Abstract

‘Selling’ Erasmus mobility opportunities to teachers, staff and their respective line
managers has never been without its obstacles. This paper looks at the aftermath of
an effective 2-year lockdown on the Erasmus community from March 2020 to
March 2022, with specific focus on STA and STT participants. How were our
partnerships affected; what were the gains and losses to the university community
as a whole and to the individual stakeholders and groups?

A new Erasmus era has dawned: the Erasmus programme 2021-2027. Like all
academic organisations, we have slowly emerged from the restrictions of the
Covid19 pandemic. Our future participation in Erasmus is influenced by the twin
factors of the post-Covid health and safety measures and the increased global
awareness of the adverse effects of climate change on our planet.

Have attitudes to Erasmus mobility changed, and if so, how? Are these changes for
the better? The paper will report on past experiences and future plans of veteran
Erasmus mobile teachers and staff, before going on to consider how best to re-
kindle the interest in and enthusiasm for Erasmus physical mobility for teachers
and staff against a backdrop of the new green, digital, and increasingly virtual
Erasmus world.

Online survey - institutions

1. How many planned STA / STT mobilities were ‘lost’ to Covid at your HEI in
2020?

2. What percentage of these have already been recovered, or will more than
likely be recovered in the next 12-18 months (do not count new trips
here)?

3. How has the new Erasmus+ programme been recognised / embraced by

your HEI?

No difference to old Erasmus scheme

Very little perceived difference

4. Are most staff are aware of the new key priorities of inclusion, green and
digital.
 5. How did / have the mobility restrictions brought about by Covid 19
impacted on your Erasmus activities, if at all?

Online survey – individual staff members

1. How frequently did you avail of Erasmus mobility for teaching or training
in the last decade (approximately from 2013-2014 up to the start of the
pandemic travel ban in early 2020)?
2. At the time when the European lockdowns took hold, did you have an
Erasmus mobility trip in the planning?
3. Now that intra-EU travel has largely opened up again how do you feel
about resuming Erasmus-funded teaching/training visits in 2022-2023?
4. Did you participate in Zoom and Team meetings with European partners
and colleagues throughout the lockdown period of the pandemic in 2020
and 2021?

A new Erasmus funding scheme was launched for the 2020-2027 period (largely
not implemented until 2021, because of the Covid 19 pandemic). The key
priorities of the new Erasmus+ programme are inclusion, sustainable
development and digital transformation.

5. Had you heard about the three pillars of the new Erasmus scheme –
Inclusive, Green, Digital?
6. Did your own digital skills accelerate during the Covid time as a response
to need for cooperation and communication generally?
7. Will your digital skills be further developed and harnessed for cooperation
and communication post-Covid?
8. Do you at any stage see the digital / online cooperation taking over from
the traditional human contact and interaction?
9. Do you have health concerns around resuming international travel?
10. With the increased awareness of climate change and the global emphasis
on green travel contributing to carbon emissions reduction, how
comfortable are you with resuming Erasmus-funded travel / mobility?
 11. If you now feel less inclined to travel abroad to engage in Erasmus
mobility now what are your reasons for this?

Less inclined to travel generally (for personal health reasons)

Less inclined to travel generally (for ethical reasons, e.g. to do with

climate change awareness.

Other reasons (personal, family, change of job role, etc.)

Thanks to digitalisation I can switch comfortably and easily to online

engagement with Erasmus

Script for slides:

The nature of the Erasmus mobility programme as it has played out within our
HEIs over the past 30+ years made it the classic victim of the pandemic fallout of:

Travel bans, Physical restrictions, existing digital and soft skills, digital poverty,

Purpose of study is two-fold:

To discover both the transitory and the more permanent consequences of the
pandemic on staff mobility habits,

To gather data on this, surveys were completed by 8 of the largest HEIs in Ireland:

TCD, UCC, DCU, MTU, MU, UG, UL, UCD.

To determine the impact of Covid19 on the previous STA/STT mobility trends

post-pandemic, in particular with the new Erasmus programme pillars of Inclusion
/ Digitalisation / Green Erasmus.

Academic Staff were surveyed on their mobility plans and/or experiences up to

2020-2021, and on their future (post 202-2022) mobility plans
Method:

Online survey

# of staff?

Distribution of staff in faculties

Distribution of mobility (countries)

Results: