The 2014-2020 programme for Education, Training, Youth, and Sport

Erasmus+ is the new European Union(EU) programme for education, training, youth and sport. The Erasmus+ programme aims to boost skills and employability, as well as modernising Education, Training, and Youth work. The seven-year programme will have a budget of €14.7 billion; a 40% increase compared to current spending levels, reflecting the EU’s commitment to invest in these areas.

Erasmus+Charter

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/sites/erasmusplus/files/files/resources/he-charter_en.pdf

Alexander College is a HEI

• With longstanding strategic partnerships with prestigious UK Universities and Professional Organizations
• Offering strong reputation for supporting Design, Law and Business degrees
• Maintaining a collegial atmosphere enhancing student experience to the limits
• Playing an active role in the wider city of Larnaca region
• Capitalizing on accumulated experience demonstrating readiness to create new
  opportunities

In our mission statement, Alexander College includes the aim to provide students with a set of dynamic generic and specific competences and key skills by offering high standards of learning and enquiry in collaboration with national, EU, international and UK Universities and Professional Organisations. Contributing to a strong European Education Area, sharing common values based on diversity and further modernizing our Institute are core characteristics of our Strategy.

Our values, are highlighted by the ambition to continue presenting strong international partnerships and networks of new knowledge enhancing teaching, learning and research expertise.

Alexander College’s strategic priorities encompass the target of Interconnecting partnerships, which translate into practice through capitalizing existing and new Strategic partnerships and capabilities for enhancing research output and social impact improve synergies for national and international reputation.

Lastly, Alexander College is proud of its multicultural characteristics and commitment to equality of opportunities.

Staff mobility is a core enabler for exchanging best academic and research expertise and practices and thus enriching the students experience, producing concrete, long term results with social impact to the community and promote quality. Cooperation with HEI’s and Research Organisations is an important goal we have set for the coming period. The College will create and make use of opportunities to exchange knowhow, experience based on achievements and successful or emerging professional methodologies for teaching and learning, further adapting and contributing to the goals of the internationalisation and modernisation of education and development of the European Education Area.

Alexander College is particularly interested in developing partnerships which interconnect education with research with impact, orientated towards responding to social needs and inclusiveness, producing new knowledge, enhancing and spreading creativity and growth for the region and the country. This approach will additionally improve experience and expertise of  both staff and students promoting better conditions and creating opportunities for labour market inclusion of our graduates.

Alexander College has relatively recently begun to actively pursue mobility exchange in a wider range of disciplines and is currently planning to reinforce this valuable aspect. New degrees have been accredited and introduced to the College and the task is to enhance their internationalisation toolkit, advance research expertise and engage in exchanging good practices

Taking advantage of its positioning in Europe and in Cyprus and three decades of experience in Higher Education, the College aims at enriching its partnerships with Universities, other HEIs and Organisations in Europe and Asia. Thus, we aspire to further enrich and modernise our profile by also attracting partnerships from a variety of cultural and historical-educational backgrounds and simultaneously to contribute sharing with them our own expertise.

The College has reviewed past experience and will redistribute mobility over a wider array of degrees, developing partnerships for Design students and staff and enhancing cooperations for Business disciplines. Staff and Students particularly in these fields, will be encouraged to make use of opportunities for mobility and training in order to enhance personal fulfilment and better attain key competences. Postgraduate students will be supported to join with mobility in order to enhance their contribution both to the programme of study and extent their job prospective.

In the midst of an economic and health crisis which continuous to cause negative implications, economically disadvantaged students and students with special needs have been identified as a target group for applying for mobility. Thus, our strategy addresses the demanding issue of improving conditions, extent and facilitate more opportunities which in turn promote social inclusiveness.

As far as the traineeship field is concerned it has been identified as a trend of rising interest among the student population. Enhancing student personal professional profile, skills and experience is a necessary step in increasing employability in a changing and uncertain labour market. The College will pay due attention in supporting both new opportunities for traineeship partnerships and to the quality and relevance of such mobility to embrace and create better opportunities that increase both employability and advance careers.

