For the University of Rijeka (UNIRI), cooperation with foreign universities, research institutions, agencies, and associations is a prerequisite for further development, and openness toward society and the world is seen as a tool for measuring progress. By participating in the Erasmus programme since 2009, UNIRI has welcomed more than 3000 incoming students and 1100 new staff members, thus opening the doors of tue institution to fellow European citizens and paving the way for the university to become a true European university of the future and a prime example of numerous successful Erasmus mobilities.
As a modern university open to everyone, UNIRI promotes all forms of international cooperation, paying special attention to its students and their needs along the way. Having embraced an organised and systematic approach to mobility, the University of Rijeka became an engaged university tailored to student needs that puts special emphasis on student and staff exchanges under the Erasmus programme. Student mobility and the associated academic recognition are seen as a necessary prerequisite for an open and dynamic European educational area that will facilitate European integration and labour market mobility.
The UNIRI Centre for International Mobility and Erasmus takes care of every aspect concerning the Erasmus programme, in particular Key Action 1, the individual mobility of students and staff. Since joining the Erasmus family in 2009, UNIRI has signed over 800 bilateral Erasmus agreements with universities from most EU countries. This cooperation includes student and staff exchanges. So far, more than 2600 students of the University of Rijeka and 1100 staff members have participated in Erasmus, and more than 4000 foreign students and staff visited the University of Rijeka. As the University of Rijeka is becoming more and more recognisable in the European Higher Education Area, the number of mobilities is increasing rapidly. Today, the Centre for International Mobility and Erasmus manages more than 800 incoming/outgoing students and 600 incoming/outgoing staff per academic year.
This year, for the 13th year in a row, the Centre organised the Erasmus Welcome Day for incoming Erasmus students who have decided to pursue their studies and hone their skills in the UNIRI’s academic community. This info-day became a fun tradition at the University, combining necessary and practical information regarding their stay in Rijeka and a more relaxed networking with fellow Erasmus students.
UNIRI’s success and maximum utilisation of Erasmus funds are further underpinned by the support of both Croatian and European agencies. The Croatian Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes has considered the University of Rijeka to be an example of good practice in the implementation of the Erasmus programme. This year, as always, UNIRI utilised almost the entire approved budget (97%), and the quality of the implementation process was graded with 92 out of 100 points. In other words, of the approved or planned 316 mobilities, the University managed to realise as many as 338, through many permanently open calls for different student and staff mobilities.
Last year, the Centre for International Mobility and Erasmus was selected by the European Commission as one of the Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) Champions, praising UNIRI’s implementation of the Commission’s IT tools, in particular the Erasmus Dashboard. This selection is yet another proof of UNIRI’s unwavering commitment to advancing the digital management of Erasmus+ student mobility during a challenging transition period. What is more, the Head of the Centre, Ms. Maša Šašinka, also acts as the Croatian Erasmus Ambassador and participates in all promotional activities of the national agency to promote the University of Rijeka as a role model for the management of Erasmus individual mobility projects in Croatia.
