Title | Category | Target group |
---|---|---|
Academic mentoring programme for international PhD students | Profesional & Academic Development | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers |
Bilingual information systems (English and local language) | Language Support, Language Policy Institutional Processes | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Career support for international PhDs and junior academics | Profesional & Academic Development | PhD student/Early career researcher |
Career planning skills trainings/labour market preparation for PhDs/academics | Profesional & Academic Development Networking Institutional strategy | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Institutional small grants available for international PhDs/junior academics | Profesional & Academic Development Institutional strategy | PhD student/Early career researcher |
Knowledge sharing inter-institutional communication platform for support staff (closed group) | Administrative & Legal Support Institutional Processes | Administrative staff Management staff |
Online mobility management App | Administrative & Legal Support | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Central IT mobility system/database | Administrative & Legal Support | PhD student/Early career researcher Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) Administrative staff |
Cultural orientation courses for international PhD students/academics/spouses | Social Integration & Daily Life Family Matters | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Soft skills trainings for support staff | Institutional Processes Capacity Building of Support & Management Staff | Administrative staff Management staff |
Welcome package for international PhDs/scholars | Social Integration & Daily Life Language Support, Language Policy Family Matters Profesional & Academic Development Networking Social security, Health Insurance, Taxation | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Soft skills trainings for PhDs/academics | Social Integration & Daily Life Profesional & Academic Development Networking | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
International scholar safety guide | Safety, Healthcare & Wellbeing | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
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 |
Mobility data collection and management | Administrative & Legal Support Institutional Processes Institutional strategy | Administrative staff Management staff |
Mentoring scheme for support staff | Capacity Building of Support & Management Staff | Administrative 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 |
Dictionary/glossary of common phrases used in academic and institutional life | Social Integration & Daily Life Language Support, Language Policy | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers Lecturers (incl. Language Teachers) |
Free legal advice for international PhDs/academics | Administrative & Legal Support | PhD student/Early career researcher R2 - R4 researchers |
Title | Description |
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Academic mentoring programme for international PhD students |
Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be (Eric Pasloe). A dedicated mentoring programme for PhD students allows institutions to encourage students to progress with their thesis, connect PhD candidates with alumni and local peers, support academics in their professional development, and build a vibrant academic community at the institution. International PhD students can particularly benefit from their engagement in an institutional mentoring programme by expanding their professional network in the host country, gaining knowledge about local academic culture and traditions, gain tangible academic/professional experience (e.g. workplace visits, shadowing, interview experience, placements, a graduate job), develop written and verbal communication in the local language. Academic mentoring programmes therefore greatly contribute to the professional and social integration of early-stage international scholars. |
Bilingual information systems (English and local language) |
Information Systems (IS) are an extremely important aspect of any properly organized institution, academic institutions in particular. As its components collect, store, organize, and distribute data throughout the organization, it could be said that in order to get acquainted with an institution, one has to have access to its information system. However, most academic institutions possess information systems in their country's official language. Due to that fact, international PhD students, academic, and management staff members may find it difficult to understand the data.
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Career support for international PhDs and junior academics |
Career development support for PhDs and junior academics is an important part of preparation for future employment. The main aim of career development support is to help PhD students and early career researchers:
If there is career support service for researchers at your institution, make sure that it is also available for international PhD students and researchers and that it takes their specific needs into account. As they probaly have neither knowledge of local labour market nor strong professional network in your country they might benefit from availibilty of career advice a lot. Ensuring accessibility of career advice to international PhD students and researchers might help you to:
Final output: career support services available to international researchers and PhD students. Major activities: Examples of such services might include professional career coaching, individual career counselling, interactive trainings, workshops, online navigation tools etc. |
Career planning skills trainings/labour market preparation for PhDs/academics |
One of the reasons why career planning skills trainings are being held is to encourage proactive career planning by equipping participants with the skills, resources and self-assessment information necessary to make informed career choices both inside and beyond academia. Organizing career planning skills trainings and labour market preparation trainings focus on professional career of PhDs and academics who are often uncertain in terms of decision-making for their next future career life. Therefore, the training possibilities for PhDs and academics can help, maintain and improve job skills, professional level of employees and prepare them for possible promotion. By organising these events the HE institutions can benefit in terms of the overall job satisfaction level of their PhDs and academics.