Younger members of the Faculty and new researchers will be a special target group in future mobility actions, for training, research and teaching. The College endeavours to focus in attracting young members in the teams of international cooperations and motivate such mobility through new procedures and incentives dependent on quality of work.

Among the objectives of our participation to the Erasmus programme is to make use of and extent our social partnerships in the local area, small shopkeepers and handcrafts, youth organizations, the city of Larnaca Chamber of Commerce and local municipal authorities, attracting them into synergies in the coming Programme period.

The College will make the best out of the Programmes guidelines and implementation in order to achieve better attractiveness to ambitious students who will consider Erasmus mobility as the norm for cultivating crucial competences.

KA 1 The mobility of higher education students and staff

New degrees have been accredited and introduced to the College and the task is to enhance their internationalisation toolkit, advance research expertise and engage in exchanging good practices. Particular emphasis will be attributed to the Design, Law and Business programmes forging institutional collaborations with existing (15 other HEI’s) and new ones

KA 2 Partnerships for Cooperation and exchanges of practices

The College will create and make use of opportunities to exchange knowhow, experience based on achievements and successful or emerging professional methodologies for teaching and learning, further adapting and contributing to the goals of the internationalisation and modernisation of education and development of the European Education Area.

The College will create and make use of opportunities to exchange knowhow, experience based on achievements and successful or emerging professional methodologies for teaching and learning, further adapting and contributing to the goals of the internationalisation and modernisation of education and development of the European Education Area.

KA 2 Partnerships for Innovation

Alexander College is particularly interested in developing partnerships which interconnect education with research with impact, orientated towards responding to social needs and inclusiveness, producing new knowledge, enhancing and spreading creativity and growth for the region and the country. Common interests with existing partner HEIs and potential partners will be identified and join initiatives based on these thematic fields will be taken. A number of affiliated and partner organisations in the homeland are seeking to partner for Innovation and form consortiums

KA 3 Erasmus Key Action 3 (KA3) – Support to policy development and cooperation

The College has experience in participating and supporting policy developments particularly with regard to youth creative activities against Social Media and the Internet problematic use as well as contributing with research and policy suggestions against gambling addiction. Additionally, the College promotes dialogue and research in supporting Micro and Small Businesses in introducing new technologies hence its Agreements with local authorities including municipalities. The College has attracted relevant government organisations, including the Cyprus Youth Forum and many other, in partnerships and this may form a solid basis for raising and enhancing awareness based on European principles and proposing dialogue for new policy reforms and functional tools for innovative implementation and evaluation supported on rigorous though creative methodologies.

Alexander College considers participation in Erasmus Program to be of great significance in the enhancement of modernalisation and internalization of our institution. Our students and staff will benefit the most as they will have the possibility to study and train in different countries enrciching their knowledge, getting to know new cultures and extent their horizon. In addtion, our staff will enable international cooperation with institutions and research centers sharing knowledge experience and creating new paths for education and science.

Timeline for achieving targets 2020 – 2022

• Renew of existing agreements and establishing new agreements & cooperations in the fields of Design, Law and Business programmes
• Increase the number of outgoing students (establishing agreements with HEI’s in the Design, Law and Business programs will also increase the number of students Alexander college will be able send)
• Increase number of incoming students and staff as due to the Covid pandemic a number of mobilities had to be cancel and transfer for next year

2023 – 2027

• Establishing new agreements and cooperations with institutions and research centers
• Establishing cooperation with partners in Erasmus projects
• 10-15% increase in incoming and outgoing mobility for students and staff

Click here for the pdf version of our Erasmus+ Policy

The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a tool of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) for making studies and courses more transparent and thus helping to enhance the quality of higher education.

Knowledge of ECTS is crucial for all kinds of Erasmus+ mobility.

