Coordinators' feedback

ERASMUS IAMONET is a small world. This project has changed lives of more than thousand young people from Russia and abroad. I started my position as a project coordinator almost right after the graduation and my professional skills were building up simultaneously with the project implementation. ERASMUS IAMONET has broadened my horizons and formed a positive attitude towards employment in the sphere of education. Its input in the personal development of students and staff is extremely valuable, especially for non-European participants. Produced cultural integration contributes to the important phenomena of boundary-spanning in the modern scientific ambiance.

ERASMUS IAMONET has been a part of my life. And it is true. First the office has stopped to be just an office with a sign “International Relations Office” that used to cause surprise and a question “International relations in the agricultural school?”. Now almost every student knows that he/she will have a chance to take part in the exchange project during their study. The international students' and academic staff mobilities have become a reality for almost 64 students and staff of the Buryat State Academy of Agriculture since 2008. ERASMUS IAMONET has promoted cultural understanding and contributed to the improvement and development of BSAA’s international relations office. It has facilitated further cooperation between BSAA and European universities and resulted in other projects to implement likeTEMPUS and Erasmus+.

Erasmus Mundus has a positive impact on scholarship holders' lives, especially on their careers and specialized knowledge. It has influenced their personal development, skills and professional competences. We can observe that most of them have found employment after their mobility. They are enthusiast about the doors that Erasmus Mundus Action 2 has opened to them.

The project was well prepared, managed and coordinated by the leading university, starting from the project website through managerial documentation and all instructions related to the program, taking care of financial issues and ending with regular communication. Good practices observed during the project's duration contributed to developing managerial skills on local coordinator's side. Based on valuable experience gained during participation in IAMONET, the staff of IRO is better prepared to coordinate independent projects related to Erasmus+ KA107. The project leader was cooperative and supportive during the project duration, communicating effectively both with partner HEIs and candidates. All issues were clarified professionally and promptly. Payments were transferred on time. All guidelines related to selection and evaluation process were precise and well developed (call for applications guidelines). Instructions on managerial documents related to formalities in the beginning, during and after mobility were well prepared.

The participation in the IAMONET project realized goals of the document "Strategy2020. Warsaw University of Life Sciences" in the aspect of internationalization and developing human resources. Increase in incoming mobility flow contributes to enlarging our academic course offer in English for exchange students and further developing degree programs offered in English. Incoming student and staff mobility from Russia enriched our university's community and created international atmosphere on the campus what contributed to promoting intercultural understanding. The university aims at providing high quality education oriented to practical training in the student friendly environment. The university was acknowledged as "The most innovative and creative university in Poland increating job perspectives". Developing aspect of internationalization by participating in IAMONET was crucial to build a strong network of contacts and good relationships with partners in order to explore research opportunities in the fields of mutual interest, exchange of academic staff and students, improvement of academic staff's skills and exchange of publications and teaching materials. Participation in the project also affected image and visibility of European partner institutions in Russia and developed international cooperation capacity of higher education institutions involved.

IAMONET promoted Erasmus Mundus brand in Russia and contributed to achieving goals of the program itself: enhancement of quality in European higher education, promotion of the European Union as a centre of excellence in learning around the world and promotion of intercultural understanding through cooperation with third countries as well as for the development of third countries in the field of higher education.

Former grantees of WULS-SGGW declared that participation in IAMONET project contributed to finding suitable job or continue further education at well-known institutions.

IAMONET-RU is not just a program to foster the education and training of some students and staff, it is a program that changed teaching and learning experiences, whole teaching programs, opened new ways of cooperation and research. Not only actual participants profited from it, also their fellow students, colleagues, host and home universities. The partnership provided the opportunity to get to know all partners much more detailed and to create a basis for further cooperation. To be one of the coordinators, organizing such an inspiring environment and see the progress of studies and the creation of new research projects is a pleasure.

The main part of our incoming IAMONET grantees were PhD students. The general impression by the supervisors was that these were very ambitious and successful students! In several cases the collaboration continued and resulted in common publications. As SLU and some Russian partners wished for a continuation of student/staff exchange an application for Erasmus+ funding (ICM) was submitted by SLU, together with 4 of the Russian partner universities. Although SLU is a small institution (4000 full time students) SLU was the second most successful applicant in Sweden. Of the 61 mobilities financed, 18 (students and staff) were allocated to Russia! The Russian partners were Stavropol, North-Eastern Federal University, Moscow State Forest University and St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University.

For 10 years our students and staff members have received IAMONET-RU official support and funding to realize their dreams. Each participant left his/her mark at the host university and after returning back again spread the knowledge and experience at home. Thanks to the project our higher education, science, culture, traditions became closer and more understandable to each other. Personal experience, connections, knowledge and skills will find their application in the future. Even after its official completion, the IAMONET-RU will continue its life!

First of all, I would like to express our sincere gratitude on behalf of Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk to both coordinators in Europe and Russia - the University of Hohenheim and Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy for bringing IAMONET-RU programme this far and completely to a new level of administering and implementation. For me, IAMONET-RU is a programme of opportunity. It facilitated with a platform to introduce all coordinators in person and discuss common issues and ways of overcoming obstacles. The selection process showed us the other perspective of organizing it and applying this model locally. NEFU staff and students received a lifetime unforgettable experience to study at, for instance, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden), University of Udine (Italy) or Czech University of Life Sciences (Czech Republic). The outcomes include starting from a semester at European university to a European degree and several research articles. My personal the most remarkable feature of the programme is the Target Group 3 criterion, which offered mobility opportunity to students representing indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation. In most cases, these students hardly compete with those who studied in a city school with several English classes per week plus lessons with private tutors without facing challenges of northern nature and severe climate. After programme completion, TG3 students return with a different outlook wishing to explore the world. This programme brought a wider understanding of Europe to Russians and of Russia to Europeans. Now, quite a number of people in Europe know about Yakutsk and Yakutia and that Russia is a multinational country. Thank you again IAMONET-RU and all coordinators!

Being member since the first IAMONET-project onwards, BOKU could profit for many years from this strong university network, its highly committed university partners and exchange and cooperation opportunities. Both incoming students and staff from Russia as well as outgoing students and staff from BOKU to Russian partner universities gained valuable experiences in academic and personal relations. At the same time, BOKU could increase its internationalization by being partner in the IAMONET project. The biggest advantages for our university were:

• Increased “internationalization at home” through the incoming students and staff members
• Increased international experience and intercultural skills for BOKU staff and students, particularly the mobile persons
• Several IAMONET scholarship holders are still / now working in important positions at their home universities, thus contributing to improved collaboration between their institution and BOKU
• Increased know-how about foreign grading systems to facilitate recognition procedures
• Improved procedures for monitoring academic success of incoming students

We are confident that the connections tied within IAMONET project will contribute to other ways of cooperation between partners, even outside the Erasmus Mundus scheme.