Student Mobility in Secondary and Tertiary Level Education and in Vocational Training (NATMOB) (2005)

Type of project/activity:

a European study

Objectives:

The main objective of the study was to take a comprehensive and integrative perspective on mobility and to treat mobility with respect to different education sectors, but also to consider European level and national level activities to promote mobility next to each other. The study was required to take into account the volume of mobility (quantities) and also activities for the improvement of international mobility in education. Through this comprehensive approach, the study would offer an important opportunity to bring the level of knowledge on student mobility in the different education sectors into line. Until this study research had tended to be largely focussed on the statistical recording of student mobility.

Background:

In January 2004, the follow-up report to the 2001 Recommendation of the European Parliament and the Council on the mobility within the Community of students, persons undergoing training, volunteers and teachers and trainers pointed out that the overall situation, with respect to promoting participation in mobility, had not improved sufficiently in recent years. Referring to the situation in individual Member States and at European level as well, the follow-up report states that although there had been progress made in many respects, “comprehensive strategies to facilitate and actively promote mobility are rather the exception than the norm, and results in many fields (…) fall short of what is actually needed” (p. 3).
In accordance with the perceived need for informed policy-making and the overall trend towards an integrative view on mobility in education, the study “Student mobility in secondary and tertiary-level education and in vocational training” was designed by the European Parliament as a comprehensive exercise in data collection and analysis.

Partners:

The EIESP was partner to the Universität Kassel, (Wissenschaftliches Zentrum für Berufs- und Hochschulforschung – WZ1)

Main activities:

The study structured and analysed the available information on:
1. The extent of student mobility into and out of individual EU Member States and
2. Measures taken by individual EU Member States to promote student mobility in the three education sectors under study.

The best available data on overall participation in student mobility in each EU Member State was compiled from the databases of Eurostat and UNESCO and the results of a survey of national statistical offices conducted for the NATMOB study. In addition, figures on participation in European and nationally financed mobility programmes were identified, drawing on the Socrates/Erasmus database, a survey of Leonardo and Comenius national agencies and the results of a survey of national agencies for the promotion of mobility.
In order to complete and improve the available information, additional surveys were carried out. The study compares different types of measures to promote student mobility with respect to their effectiveness and efficiency. Additionally, it deals with the identification of benchmarks for the assessment of national measures. Finally, the study sets out which measures could be at the centre of an efficiency-oriented strategy to promote mobility.

Name of programme, funder or client:

The European Parliament Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union Directorate B Structural and Cohesion Policy

Expected outcomes, reports/documents:

STUDENT MOBILITY IN SECONDARY AND TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION AND IN VOCATIONAL TRAINING (NATMOB), Dr. Ute Lanzendorf and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Teichler Centre for Research on Higher Education and Work, University of Kassel, Germany and Dr. Jake Murdoch European Institute of Education and Social Policy, Paris, France


For more information: ieeps@eiesp.org