Four Academic staff members of University of Sulaimani have participated in a circular field visit in Rome and Murcia in the framework of the Erasmus+ APPRAIS project during 16-20 January 2023. The University of Sulaimani participants were Vice Presidents for Students Affairs, Directors of Quality Assurance , Head of Higher Committee for implementing the Bologna process and representative of International Academic Relations.

The visit at UNIMED, focused on internationalisation and mobility, was hosted by UNINT – Università degli studi internazionali di Roma on 16-17 January 2023, and aimed at facilitating the smooth implementation of the Bologna process at each partner HEIs by strengthening the internationalisation process of institutions and by strengthening strategic cooperation, partnerships and networking, with particular focus to improve the recognition of credits, learning mobility and quality assurance.

The first part of the circular field visit allowed Kurdish staff to know more about UNIMED and the role that regional organisations can play in facilitating internationalisation. Then, the visit was an occasion to meet colleagues of Italian universities such as UNINT – International University of Rome, the Internatinal Telematic University UNINETTUNO and Sapienza University of Rome. The Italian colleagues shared their experince in the management of international mobilities in the Italian Higher Eduation system, especially regarding the digitalization and automation of the procedures, as well as the daily management of internationalisation activities. Moreover, they had the opportunity to discover a different way of implementing teaching and mobility, thanks to the experience of UNINETTUNO, the first Italian Telematic University.  Despite online learning is not still fully recognized in Kurdistan, the experience of UNINETTUNO offered food for thoughts for the future of teaching and learning in Kurdish universities.

The field visit continued in Spain at the University of Murcia on 19-20 January 2023, one of the European APPRAIS partners, where the participants had the chance to discover more about the organisation of the International Services of the university, the mobility programmes, the recognition on credits, learning agreements, and more. The visit also hosted an intervation on behalf of the Internationalisation of the Spanish Higher Education Unit (SEPIE), from the Spanish Ministry of Education, on the opportunities of the Erasmus+ Programme for the Kurdish Higher Education Institutions. The second day of the field visit in Murcia focused on Quality Assurance at internal and external levels, knowing how the QA Unit at the University of Murcia operates and how it deals with teaching, research and internationalisation, besides the implementation of QA in the design of programs. Two working groups were also organised: one for QA Directors and Bologna Process responsibles of Kurdish universities, to work on the definition of QA for study programs, how they are structured at the university, as well as how to monitor and evaluate programs. The second working group was designed for International relations officers (Directors and key office staff) and for the Vice-presidents for students affairs and scientific affairs and deans of Kurdish universities, who worked practically on a series of problems and challenges that IRO offices usually have in the communication with students and in managing mobilities.

The circular field visit was another key result of the APPRAIS project after the field visit at the University of Pisa and the University of Evora organised in October 2022. The experience allowed Kurdish universities to further work on internationalisation, learning mobility and credits recognition and will certainly be another concrete step to establish future and solid cooperation with the EU universities.

The experience is also beneficial for our university staff members to complement the skills and knowledge addressed by the APPRAIS MOOC on governance, quality assurance and Bologna process implementation.

To know more about the project, please visit:

www.appraisproject.eu

Director of International Academic Relations & Media

University of Sulaimani