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The European Commission’s Directorate of Education and Culture has awarded Universitat Politècnica de València  third prize in the 2013 Erasmus Excellence awards in recognition of its management of staff mobility within the Erasmus programme. The prize was presented in Brussels by the director of Lifelong Learning, Higher Education and International Affairs, Jordi Curell Gotor.

In January 2013, the European Commission invited 4,500 higher education centres with an Erasmus University Charter to share positive experiences of staff mobility. This award, which considers exchanges for teachers and administrative and services personnel , represents approximately 9% of the Erasmus programme budget.

From all the proposals, a group of independent experts selected twenty examples, used in a guide to good practice entitled Supporting Reform: the Role of Erasmus in Higher Education. And from these twenty success stories, the three winning centres were chosen:  JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Jyväskylä (Finland); the Technological Education Institute of Crete, (Greece) and Universitat Politècnica de València.

Number and quality of exchanges

The European Commission has valued not only the number of people who go on placements to academic institutions in the European Union, but also management of the programme from an academic and logistics perspective, the financial effort and impact on the institution as a whole.

According to Androulla Vassiliou, European commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, "the experience university personnel acquire by working in a different international environment is of enormous benefit to students in the host centres and in the centres of origin".

"UPV is an excellent example of what can be achieved if staff mobility is used strategically to encourage and constantly improve teaching and learning quality", adds the commissioner.

UPV, leader in internationalisation

As the director of the Vice-Chancellor’s office, Juan Miguel Martínez Rubio explains, "The Academic Exchange Department, the Office for International Exchange Programmes and the different internationalisation services in UPV’s 13 schools and faculties are delighted with this European award ". And he adds, "This prize recognises the effort and determined commitment Universitat Politècnica de València has dedicated to the Erasmus programme, which it has been part of since it began".

Currently, Universitat Politècnica de València has the second highest staff mobility of Spanish university institutions after Granada. According to data from the Office for the International Exchange Programme, in 2012 255 members of the teaching, administrative and services staff went on placements.

These figures highlight the importance of the European dimension of higher education at UPV and its international projection at all levels, not only in terms of students but also teachers and administrative and services personnel. Thanks to the introduction of the new Erasmus+ programme (from 2014 to 2020) UPV is determined to continue being a leader in internationalisation in terms of the Erasmus programme as well as its own international mobility programmes.