Erasmus+ Higher Education

Student chosen for the Erasmus+ Grant belonging to the certificate of Higher Education of Administration and Finance for the school year 2015-2016

• León Rodríguez, Odalis Atteneri
• Ramírez Santana, Aitor

Selection of students

The selection of students for the Erasmus+ grant for Certificate of Higher Education (CFGS) follows the criterion presented in the School Board.

The criterion to choose the students who wants to participate in the Erasmus+ program are:

• Academic record                                    30%
• Teachers assessment                            30%
• English assessment                               20%
• IT Knowledge                                          10%
• Educational Psychologist assesment    10%

This educational formation, Erasmus+, will be recognized through the ECTS credit system.

ECTS (European Credit Transfer System)

This is a system which permits us to measure the work the students must carry out in order to acquire de knowledge capacities and skills necessary to pass the different subjects in their study plan.

The activity of the studies (between 25 and 30 hours per credit) includes the time dedicated to the class, study hours, tutorials, seminaries, activities or projects, as well as the time needed to prepare and carry out the exams and evaluations.

The objective is to facilitate student mobility, through the use of a credit system common to all European space in Higher Education.

Royal Decree 1125/2003 of the Ministry of Education, Sciences and Sport (MECD)

In which the European Credit System is established as well the system of qualifications for university titles. This has an official status and validity in the national territory (BOE nº 224 18th September 2008)

http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2003/09/18/pdfs/A34355-34356.pdf

Royal Decree 1584/2011, 4th November

In which minimum training and the ECTS atributed to each subject are established for the title Certificate of Higher Education in Administration and Finances.

http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2011/12/15/pdfs/BOE-A-2011-19533.pdf

Erasmus charter for higher education

Erasmus+ policy statement (overall strategy)

Institution’s international (EU and non-EU) strategy

Training the best professionals is the main purpose of OSCUS. Therefore, OSCUS aims to offer its students, through the ERASMUS programme, the opportunity to receive a part of their education (theoretical and practical training) in another European country. This will result in improving, not only their professional skills, but also their ability to work and communicate with other people abroad. As a result, their insertion in an increasingly competitive work market will be easier.

The Department of European Programmes will have the function of selecting European countries, Educational Centres and Companies in which the students will carry out their stays abroad. The recipient countries will be selected depending on the necessities of our students at both theoretical and practical level. The Centres will be selected based on the following criteria:

• The quality offered in the services.
• The offer of theoretical and practical training considered most interesting for our students.
• Their experience in training programmes.
• Their capacity to accept to the number of assigned students.

Our objectives with regard to the students

• Improve their knowledge of English and acquire basic knowledge in other less spoken languages in the international area, which are equally interesting as a vehicle into other European cultures.
• Help them become aware of other realities and mentalities.
• Give them the experience of being foreigners.
• Teach them to adapt to new and sometimes complex situations.
• Acquire a wider and more global vision of their profession, due to the fact that they will have to adapt themselves to the methodology of the destination countries.
• Know how different organizations and work systems perform in other countries.
• Use new technologies, not only as a usual working tool, but also as a monitoring and assessment tool through periodical contact that will be established between students and their tutors at the Spanish Centre.

Our objectives with regard to our educational centre

• Offer students the possibility of completing their studies in the E.U.
• Improve the quality of studies in our Centre.
• Give other students and the teaching staff the benefit of their experience in the Erasmus Programme.
• Create an international collaboration network to train students, based on the relation that will be established between us and the receiving Centres and /or training companies.
• Receive students and teachers from other countries. This is considered as a very profitable experience for all the educational community. OSCUS strongly believes that these teachers and students will contribute to making the methodology more innovative.

The Centre wishes to be at the Erasmus Programme’s disposal for exchanges not only of students, but also of teachers.

