Erasmus+ policy statements

Erasmus Policy Statement for 2021-2027

The implementation and development of the Erasmus + Programme at the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin is part of the university's development strategy and an important tool for its internationalisation. In accordance with the adopted assumptions, cooperation with foreign institutions and the organisation of mobility is an important tool for modernising university, improving study programmes and increasing the possibility of international experience for students and employees. Mutual exchange brings multidimensional benefits to mobility participants and the institutions involved.

By participating in the Programme, the university undertakes actions to meet the objectives of the European Education Area, such as ensuring equal access to high-quality education for all students and employees, promoting social inclusion by facilitating access to mobility for persons with fewer opportunities, ensuring conditions for acquiring knowledge, skills and competences allowing full, creative and efficient participation in professional and social life, sharing the benefits of economic growth and reducing inequalities, ensuring free movement for learning and working within the European continent, and increasing opportunities on the labor market in response to the needs of modern society .

Thanks to participation in the Erasmus + Programme, every student of the university has the opportunity to complete a period of study or traineeships abroad and each member of staff can develop their competences through foreign training or by carrying out teaching activities at partner universities. Students can also use the knowledge of incoming foreign academic teachers. The university ensures equal access to mobility for all students and staff members and promotes social inclusion by facilitating access to mobility for people with fewer opportunities regardless of their socio-economic status. In order to simplify the organisation of mobility, participants will be encouraged to use digital tools. The university is making efforts to join the European Student Card Initiative.

Actions are taken to facilitate student mobility by ensuring automatic recognition of study periods and traineeships carried out abroad with the use of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). International exchange at the university promotes learning foreign languages and the idea of lifelong learning.

As part of the Erasmus+ Programme, mobility of students, doctoral students, graduates and employees will be implemented in cooperation with foreign institutions and universities. PUM students will have the opportunity to study at partner universities and carry out traineeships at foreign institutions. Graduates will be able to realise graduate traineeships. Employees will be able to carry out mobility for training and for teaching. As part of the mutual exchange, the university will also host students and staff members from abroad. The implemented activities will contribute to the internationalisation of the university.

Efforts will be made not only to increase the possibilities of student and staff mobility, but also to ensure high quality of mobility. The needs and interests of students and staff will be taken into account in the selection of partners. The university will also be open to establishing new partnerships, especially at faculties with a smaller scale of mobility. Efforts will be made to ensure that new contracts meet the requirements of high comparability of study programmes to ensure that outgoing and incoming students face minimal curriculum differences when completing part of their studies abroad. The university will continue its efforts to provide financial support for two-semester mobility periods due to the nature of medical studies.

An important task of the university is to ensure a high quality mobility organisation and service for outgoing and incoming Programme participants in accordance with the requirements set out in the Erasmus Charter.

The participation of the university in the Programme contributes to the modernisation of the institution in terms of its internationalisation by ensuring equal access to mobility.

Students can take advantage of the educational offer of PUM partner universities and carry out traineeships at foreign institutions. The programme also creates conditions ensuring equal access to mobility for people with fewer opportunities.

Mobility participants develop skills to adapt and find themselves in new situations and to cooperate with people from different cultures and backgrounds. The experience gained contributes to increasing intercultural understanding, increasing openness and tolerance towards other people and behaviour. It also increases the ability to see the value of other cultures. Mobility participants gain greater confidence in themselves and of their skills. They develop creative thinking and skills of active participation in society. They are more open to take up new challenges.

The project's impact on increasing intercultural understanding among society includes both participants and the academic community – administrative staff involved in the organisation of mobility, teachers and students.

Thanks to mutual exchange of experience, employees acquire specialist knowledge and learn about the specificity of the functioning of scientific or administrative units in the institutions they visit. Employees carrying out mobility for teaching or training purposes have the opportunity to benefit from good practices learned abroad and to establish and deepen professional contacts. In addition, they improve their knowledge of a foreign language. Individual benefits of employees increase the quality of activities carried out at the university.

Ensuring employees' access to foreign trainings and the possibility of conducting classes at partner universities supports the improvement of teaching methods and curricula. International mobility contributes to enriching and increasing the attractiveness of the educational offer among candidates for studies from Poland or abroad.

Striving to ensure high quality of implemented activities and appropriate quality of support for mobility participants tailored to their needs and the requirements of cooperating institutions will be the basis for achieving the goals set.

The impact of realised activities and the sustainability of this impact will be monitored through an analysis of international cooperation of each faculty and its involvement in the development of activities carried out under established partnerships. In addition information obtained from project participants through individual online reports and the written ones submitted after returning from mobility will be important quantitative and qualitative indicators of the impact. Annual mobility statistics and the scale of interest in the programme will be also a valuable source of analysis.

The university will undertake activities disseminating the project results to build a long-term impact of the activities carried out.

It is assumed to reach for a high degree of participants satisfaction with the mobility at a level close or equal to 100%.

Considering the above programme development plans and statistics on the number of mobility activities in the recent years, the expected increase in the total number of participants is from 5 to 10% per year. The university will make every effort to ensure that these objectives are achieved at or above the predicted level.

For the years 2021-2025 in accordance with the timeline recommended by the European Commission, implementation of EU digital tools to facilitate the organisation of mobility is planned.

Erasmus Policy Statement for 2014-2020

Pomeranian Medical University founded in 1948 is situated in Szczecin, the capital of the Western Pomeranian Province in the north-west of Poland. The University participates in comprehensive development of national science and culture as well as education of students and academic teachers, implementing principles of freedom of scientific research and academic teaching.

Pomeranian Medical University commitment to Erasmus mobility is one of the strategic objectives for modernization and internalization of the university.

Pomeranian Medical University approves inter-institutional agreements for study and teaching mobility with institutions having Erasmus Charter that offer courses in English or in other widely spoken European languages. The university particularly promotes agreements with institutions that offer the study curriculum compatible with the curriculum at the Pomeranian Medical University in order to decrease the curriculum differences and allow mobile student efficiently match you original syllabus after return.

The university cooperates with EU and non-EU countries within the frame of the Erasmus Program, English Program directed to Scandinavian countries mainly Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Faroe Islands as well as Asklepios Program, which is a part of the English Program dedicated to German students.

The most important objectives of the Pomeranian Medical University mobility are related to the enhancement of the quality and extension of international cooperation. The university plans to:

- increase the number of students of the first, second and third cycles and staff participating in the Program by signing bilateral agreements with new institutions

- increase the number of participants within the frame of the existing bilateral agreements

- improve of trainees’ mobility by increasing the number of participants

- enhance the educational offer by introducing the courses thought in English in the other faculties

- participate in the international cooperation projects under the Program

Erasmus Program is expected to impact modernization of the Pomeranian Medical University by:

- implementation of the Erasmus Program in the Faculty of Health Sciences (coming years) and in the other faculties in the future – that will support the introduction of the full English speaking course in all university faculties

- implementation of individualized financial support for students from low socioeconomic background participating in the Erasmus Program

- establishing cooperation with non-higher education partners

- strengthening teaching quality through mobility and cross-border cooperation

Erasmus Charter for Higher Education.pdf