I currently work for the Study Abroad Team within the Faculty of Humanities, dealing with the administration of mobility activities for students coming in to the Faculty from abroad (on exchange or under the Erasmus scheme) and those going out of the Faculty to study at one of our partner institutions around the world.
I was given the opportunity in June 2013 to spend a week at one of our partners, the University of Padova, on an Erasmus staff training week. The aim of this week was to share good practice surrounding the area of student mobility with 20 other staff in similar roles to my own from around Europe. This week was extremely well organised and included a number of different talks, workshops and visits. I found this week extremely beneficial – not only was I given the chance to discuss Erasmus processes with administrators from our various partner institutions whilst there, I also feel that I take away from this experience a shared network of colleagues with whom I can now e-mail for advice. It was so interesting to see how our processes in Southampton fit into the Erasmus scheme on a larger scale.
Padova is a beautiful city with a wonderfully historic and prestigious University –having the chance to see the place where we send some of our students, and where we receive students from, has given me a great deal of insight into how better support these students. This, coupled with the glorious sunshine and delicious food, meant that it was a fantastic week and I really would strongly recommend anyone working in a related role to participate in a staff training activity.