The Institution aims to offer educational quality to its students so as to be better prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that arise in the difficult economic times that we are living in. Our priority is that they:

• Receive Professional Formation.
• Have access to an exchange with other students from the E.U. which will help them in the search for jobs.
• Benefit from an enriching experience.
• Share not only knowledge, but also experiences with young people from other countries.

The TARGET GROUP are our students of the short cycle: Higher Level Professional Formation Administration and Finances. Among other subjects, they receive the modules of “English for Communication and Customer Service”, and “Management of Human Resources” as bilingual subjects, apart from “English” in the first of this 2 year course, with the participation of a native English speaker. For this reason, we consider that they are prepared to take on the challenge of placement in a foreign country.

Our Centre is placed in a working-class neighbourhood, where, at the moment, the level of unemployment is around fifty per cent. The Erasmus Programme would be a unique opportunity for these students to travel abroad and benefit from such an eye-opening experience.

What is more, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, belonging to the Canary Islands, is part of an overseas province of Spain. We are situated at over 2,000 kilometres from the mainland, a fact which makes travelling very difficult for students of our Centre.

Institution’s strategy for the organisation and implementation of international (EU and non-EU) cooperation projects within the framework of the Erasmus+ Programme

It is our institution´s strategy to:

A) Encourage our STUDENTS to participate in the mobility projects. In today´s globalized world, it is essential to get experience, improve foreign languages and develop professional skills for daily working life.
In addition, we are open to welcome other students from Europe for a learning program or traineeship in any of the companies we work with.
For STAFF: teachers increase their professional skills by experiencing other academic systems and languages, companies and their working systems. We would, of course, be delighted to welcome teachers from other European countries for teaching or training.

B) Looking for and choosing institutions and companies to make collaboration agreements and develop cooperation projects.
Participating in innovation projects, allows our staff to improve their skills and develop new methodologies.

Expected impact of our participation in the Erasmus+ Programme on the modernisation of our institution

The economic crisis in which Spain is immersed, has created an enormous number of unemployed young people. This situation obliges students to look for educational centres which provide the best qualifications. As a result of this situation, it is essential to prepare an innovative educational plan adapted to the necessities of a highly competitive labour market.

As commented previously, our Centre is placed in a working-class neighbourhood with a high level of unemployment. What is more, the Canary Islands are an overseas province of Spain. So, the Erasmus Programme would possibly be the only chance for some of these students to travel abroad and have this mind-opening opportunity.

Programmes of European cooperation will permit our centre to develop innovative forms of Professional Formation that would enrich the centre’s educational planning in the following areas:

1. Increasing the number of graduates in Short Cycles who will be better prepared to work both in Spain and abroad through participation in the ERASMUS programme, as this gives the Institution an International Nature that attracts students who otherwise might not enrol.
2. Improving the quality of education in Short Cycles in order to attract students using innovative methods and techniques, such as bilingual education and the possibility of carrying out part of their studies abroad.
3. By improving the quality of their education, we train students to be better professionals, capable of competing in a complex labour market, as a result of the opportunity they have had, by participating in a European Programme.
4. Offering opportunities abroad in educational centres and in companies will allow the student/teacher to achieve a more versatile profile. They will also acquire and improve knowledge of different languages and cultures in the host-countries. As a consequence, they will develop the skills necessary to succeed in the labour market of Spain and other European countries. Although our Institution is not yet taking part in staff mobility, when we do so, it would offer new personal and career opportunities. The workforce of the Institution would be much more updated, motivated and ready to meet new educational challenges.
5. Creating partnerships with other Centres and companies from foreign countries, with the objective of learning other methodologies, will permit us to compare and improve our own centre. This would also encourage international contact between members of our Centre and other European Centres and companies. The increasing number of students interested in taking part in the European programmes would also help to PROFESSIONALISE THE INSTITUTION’S MANAGEMENT, as we would need to become accustomed to dealing with foreign companies. The development of European Programmes will favour the modernisation of the organisation. The Department of European Programmes will publicise and give visibility (local, national and international) to the impact obtained by mobility.