To read the ECTS user guide follow the link:

https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ects-users-guide_en.pdf

Main Criteria that you have to fulfill to enter the Erasmus+ programme for studies and/or traineeships

• Must be a full-time student at Alexander College, Bachelor or Master Degree.
• Students must have completed their 1^styear of studies, and proceed to year 2 or 3. Master students under exceptional cases may also apply.
• Students must have good attendance record and decent academic average grade.
• Character will be assessed through professors’ feedback.
• By the time that the selection process will take place the student must have no pending matters with Alexander College eg. Tuiton fees, assignments, library etc.

Before the mobility

Stage 1: Fill in the ‘Participation request form’, and submit it on time (digitally and hard copy). A student can select up to 3 Universities and he/she must clarify their first University preference, this does not mean, though, that the student will be send to his/her first choice University.

Stage 2: Students will receive an email from Alexander College that will state if they have been accepted to participate in the Erasmus+ programme and in which University they will be nominated to be sent to. If the student agrees with the selection, Alexander College will proceed by nominating the student to the perspective receiving University. If the student wishes to go to a different University this can only be possible if there are available spots and if the subjects area are common.

Stage 3: When the student has been nominated, she/he is responsible to take the following steps:

• Completes and sends to the receiving University the necessary documentary evidence, this must be done on time and the documents must be fill in, in accordance to the guidelines and rules stated.
• The completion of this stage lies explicitly on the responsibility of the student.
• The student shall inform the Erasmus+ Officer if any issues are raised.

Stage 4: Before his/her departure the student must submit to the Erasmus+ Office the following documents:

• Scanned or the original copy of the Learning Agreement signed by both Universities.
• Copy of Duration of Studies and Academic Calendar or any other documents from Receiving University which will state the exact dates of mobility. The dates must be the same as the ones mentioned in the Learning Agreement.
• Copy of your IBAN account in which the student will receive the Erasmus+ grant. The student must be the sole beneficiary or the co-beneficiary.
• Copy of European Health Insurance Card.
• Copy of academic ID (must not expire during the time of mobility).
• Copy of national ID or passport.

Stage 5: The student is required to take the Online Language Test as it has been agreed in the Learning Agreement. 

During the mobility

During the mobility if there are exceptional reasons the student is allowed to make changes in the Learning Agreement i.e. to change / substitute subjects. To make the changes the student must fill in tables A2 and B3 of the Learning Agreement within reasonable time (depends on each University how much time is given) and must send the new Learning Agreement to both Universities.

For changes to be approved the new Learning Agreement must be signed by both Universities.

After the mobility

Stage 1: When the student completes the Erasmus+ mobility she/he must submit to Alexander College Erasmus+ Office the following documents:

• Learning Agreement signed by both Universities.
• Transcript of Records (The student is responsible to receive the Transcript of Record before his/her departure).
• Certificate of Attendance.

Stage 2: The student fills in the Evaluation Form which will receive from Alexander College.

Stage 3: The student is required to take the Online Language Test again.

Stage 4: The student receives a certificate from Alexander College which states the subjects recognized and the amount of ECTS earned during the mobility.

How to enter the Erasmus+ programme for traineeships

Erasmus+ Mobility for traineeships is the European Union promoted student mobility programme which gives students a chance to broaden their vocational and training curriculum by working abroad in any public sector company or a private commercial enterprise located in European Union countries that have joined the Erasmus+ Programme.

• The duration of a traineeship is 2 – 12 months and all register students are allowed to participate. Graduate students are also allowed to participate for up to a year following their graduation taking into consideration that they have applied before their graduation.
• Students will be informed on the open calls through the Alexander College website and an email will also be send to them from the Erasmus+ Officer. Announcements will mention by when the expression of interest must be expressed.
• Students are responsible to find the traineeship by themselves.
• Students who are approved for a traineeship will need to find their traineeship by the date agreed with the Alexander College. Failure to do so means that they will lose their place and that place will be given to another student.

Students may search for traineeships in the following websites

• https://erasmusintern.org/traineeships
• https://europe-internship.com/
• http://www.praxisnetwork.eu/

Make sure that your University has a bilateral agreement with Alexander College in your field of studies.

