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EUROPEAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

EUROPEAN MOBILITY SCHEME FOR PHYSICS STUDENTS

EXPLANATORY NOTE TO THE CONVENTION OF 28 MARCH 1992

(revised 3 January 1994)

1) Youth exchange and mobility of students in particular are now generally recognized as a promising means to further international understanding. For Europe, with its recent epoch-making political developments, it will represent an important element in the promotion of cooperation and integration. It also takes into consideration the aspiration of the young generation open to the world.

2) Several supranational organizations, notably the Council of Europe and UNESCO, have established conventions with a view to encourage the mobility of students in Europe. The European Community (EC) has adopted its pioneering programme ERASMUS, which recently has been extended to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. EC has also set up its programme TEMPUS with the aim to further student mobility with regard to Central/Eastern Europe (C/EE).

3) A certain number of physics students in Europe benefit right now from these programmes, mainly in the framework of Inter-university Cooperation Programmes (ICP) of ERASMUS. Exchange is however limited to students from those institutions which are involved in ICP's in physics. The overall fraction of students who have access to such programmes is therefore rather small.

4) For this reason, and in view of the political developments mentioned above, it SEEMED timely to envisage a mobility scheme that will, in principle, be open to physics students from all institutions from all of Europe.

The European Physical Society (EPS) has decided to propose to European institutions giving an academic degree in physics (universities and equivalent institutions) to set up together such a scheme. EPS has long-standing experience in promoting cooperation among European physicists, including those from C/EE countries.

5) After the preliminary proposal of April 1991, EPS has consulted the relevant institutions in October 1991 in more detail, sending them a draft convention and a questionnaire. More than 150 positive replies have been returned, confirming thus the substantial interest among institutions from all of Europe for such a scheme.

The Mobility Working Group has then adapted the Convention, taking into account the comments received. This new version of the Convention, dated 28 March 1992, has been approved by the Council of EPS who at the same time has taken the formal decision to launch the scheme.

6) The aim of the mobility scheme is the following:

a) to allow physics students of all of Europe to spend, if they desire, and under certain conditions, a "mobility period" of study in another institution, called the "host institution", and

b) to ensure that such a period will be recognized when the student comes back to his "home institution", subject of course to the student's satisfactory performance.

Other key elements of the scheme are its openness to all institutions who desire to participate, and from all of Europe. It is intended as a permanent scheme, governed by a Convention to which the institutions are committed.

The scheme is based on mutual trust regarding all academic aspects. It requires no adaptation or harmonization of the curricula, nor of the courses given or of their content.

7) One essential element of the scheme is that the full academic responsibility for the student remains with the home institution. It is therefore only from this home institution that the student will get his final degree.

In view of this responsibility, it is up to the home institution to select the students which may benefit from the scheme and to establish the relevant conditions. The role of the host institution, on the other hand, is to offer its courses (i.e. the courses it gives anyhow for its own students) and to assess the performance of the student according to the established programme.

Participating institutions must also be prepared to take a number of practical measures in order to facilitate the exchange of students, notably regarding counselling, language preparation, housing, and mobility grants.

8) Each institution may determine the number of students it is willing to accept in a given year, and it may impose particular requirements. As a corollary, each institution shall not send out more of its own students than it is willing to accept. However a precise balanced flow is not strived for, and not probable to take place anyhow.

9) The practical functioning of the scheme relies heavily on the devotion of the "coordinators", in both the home and the host institutions. They advise the students on all academic and practical aspects and help to solve the arising problems.

Coordinators also play an important role on the level of the overall scheme: a Mobility Committee has been formed, having coordinators as its members, which decides on the practical organization, in particular the flow of information and the deadlines.

10) In view of the choice of the host institution, and the preparation of the study programme, students and coordinators must have access to the relevant information (on academic and practical matters) regarding all participating institutions. This documentation is available through a remote-access computerized database, located at the Physics Department of the University of Manchester.

11) "Mobility grants" for students (meant to cover additional expenses) are essential for promoting mobility. Applications for such grants to ERASMUS and TEMPUS have been filed. Hopefully, institutions will ask for and obtain complementary means on a national or local basis.

12) The scheme has been realized as follows:

a) In April 1992 the Convention was sent to all institutions having expressed their interest in the scheme, asking them to return a "request of adherence letter".

b) In June 1992 the Mobility Committee was formed by enlarging the former Working Group so as to achieve a balanced representation of the various countries participating in the scheme. The Mobility Committee has advised EPS on the acceptance of the institutions for participation in the scheme, elaborated the guidelines for the flow of information, and called on the help of Coordinating Institutions for the applications to ERASMUS and TEMPUS.

c) In October 1992 the institutions having applied have been informed on the acceptance in the scheme and were asked to provide the relevant academic and practical information regarding their institution. For the academic year 1993/94 122 institutions from 25 countries all over Europe are involved in the scheme.

d) In October 1992 an application has been filed with ERASMUS for funding of the scheme as an Inter-University Cooperation Project (ICP) and it was accepted; altogether 94 institutions from 16 EC and EFTA countries are involved. A similar request has been submitted in January 1993 to TEMPUS for a Joint European Project (JEP); here, besides the EC countries, only Hungary and Latvia could participate in 1993/94.

e) Work on the preparation of the database has continued so that it has been ready for input from participating institutions and fully operational since January 1993.

f) In spring 1993 interested students were able to consult the database, choose their host institution, and establish the study programme to which the Coordinator was to give his approval. The student's file has then been transmitted to the host institution which has the obligation to rapidly inform the student on acceptance or refusal. Around 100 students take part in this exchange programme during the academic year 1993/94.

g) In autumn 1993 accepted students began studies abroad and the scheme became operational.

13) Further information on the scheme may be obtained from the members of the Mobility Committee representing the various regions of Europe or from the EPS Secretariat. Institutions interested in participation from the academic year 1995/96 on should submit a letter of adherence (model available) to the EPS Secretariat not later than 30 September 1994.

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