Title | Category | Target group |
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Soft skills trainings for support staff | Institutional Processes Capacity Building of Support & Management Staff | Administrative staff Management staff |
Promotion via social media in English | Networking Promotion & Visibility | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Administrative staff |
Networking institutional events for support staff | Capacity Building of Support & Management Staff | Administrative staff |
Networking events for family members | Social Integration & Daily Life Family Matters Networking Promotion & Visibility | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Internationals spouses/family members |
Networking events for PhD students and academics | Social Integration & Daily Life Profesional & Academic Development Networking | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Mobility data collection and management | Administrative & Legal Support Institutional Processes Institutional strategy | Administrative staff Management staff |
Local language courses for international PhDs and academics | Social Integration & Daily Life Language Support, Language Policy Family Matters Profesional & Academic Development Networking | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) Internationals spouses/family members |
Free legal advice for international PhDs/academics | Administrative & Legal Support | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers |
FAQs collection for support staff to share cases internally | Institutional Processes Capacity Building of Support & Management Staff | Administrative staff Management staff |
Promotion of talent recruitment schemes at international fairs | Promotion & Visibility | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) Administrative staff Management staff |
Collaboration with alumni | Profesional & Academic Development Networking Promotion & Visibility | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Comprehensive welcome well-structured webpage in English | Institutional Processes Promotion & Visibility | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Bilingual institutional administration processes | Social Integration & Daily Life Language Support, Language Policy Administrative & Legal Support Institutional Processes | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) Administrative staff Management staff |
Welcome buddies/guides for international PhD students and academics | Social Integration & Daily Life Family Matters Networking | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Customised assistance: funding offers, application preparation | Profesional & Academic Development | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Welcome event for new international PhDs/academics | Social Integration & Daily Life Profesional & Academic Development Networking Promotion & Visibility | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Labour market preparation for spouses | Social Integration & Daily Life Language Support, Language Policy Family Matters Profesional & Academic Development | Internationals spouses/family members |
Induction trainíng program for new support staff | Institutional Processes Capacity Building of Support & Management Staff | Administrative staff |
Knowledge sharing intranet communication platform for support staff | Capacity Building of Support & Management Staff | Administrative staff |
Knowledge sharing inter-institutional communication platform for support staff (closed group) | Administrative & Legal Support Institutional Processes | Administrative staff Management staff |
Title | Description |
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Soft skills trainings for support staff |
The main benefit of this practice is that this kind of training improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the support staff work. It also increases the satisfaction levels of international PhD students and academic staff. As a result, the atmosphere in both administrative and academic teams becomes much better since a lot of conflicts and misunderstandings would be avoided and communication will run more smoothly. The most important thing for this practice is that to achieve sustainable results such courses need to be offered on a regular basis. |
Promotion via social media in English |
In the era of technology, it is a great idea to use social media for promotional purposes. Welcoming institutions should set up a page where they can promote the incoming academics and staff members, and do so in English so that other institutions could have access to it. It might significantly contribute to greater visibility and new possibilities for cooperation. |
Networking institutional events for support staff |
The main aim of institutional events for support staff is to strengthen the professional knowledge of support staff through different types of meetings/events but also optimize information flows and procedures. Via these events, they can share experience and ideas, develop and share contacts within and outside of the organisation and improve internal processes. External experts/partners can be invited to such events or they can be organised jointly with them to expand and deepen collaborations for the sake of a smoother incoming researcher and academic staff mobility. The practice could eventually prepare the ground or even lead towards a broader scope of further professional development activities for support staff, including various focused trainings. |
Networking events for family members |
The networking events for family members can contribute to both the researchers' and their families' better integration in the host country. Regular meet-ups can improve opportunities for networking, making in-person contacts, sharing knowledge, asking questions, and for receiving advice about the local environment. In addition, regular meetings can strengthen the local community, also involving local players - HEI management, research, administrative staff, and local stakeholders among others.