Please bear in mind that if you are selected to participate in the Erasmus+ mobility you have to pay the tuition fees of your University.

Before the mobility

Stage 1: Follow the instructions at your University in order to express your interest in participating in the Erasmus+ programme mobility, and precisely state that you wish to go at Alexander College Larnaka Cyprus.

Stage 2: You will be informed from your University if you have been accepted to participate in the Erasmus+ mobility at Alexander College and then we can start the application procedure.

Stage 3: When the student has been nominated, the student is responsible to take the following steps:

• Completes and sends to the Alexander College the necessary documentary evidence; this must be done on time and the documents must be filled in, in accordance to the guidelines and rules stated.
• The completion of this stage lies explicitly on the responsibility of the student.

Stage 4: Before arrival student must submit to Alexander College Erasmus+ Office the following documents:

• Scanned or the original copy of the Learning Agreement signed by both Universities (Table A and B).
• Copy of Duration of Studies and Academic Calendar. The dates must be the same as the ones mentioned in the Learning Agreement.
• Copy of European Health Insurance Card.
• Copy of national ID or passport.
• 2 passport photos.

Stage 5: The student is required to take the Online Language Test evaluation as it has been agreed in the Learning Agreement.

The above-mentioned documents must be sent by post at the following address before the application deadline:

Alexander College
2 Artas Street, P.O.Box
45081
Aradippou 7110, Larnaca,
Cyprus

You can also send us scanned copies of the documents at erasmus@alexander.ac.cy. 

During the mobility

During the mobility if there are exceptional reasons the student is allowed to make changes in the Learning Agreement i.e. to change / substitute subjects. To make the changes the student must fill in tables A2 and B3 of the Learning Agreement within the first 3 weeks of mobility and must send the new Learning Agreement to both Universities.

For changes to be approved the new Learning Agreement must be signed by both Universities

Before Departure

Stage 1: Student needs to submit the clearance form.

Stage 2: Student will receive a Transcript of Records and a Certificate of Attendance from Alexander College.

After the Mobility

Send us some photos and write some lines of your experience at Alexander College and Cyprus.

Please take into account that is your responsibility to find your own accommodation and that Alexander College is not responsible for the actual reservation, housing conditions, or contracts between the students and landlords.

Through its bilateral agreements Alexander College also offers the possibility to staff to participate in Erasmus+ programme for teaching or training purposes. Mobility for the staff is possible from 2 days to 2 months (travel time excluded).

According to the Erasmus+ guidelines if academic staff participates in the mobility for teaching purposes, then teaching activity must compromise from a minimum of 4 hours of teaching per week.

Benefits of staff mobility

• Improved competences, linked to professional studies.
• Staff gains broader understanding of practices, policies and systems in education.
• Greater understanding of interconnections between formal and nonformal education, vocational training and labour market.
• Learn new practices which will lead to better quality of their work.
• Increased motivation and satisfaction in their daily work.
• Increase networking and research cooperation opportunities.

Outgoing Staff

Staff will be informed through the Erasmus+ Officer when the applications will be open and by when the staff needs to submit an application. Application will be assessed by the Erasmus+ Committee and priority will be given to staff who has not participated in Erasmus+ programme in the previous years.

Incoming Staff

Mobility can take place all year round, yet, for better organization and planning candidate incoming staff is encouraged to notify Alexander College Erasmus+ Officer at least 2 months in advance.

**Please note that for staff mobility to be possible there must be an existing Inter-Institutional Agreement between Alexander College and the receiving/sending Institution.

• Find Here the Learning Agreement for Studies / Traineeships

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/resources/documents/applicants/learning-agreement_en

• Find Here the Mobility Agreement for Teaching / Training

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/resources/documents/applicants/mobility-agreement_en

• Find Here the Academic Calendar of Alexander College

https://alexander.ac.cy/about-us/academic-calendar/

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