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Institutional small grants available for international PhDs/junior academics |
Many universities already have a fund for small institutional grants to support their local PhD students and young researchers in developing various transferable skills (e.g., writing a project/project and financial management of own project), and in preparing future interdisciplinary, international, or cutting-edge projects. Such grants can be used to cover e.g. travel costs, attendance fees for conferences, extra publication, dissemination and science popularisation costs, extra fieldwork, extra lab costs/consumables, individual trainings, etc. Those grants could be offered also to international PhD students and young academics under the same conditions as their local peers. Information on grants should be available in English and easily foundable on the institutional website. The information could be part of the welcome package.
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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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Online mobility management App |
A simple online mobility management app enabling an inviting person/department to enter all the parameters on incoming PhDs/academics prior to his/her stay, sending out an auto-generated welcoming email (s) with information and access to all university services (online library, pass/card, other electronic services before their coming to the receiving institution.) easing thus the whole pre-arrival process immensely.
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Central IT mobility system/database |
IT mobility system/database is an important segment in organizing information regarding mobility. Each institution should develop its own database, and, if needs be, offer information from it to the other institutions. |
Cultural orientation courses for international PhD students/academics/spouses |
Short course/series of courses on local cultural specifics. These include both specifics of everyday life and of organisational culture. The trainees will be able to deal better in everyday communication and to act more efficiently as a member of your ourganisation. Their spouses will find it easier to adapt to local cultural specifics.. Intercultural differences, sometime invisible, may destroy any team. The best way to:
Is to integrate them as much as possible into the local and organisational culture. The easiest and most effective way is to offer a series of short (preferrably 1-hour-long) courses on different themes from your local and your organisational culture. It is even more efficient if each of them is combined with a relevant informal event involving local researchers or visiting an external event, museum or exhibition. This way the international PhD students/academics and their spouses will be able to combine theory and practice, which in turn will facilitate their integration in the local/organisational culture providing them with opportunities to further socialise and with (hopefully) nice memories. |
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. |
Welcome package for international PhDs/scholars |
Well-designed, clearly structured and regularly updated bilingual PDF document that serves for orientation and support of international PhD students and staff. It is also useful to have the Welcome Pack downloadable from the website which international PhDs/visiting scholars use to get informed about their stay and activities at your university. The package should contain:
By providing such a pack the institution ensures that the incoming researcher/PhD student will be able to:
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Soft skills trainings for PhDs/academics |
The main benefit of this practice is that such training improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the international PhD students and academic staff and increases their satisfaction and social integration. Soft skills are at the core of making any mobility programme successful. Soft skills related to intercultural communication can facilitate researchers' and PhDs' adaptation and social integration. Researchers and PhDs need to receive regular training in the full range of soft skills to perform best in their jobs/academic and research tasks. As a result of that training, it is expected that the atmosphere in the academic teams will improve substantially since a lot of conflicts and misunderstandings will be avoided and communication will run more smoothly. The most important thing for this practice is that to have sustainable results such courses need to be offered on a regular basis.
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International scholar safety guide |
The higher education institution is responsible for ensuring personal safety and security of its employees and students including international ones. International academics might not be familiar with the surroundings and lack awareness of local risks (e.g. related to accomodation, streets at night, use of transport, health safety risks). The objective of the international scholar safety support/guide is to provide concise English-language information about off-campus and on-campus risks and guidelines on how to act in specific situations and where to seek help.
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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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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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Mentoring scheme for support staff |
The aim of this activity is to pair employees involved in providing services to international academics in a mentoring relationship to foster professional development and career growth while building an inclusive culture and diverse networks.
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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. |
Dictionary/glossary of common phrases used in academic and institutional life |
This could be a combination of a dictionary and glossary of the most common phrases and their definitions in English used in the academic and institutional life of the host institution/country. Special attention should be paid to country/region specific terms that have no actual parallel outside the host country/region, for instance, academic ranks and their hierarchy in the region of Central and South-Eastern Europe. It could be also extended by terms related to the administrative duties that need to be done shortly before or fight after arrival to or upon departure from the host country/institution. Such a tool would be of immense help to both international as well as local PhDs and academics struggling with proper vocabulary when talking to their colleagues. |
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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