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Networking events for PhD students and academics |
Networking events, be it live or virtual, could help connect PhDs and academics with similar interests, and they could also help them discover different ways of approaching certain aspects of academia life. They could be organized in the form of conferences, seminars, lab meetings, various social events as well as online social networks, where social media profiles of academics can be used for a rather useful purpose. Such events bring people from different fields of academia together, creating opportunities for them to hear about other people's research, and also allowing them to discover different institutions they could visit in order to gain new knowledge.
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Mobility data collection and management |
Collecting and managing data about mobility could significantly affect the quality of the institutional process related to assisting mobile researchers and internationalization in general. It produces a body of evidence for strategic decision-making, facilitates smooth and effective communication with mobile researchers, provides a framework for a flow of activities related to assistance, and improves the efficiency and productivity of the service center.
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Local language courses for international PhDs and academics |
This is a key service for effective social integration of international PhD students, academics, and researchers, especially in everyday life outside the academic context. It is an advantage if the hosting HEI can provide the service within its own resources (by Language Department/ Language Centre) with experts trained in teaching the national language as a foreign language. Moreover, the language department could also offer other foreign language courses. If the hosting HEI does not have sufficient capacity, partnerships with other HEIs in the city could be formed or HEI should create a database of language schools in the city/region. The starting point could be the existing practice of providing language courses for incoming Erasmus+ students. A complementary option is to explore whether there are any already existing e-learning national language courses and offer them to internationals as an opportunity to get acquainted with the basics of the language even before their arrival in the host country. |
Free legal advice for international PhDs/academics |
International students and researchers often face a broad variety of legal issues during their stay in a host country. Professional legal advice can be rather costly and therefore not accessible to all scholars, particularly for early stage ones. Free legal advice offered to international scholars can help resolve and prevent difficult situations that could require more time and resources, compormise their security or cause reputational damage to the institution.
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FAQs collection for support staff to share cases internally |
The FAQs platform is a practical tool for storage of practical information and good practices for processing the agenda of incoming PhD students and academics. It´s a database of standardized responses/solutions to recurring questions helping thus the support staff members efficiently navigate through administrative processes/issues they typically encounter. It is particularly useful for newcomer support staff as well as for situations occurring just sporadically. It could be part of an internal knowledge-sharing platform or any other type of intranet. |
Promotion of talent recruitment schemes at international fairs |
Using physical and online exhibit marketing can be powerful for higher education institutions to foster their visibility and attract new students and early-stage researchers through the promotion of national and institutional opportunities for study and research. Higher education institutions can use this channel to communicate externally about their institution and possibilities to engage with it, including existing scholarships, grants and other forms of support to collaboration. |
Collaboration with alumni |
Database of PhD students/academics and a structured programme how to engage alumni in the academic and public life of the HEI. Various forms of collaboration engaging alumni are possible e.g.: information sharing/distribution, organising events, alumni as academic and cultural ambassadors, alumni as academic and intercultural mentors Active alumni networks of international PhDs and academics play an important role in strengthening the HEI reputation at the international level. Their knowledge and working and life experience represent a valuable resource from which potential/future Ph.D. students and visiting academics can greatly benefit. Active alumni are valuable assets for the HEI, their experience of living in a host country and the knowledge of how they incorporated their study or research/academic activity at the particular HEI into their further professional career can help the HEI optimize their study/research programmes, academic or research conditions, and external cooperations. Alumni can help in achieving higher visibility of the HEI nationally and internationally, they can create bridges among different cultures and reach out to broader academic and public audience. On the other hand, the alumni can benefit from a variety of professionals and workplaces and continue their lifelong learning and develop rewarding collaborations.
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Comprehensive welcome well-structured webpage in English |
The institutional welcome website is usually the first source of information about the HEI, typically containing information on the most important aspects related to smooth preparation and actual onboarding. It is important that the information is structured in a way that reflects the logic of end-users perspective. The webpage should be easy to navigate and high-quality SEOs should be used. The information on the website has to be regularly updated including the FAQ section which typically draws the highest traffic.
