy/guide assistance ideally encompassing also PhD students who should receive appropriate training and support in the social integration-related matters (by IRO staff) and could significantly help with personal assistance to incoming academics (pre-filling forms - accommodation, opening a bank account, enrolling a child in a selected child care facility, etc; accompanying incoming academics/researchers to a bank, various authority offices, childcare facilities, etc.). The Buddy/Guide assistance, however, primarily aims to connect international PhD students, academics, researchers, and locals for intercultural exchange, enabling exploring the host city and its surroundings with excursions, museum visits, or bar evenings. The benefit will be not only professional networking that might lead to joint research activity/publication but also an intense practice of a foreign language and building intercultural competence.

Joint welcome centre (one-stop-shop or virtual) - in order to reach a critical mass and save resources, several HEIs can join their forces and create a joint welcome centre providing such services.

Local language courses - promote information and opportunities for local language courses ( for incoming academics as well as their spouses). For details see Local language courses for international PhD students/academics/researchers.

Informal networking events - make a plan for organising informal networking events encompassing also internationals' family members. 

Challenges:

• When collecting and providing information on housing a disclaimer can be added warning users that the HEI does not carry out an inspection or in any way guarantee the suitability of the accommodation in the database.


• Databases need to be regularly updated.


• Regarding childcare facilities the choice of a specific institution can ultimately significantly affect its availability in terms of capacity (maximum limits for the number of children in the class), in the case of enrollment for the leisure time activity, it may also be a complication with an already full capacity. The quality and possibilities of this service are fundamentally influenced by the size of the urban agglomeration in which the receiving institution is located. It is useful to provide information and explain the local background and specificities on the institution/welcome centre's website.


• In case of repeating or recurring issues with opening a bank account, which might seem of a systematic character, it is advisable to start negotiations between HEI's higher-ranked representative and the bank's Compliance department on terms and requirements to facilitate the process of the application acknowledgment. 


• It is recommended to find an appropriate method of award for the buddies - a book voucher, a short work trip abroad to visit any partner university, etc.

Cost of practice setup
Time required for practice setup
Personnel effort required for practice setup
Actors involved in practice setup	HR Department IRO/welcome centre Study department
Partners involved in practice setup	Municipality Language centre Real estate agent Medical centre Other HEI/research organisation in city/region Tourist information centre/board Local expat centre Local school/pre-school facility
Indicators for evaluating progress/quality of practice setup	Process organization developed

Internal Actors

@Erasmus Student Network (ESN) - in coordination with IRO offices, the local Erasmus Student Network, besides supporting international Bc/Master degree students, can provide support also to incoming international Ph.D. students and academics to adjust to the new environment and facilitate smooth social integration, especially, if the number of incoming international PhDs and academics is rather low compared to the number of international/ exchange HE students. HEIs could ideally support the service with cafe and sport vouchers.

External Collaborations

@Other HEIs/research organizations in city/region/interregional consortium of universities - local networking is essential for the support of international Ph.D. students and academics. They may join their forces and use the resources more efficiently to create a so-called " one-stop-shop" and plan and offer a joint " Welcome Service", especially, if also smaller institutions are involved. They can also organise joint welcome and other social networking events or even create a mixing place leading to effective networking between local and international academics. Locally organized activities have proved to facilitate the integration into a new social community.

@Municipality/City Council/  many municipalities set up welcome centres to provide intergration services to all foreigners coming to study, work alive to the area (e.g. Welcome centre Tartu). Such service at municipality level has better chances to reach a critical mass of the target group and run databases for proven accommodation offers, childcare facilities, healthcare providers or even run local language cources. It can be also involved in social networking events, provide the city/region promotion-related materials in English (e.g, brochures, city (discount) card, a website with various cultural events held in the city/region). City council representatives (ideally, the mayor) could have a welcome speech at the Welcome event. The City council can also promote various events for families (Christmas markets, cultural programme, summer cultural events, voluntary activities for better social integration of spouses, cultural events where internationals from different countries can present their culture, sports activities (runs), etc). Municipality can also have several apartments that they can be renting to incoming academics and their families on favourable terms. 

Practice delivery

• It is highly recommended to update the information in the databases on a regular basis


• Databases can be published on the HEI website and that would enormously ease the workload of the HEI's support staff. If published, the information listed in the databases needs to be translated into English and can have different additional services (e.g., filtering options, useful information sections related to the accommodation (e.g., public transport information, rental legal issues, housing areas comparison, moving-in, and moving-out rules), childcare facilities, medical doctors, FAQ, Reference section). 


• Organise an introductory information session for the future buddies/guides with brief instructions on basic ethical and social rules, with a manual for solving practical questions, and also who they can approach if they have a problem while delivering the buddy service.


• Organise trainings for both HEI's support staff and buddies/guides. In this regard, intercultural courses would be very helpful.


• Promote the existence of databases (if published) and networking events via a dedicated website, social media, newsletter

Challenges (factors to consider): Ensure provision of the information and assistance ON TIME. 

Cost of practice delivery
Time required for practice delivery
Personnel effort required for practice delivery
Actors involved in practice delivery	HR Department IRO/welcome centre
Partners involved in practice delivery	Municipality Language centre Real estate agent Medical centre Other HEI/research organisation in city/region Tourist information centre/board
Indicators for evaluating progress/quality of practice delivery	Number of researchers assisted annually Average satisfaction rate

@Other HEIs/research organizations in city/region/interregional consortium of universities - local networking is essential for the support of international Ph.D. students and academics. They may join their forces and use the resources more efficiently to create a so-called " one-stop-shop" and plan and offer a joint " Welcome Service", especially, if also smaller institutions are involved. They can also organise joint welcome and other social networking events or even create a mixing place leading to effective networking between local and international academics. Locally organized activities have proved to facilitate the integration into a new social community.

@Municipality/City Council/ - many municipalities set up welcome centres to provide intergration services to all foreigners coming to study, work alive to the area (e.g. Welcome centre Tartu). Such service at municipality level has better chances to reach a critical mass of the target group and run databases for proven accommodation offers, childcare facilities, healthcare providers or even run local language cources. It can be also involved in social networking events, provide the city/region promotion-related materials in English (e.g, brochures, city (discount) card, a website with various cultural events held in the city/region). City council representatives (ideally, the mayor) could have a welcome speech at the Welcome event. The City council can also promote various events for families (Christmas markets, cultural programme, summer cultural events, voluntary activities for better social integration of spouses, cultural events where internationals from different countries can present their culture, sports activities (runs), etc). 

@ Medical centre: delivering and updating information on local health care providers, ensuring basic medical examination for international students and researchers, promoting the institution’s services.

@Language centre: can offer native language courses for international staff or support in proofreading of documents and applications. promoting the didactic offer especially connected with native language classes. Offering discounts for international students and researchers if possible.

@Real estate agent: short introduction on living conditions and rental issues in the city and region, promoting the institution’s services, accommodation offers

@ Tourist information centre: promoting the country and region’s history, tourists’ attractions and facilities and encouraging touristic free time activities.