Cardiff and Swansea universities are displaying increasing willingness to support foreign exchange student programmes for their graduates, a leading academic from the latter considers in a recent article.

Writing in a piece for local portal Welsh Online, Huw Morris, academic registrar at Swansea University, mentions a series of initiatives undertaken by either establishment with a view to strengthening their international exchange programmes. Cardiff Metropolitan University, for instance, recently hosted a week-long conference for this very purpose, where academic staff were able to confer with colleagues from across Europe to devise comprehensive internationalisation strategies. The same university was also recently involved in a cooperative project aiming to facilitate student exchanges with universities in the Middle East, the academic reveals.

Morris goes on to consider that the performance of Welsh universities in the field of international exchange student programmes has been impressive given the country’s modest dimensions. A good example of this is the granting of Erasmus+ funds to no less than three universities in Wales, which the establishments in question will be able to use towards the implementation of joint degrees. Swansea University and Bangor University have also been able to secure funding for two Masters programmes and one PhD programme, further illustrating the academic registrar’s point.

Other recent accolades for Welsh universities, cited by Morris in his piece, include the attribution of the European Commission’s Diploma Supplement Label to Swansea University in 2009, and the same establishment’s involvement in the Mapping University Mobility of Staff and Students programme, to which it was one of only four European universities invited. An official Franco-Welsh alliance between Cardiff University and the Joseph Fourier University, in Grenoble, is also highlighted by the author as a sign of progress and willingness to facilitate international mobility on the part of Welsh universities.

The British Isles currently have roughly 22.000 expatriate students on student programmes abroad — a number which makes up approximately 1.7 percent of the population.

About School Travel Service:

School Travel Service is the UK’s largest educational travel company, providing school trips for secondary schools and colleges. Find them at www.ststravel.co.uk/<

Contact Details:
School Travel Service
One Jubilee Street
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 1GE
+44 (0)1273 645 862
[email protected]