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Important information for successful candidates
Training for university staff at enterprises and HEIs abroad
The Erasmus Programme now contains provision for short visits by university staff to enterprises or Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in other participating countries (i.e. EU member states, Croatia, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Turkey) for the purposes of training. This scheme is open not only to academic staff, but to all categories of staff employed by the University.
An objective of this type of staff mobility would be to allow staff of HEIs to acquire knowledge or specific know-how from experiences and good practices abroad, as well as practical skills relevant for their current job and their professional development. The stay in the partner organisation can be termed a short secondment period, job-shadowing scheme, study visit or workshop.
A number of Training Visits were already approved in the current academic year, and now a limited amount of funding remains for such visits in the period up to September 2012. Staff are invited to submit applications for visits proposed to take place in the period mid-June to September, 2012. Applications must reach the International Affairs Office by Tuesday, 4th June, and should take the form of a Work Plan (see below for more details).
The onus would be on the individual staff member to identify a suitable host enterprise or HEI (the HEI must hold an Erasmus University Charter), to secure provisional approval by the host organisation, and to obtain the consent of their own Head of Department/Section here at NUI Galway if applicable.
Selection: Persons to be awarded a grant for undergoing training will be selected on the basis of a "work plan" submitted by the applicant. The essential elements should be:
· overall aim and objectives
· expected results in terms of the additional expertise/competences to be acquired
· activities to be carried out and, if possible, a programme of the period
The following are guidelines set down by the HEA, the Irish National Agency for Erasmus, in relation to Erasmus Staff Mobility for Training:
Objectives and Content of the Training:
· The objectives and expected results of the visit should be clear and realistic, and the work programme appropriate to achieving the objectives.
· The training activity abroad will have a greater potential value than similar training in the applicant’s home country, and it is clearly demonstrated that the applicant will benefit from this experience in terms of professional and personal development.
· There should be a clear match between the training envisaged and the applicant’s training needs. The envisaged training should appear likely to have a positive impact on the applicant’s professional development and his/her higher education institution/enterprise, and to strengthen the links between the higher education institutions or between the higher education institution and the enterprise concerned.
Nationality: The staff member to be trained must be a national of a participating country or recognised by the country in which he/she is resident as refugee, stateless person or permanent resident. In 2011-12, the participating countries are the 27 EU Member States, as well as Switzerland, Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Turkey.
Other related activities: Language training and attendance of seminars, workshops and conferences can be considered for staff training mobility. For each HEI, these training activities should not represent the majority of training days of all staff participating in the staff training. Approval from the HEA would be necessary before the awarding of a staff training grant for a visit that includes any of the above activities.
Academic Staff should note that the purpose of these visits is strictly TRAINING, the acquisition of skills/technical know-how, etc, and not research collaboration with colleagues abroad, for which other funding schemes are available. The HEA have asked us to make this very clear to candidates: a detailed programme of training activities must be put forward and signed off by the host institution.
Duration: Please note that due to funding limitations, the maximum visit duration for any member of NUI Galway staff will be 5 working days. Applicants will be expected to submit a five-day programme of activites, and funding for shorter visits will only be approved in exceptional circumstances where a clear justification has been provided, and approval will be subject to review by the National Agency.
If you wish to apply to take part in the scheme, you should complete the Work Plan (application) document (use this version for applications only; successful candidates will then use the slightly more detailed version provided below) and send it to Mary Lyons, International Affairs Office, to arrive no later than Tuesday, 4th June, 2012.
Paperwork and Procedures for Successful Candidates
Successful candidates are notified soon after the deadline, and they should read the
Guidelines for Staff Training Visits.
IMPORTANT - BEFORE THE VISIT
If you have been approved to go on an Erasmus Staff Training Visit, we will need to set up a
bilateral agreement between NUI Galway and the host institution abroad. The International Affairs Office will contact you in relation to this - you will be asked to provide details of the institutional and academic contact persons for the host institution, and the agreement will then be handled by the International Affairs Officer.
Then you will need to get your WORK PLAN endorsed (i.e. signed and stamped) by a representative of the host institution. This will be similar to the form you submitted with your original application, but please now use
this version of the Work Plan, which will be the definitive version approved by the host institution.
You will need to complete and sign two copies of the
institution-staff agreement, which is a contract between you and NUI Galway. This document will be sent to you by the International Affairs Office; you should keep one completed copy for your own records and return the other to the International Affairs Office as soon as possible.
Please don't forget to read the
Guidelines!
DURING/AFTER THE VISIT
You should download the Certificate of Attendance and the Final Report form. These documents, along with flight tickets, etc, should be submitted to the International Affairs Office as soon as possible after the visit. As soon as you can confirm receipt of your grant, please fill in the Grant Acknowledgement Form and return it to this office.
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