UC joins prestigious European exchange programme
university-of-canterbury
Thu Jul 29 2010 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
UC joins prestigious European exchange programme
Thursday, 29 July 2010, 11:09 am
Press Release: University of Canterbury
UC joins prestigious European exchange programme
The University of Canterbury, through the National Centre for Research on Europe (NCRE), has become a partner in a prestigious international student exchange programme run by the European Commission.
UC is now lead Australasian partner in a consortium of 10 European and Australasian universities that has been accepted into the commission’s Erasmus Mundus doctoral and post-doctoral mobility programme.
The programme, which has been operating for the past 10 years, aims to promote student exchanges globally between European universities and tertiary institutions in non-European countries to strengthen co-operation between higher education organisations.
The programme is named after Desiderius Erasmus Rotterdamus, a 15th century Dutch humanist and theologian, with “Mundus” being the Latin word for “world”.
NCRE Director Professor Martin Holland said while New Zealand students had participated in Erasmus Mundus programmes at other tertiary institutions, it was the first time a New Zealand university had been a full partner in the programme
“The call for applications was the first to be limited to EU and Australasian universities, and it was available to all disciplines – so we were competing against programmes in engineering and science as well as against other consortiums and we’re really delighted to have been deemed the best applicant.”
With a total budget of 1.5 million euros (NZ$2.65 million), the programme will allow for 99 fully-funded doctoral and postdoctoral exchanges between the 10 participating universities over the next four years. Each exchange will be for a nine month period.
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“For NCRE it means we are now linked to the most prestigious mobility programme being operated by the European Union,” said Professor Holland.
“About 10 of our students will benefit from it but the NCRE will also receive twice that number of incoming students from the participating European universities so we will be exposed to some very bright early career researchers that want to study with us. This will really enhance the internationalisation of NCRE as well as broaden UC’s internationalisation initiatives.”
University of Canterbury Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr acknowledged the work of Professor Holland in securing the prestigious association.
“I said we would know we were world class by the quality of the company we keep and the queue of talented students, staff and institutions that seek us out and want to be associated with us. Here is evidence of the world-class learning environment we support and the international connections we have and continue to build on.
“More talented students, real opportunities, building on our points of difference, connections with the world and recognition are all elements of our mission to support a world-class learning environment. Thanks to all those who have played a part in this achievement.”
The consortium involves six European universities – the University of Limerick (Ireland), the University of Bath (United Kingdom), Sciences-Po Paris (France), Free University Berlin (Germany), Charles University (Czech Republic), LUISS Guido Carli (Italy) - and four Australasian universities - Victoria University of Wellington, the Australian National University, the University of Sydney and the University of Canterbury.
The programme will begin operating at the end of this year with the first exchanges expected to take place in early 2011.
ENDS
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