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Bilingual institutional administration processes |
Bilingual or multilingual policies and practices enhance the international dimension of a higher education institution. They foster the inclusion of international students and staff in the academic and social life of a university by improving communication on key issues. |
Welcome buddies/guides for international PhD students and academics |
This is a form of personal assistance that helps international PhD students and academics with the adaptation process in the new environment handling not only practical issues but also help them with social and cultural integration. While the basic services such as airport/train transport assistance or arrival to the hosting university/faculty can be provided by local undergraduate students (Erasmus+ buddies), international PhD students and academics, especially in terms of social and cultural integration, need a more sophisticated approach and the commitment of his/her new colleagues. |
Customised assistance: funding offers, application preparation |
Customised assistance ranges from providing an overview of available funding opportunities from various sources to tips for writing an application and pre-screening of application as well as assisting in finding a project team or inter-institutional project team. Individualised support will also facilitate the professional development of the academic staff and will improve communication and cooperation between the HEI’s support staff and the international academics and PhDs. Increased academic activity will influence positively the HEI’s visibility and may increase enrolment and retention of academic staff. This service requires well-trained support staff in the area of academic development, funding opportunities and procedures, and project drafting. However, writing an application is not a simple matter. It requires knowledge of the methods and techniques of creating applications. An indispensable part of the application preparation is a thorough reading of the funding scheme documentation, e.g.call for proposals with attachments. programme thematic priorities, guidelines for applicants and project beneficiaries, funding principles, etc.. These documents describe all major information, including who can apply for a grant (i.e. eligible applicants), what grant can be obtained (grant size and total call budget), the procedure and deadline for application (when and where to submit an application), what the project evaluation criteria are, how will they be assessed, what costs are eligible, or it is possible to find the content of the future contract along with the terms of the project implementation. Before completing the application, each applicant should also check whether the instructions for its preparation have been provided. The task of the support staff is to provide support and assistance to the applicant in the process of preparing and submitting the application. |
Welcome event for new international PhDs/academics |
This is an opportunity to welcome the international PhD students, academics and researchers, distribute information and meet hosting HEI’s staff in person. It can also be a way to promote HEI research and didactic work among international PhD students and academics. HEI’s external partners can enrich the sessions with their presentations and other events as a way of popularising their work. Social events accompanying the welcome event are an important way of establishing social and professional networks.
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Labour market preparation for spouses |
This practice aims to establish additional services and more systematic assistance for better integration of the spouses of international researchers for medium or long-term stay.
An integral part of the preparation of the accompanying spouses for the local labour market are local language courses or foreign language courses, in general as well as voluntary activities that could help expecially at the beginning of stay.
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Induction trainíng program for new support staff |
The main benefit of this practice is that this kind of training improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the support staff work. It also increases the levels of satisfaction of the end-users such as researchers in mobility, international PhD students and academic staff. This training should be offered to all newcomer staff. It will enhance the procces of introduction to the newcomers and shorter the time for their integration. As a result the newcomers will be able to engage in the process faster and deliver high-quality service, improving their capacity for the job. |
Knowledge sharing intranet communication platform for support staff |
An effective tool/forum platform to build up the community of experts. The support staff members can contribute their ideas in the knowledge that will be stored-archived in shared online workplace and can be referred back to at any time. Posting issues and receiving responses will create over time a network amongst colleagues that will be actively supporting each other. It could grow to become an FAQ or Wikipedia-style resource platform for support teams involved in internationalization or even for the other HEI departments/units.
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Knowledge sharing inter-institutional communication platform for support staff (closed group) |
A communication platform designed to facilitate the exchange of information among staff working in various institutions that support international academics and PhD students. Knowledge sharing involves a multi-directional exchange of information resources where each institution is both a donor and a receiver of knowledge. Therefore every institution involved should have the possibility to profit from as well as contribute to the knowledge-sharing platform. A community of experts from across different HEIs and research organisations can be created via such a platform.
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