Erasmus Skills: Guide for Practitioners
Palabras clave:
studying abroad, Erasmus program, ingoing students, outgoin students, self-growth, mobility programs, international contextSinopsis
Students participating in mobility experiences need to constantly adapt to new circumstances, not only during the experience itself, but also before leaving and after returning to their home country. They change their lifestyle, get acquainted with other cultural forms and, in some cases, they even change habits and attitudes to adapt to the new host culture. In this scenario, the different sources of support for students are of great added-value, e.g. family, friends, classmates, as well as the receiving institution »“ higher education institutions (HEIs) in our case. The supporting role of HEIs in the process of sending students abroad could go beyond the administrative dimension of it. A way of doing that is by offering a provision of support services on the acknowledgment and maximisation of their learning process and acquired competences (understood as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes »“ see Boyatzis, 1982; or Council of Europe, 2018) gained during their adaptation to a new international context. In this way, HEIs could increase the impact of such mobility experiences on students»™ professional and personal development.