ERASMUS POLICY STATEMENT

1. a) Please describe briefly your institution’s strategy, objectives and priorities for its        Erasmus activities (mobility, multilateral projects and thematic networks, etc.)     and any other actions in the context of the Lifelong Learning Programme   (2007-2013).

   b) Please also provide information on the following points:

       What specific actions are planned to give visibility to Erasmus activities and what        type of publicity will be given to EUC and EPS?

       What kind of arrangements, if any, does the institution ensure to comply with non        discrimination objectives (e.g. actions related to gender equality, integration of  disabled students and staff, enhancement of social and economic cohesion and  combating of xenophobia and racism?

In the last three years Ondokuz Mayis University has given great importance to the Erasmus activities. In fact, Erasmus has been one of the main objectives of the university in its aim of enlargening and deepening in quality. Commencing with only two Erasmus Bilateral Agreements in the academic year 2004-2005 Ondokuz Mayis University now has 56 agreements with 18 EU countries and 36 different European universities. Figures themselves are an illustration of the university priority given to Erasmus activities. Student and teaching staff mobility has been the leading activity of Erasmus, but this is in the process of changing. Equal importance, time and effort will be given to multilateral projects, thematic networks and other Erasmus programs like Erasmus Mundus. Currently, the university is at the point of being partners in two Erasmus Mundus projects.

The strategies and actions taken by Ondokuz Mayis University in the context of the Lifelong Learning Programme can be listed as follows:

1)    Appointing institutional, faculty, school and departmental coordinators of Erasmus, Grundtwig, Comenius and Leonardo da Vinci. All coordinators have specific functions and are mainly responsible for informing staff and students about these programs and publicizing them as much as they can. Our aim is not to have any student unaware of the programs that they can benefit from.

2)   Preparing a database including all contact information of all LLP coordinators and networking them through the website and e-mails.

3)   Preparing a university LLP website in English and Turkish.

4)   Regularly organising seminars, meetings and conferences for coordinators, academic and administrative staff and most importantly for students. These informative activities are not only carried out at a general basis, but also at more specific and personal levels. The Erasmus Office regularly visits the departments to give updated information on all EU Educational Programs, DS, ECTS and to answer all questions referred to the office members relating to these issues and other works of the office.

5)   Regularly publishing informative materials like brochures and disseminating them to a wide audience.

6)   Keeping the university website up to date.

The Erasmus University Charter and the EPS will be publicized in the university Turkish and English website and their hardcopy versions will be printed and distributed to the staff and the students.

Although our university students are centrally placed into the university, we can say that we roughly have an equal number of female and male students. The number of foreign students (230) we have from a large variety of countries (31) demonstrates that our university is open to students from all races. We can honestly say that discrimination, gender inequality, racism are not an issue at our university. In fact, we have many physically disabled employees and students who are independently coping with their lives at the university.

2.    Quality of academic mobility activities:

       What kind of specific measures are implemented in the institution to ensure high        quality in academic mobility activities?

       Details should be provided on recognition and credit systems, the provision of        information on curricula, information and counselling of outgoing students, tutoring and integration of incoming students, provision of student services (in particular accommodation), preparatory and refresher language courses, support and  acknowledgement of staff mobility.

In order to ensure high quality in academic mobility activities our university has implemented the following measures:

ECTS information packages and Diploma Supplements are completed, giving special importance on learning outcomes approach. Curriculum information can be reached from our web site.  Our institution gives great importance to full recognition of the student’s works abroad, and to ensure this, the learning agreements of the students are approved by their faculty boards before the mobility period.

For outgoing students, a two day orientation program is organised which includes all technical, social and cultural information including psychological advice. Students who are not confident with their knowledge of language are able to benefit from the university school of languages.

For integration of incoming students, upon desire, we provide pick-up and host services for all incoming students. Incoming students are accommodated in our own university hotel, which has all facilities of a 4 star hotel and charges a discount monthly price for students. Students can also move out and share accommodation with other students or move to other private dormitories. They are provided with a student identification card and are able to benefit from all the university services just like our native students: sports facilities, library, medical and dental services etc. They are also advised to take some courses like Turkish Language for Beginners, which are not compulsory. 

The University Administration is motivating the enhancement of mobility. Academic staff is encouraged to benefit from mobility and in turn attract teaching staff to our university to share their professional views and experiences with our university.

Incoming teaching staff is provided with a pick-up service, accommodation, meals, a program including teaching hours and social-cultural activities. At the end of the visit they are awarded a Letter of Confirmation.

 3.    Quality of student placement activities:

       What kind of specific measures are implemented to ensure high quality in student        placements? Give details on how the work programme and the placement  agreements are prepared and implemented. Please describe the practical arrangements agreed between the parties. Please specify also the monitoring and  evaluation of the placements period as well as the recognition in the curriculum. 

As a result of the University-Industry-Citizen cooperation, Ondokuz Mayis University has a great capacity for student placement for both outgoing and incoming students. The economy of Samsun mainly consists of agriculture, small and medium sized enterprises, trade, construction investments and tourism. The Technology Development Centre was established in our campus with the cooperation of Samsun Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The centre acts as a means of enhancing the cooperation between the University and enterprises.  Therefore, incoming student placement can be easily organised among many alternatives of industrial factories, agricultural establishments, hotels etc, as there is a very wide range of work fields perfectly suitable for all kinds of placement whether in Hotel Management, Catering, Agriculture, Medicine, Nursing, technical fields such as computing, in brief any of the abovementioned areas of economy.

Each student will be supervised by an academic staff, who will be in close contact with the appointed chief of the student. The placement activity will be regularly monitored by the appointed staff. The chief in the enterprise who is in charge of the student will provide the student with a report at the end of the placement. Students will be awarded with a certificate and the academic supervisor will make the appropriate conversion of the student’s work to ECTS credits, so that the student’s placement will be acknowledged in his/her curriculum. Our university will also arrange accommodation and social-cultural activities for placement students.

 Concerning the outgoing students, an academic supervisor from the relevant department will also be appointed for each student, who will be in contact with the students and their chief abroad. The placement activity of the student will be fully recognised by our institution in terms of ECTS credits, and will be written in student transcripts as internship as a part of his/her curriculum.