Overview

In the last 30 years, Edinburgh Napier University has established more than 60 Erasmus and 20 Overseas exchange partnerships around the world, signing more than 100 exchange agreements. The University is also a member of the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) since 1992. The ISEP Network is the largest global community for study abroad offering exchanges at more than 300 universities.

The full list of the Edinburgh Napier University exchange partners can be viewed here.

Types of exchange agreements

Our exchange agreements are either University-wide or subject specific.

University-wide exchanges are open to most students, however, not every degree subject may be offered by all our University-wide partner institutions.

Subject-specific exchanges are only open to students whose degree programme is in the stated subject area.

The following reciprocal exchange agreements are facilitated by the Global Mobility Team:

• Overseas Reciprocal Exchange Agreement (for student exchanges outwith the EU/Erasmus+ framework)
• Erasmus+ Inter-Institutional Agreement (IIAs) (for any student exchanges within the EU/Erasmus+ framework)

 

Due to Brexit, the University will NOT be able to continue exchanging students under our Erasmus IIA agreements beyond the academic year 2021/22, therefore our current Erasmus agreements will have to be replaced by another reciprocal arrangement.

Questions about non-reciprocal (fee-paying) incoming study abroad agreements should be raised with Nicole Lombardo N.Lombardo@napier.ac.uk , the International Partnership Manager.

The Institutional Mobility Forum (the IMF)

To manage the process of setting up and reviewing exchange agreements, and ensure an equitable and clear approach, all agreements are subject to scrutiny via ENU’s Institutional Mobility Forum. 

Important dates:

Key Date	Objective	Details
IMF Meeting - February	Audit of existing partnership agreements	Review of flows and agreement on cancelling/renewing any that are due to expire before end of the following academic year.
15 May	New partner requests – first deadline	l
IMF Meeting - May	Consider new partner proposals  (First deadline)	All new partner proposals submitted by the first deadline will be considered
15 July	Erasmus+ number request	Final date for Schools to contact the GMT to request an increase in places to Erasmus+ partners for the following year
15 July	New partner requests – second deadline	All new partner proposals submitted by the second deadline will be considered
IMF Meeting -August	Final review of new partner proposals (Second deadline)	Stage 2- Proposals and completed checklists to be submitted by 15 July.
IMF Meeting - November	Review new agreements	Review progress of all new agreements looking at numbers and any issues

 

Any proposals approved through the May or August IMF will be promoted from September-December with a view to the first exchanges taking place the following academic year. For example, proposals submitted by July 2021 will be considered at the August 2021 IMF and the agreement will likely take effect from 2022/23 academic year.

Late/incomplete proposals will ordinarily be unable to be considered.

 

Initiating exchange agreement – 10 steps:

1. Programme Leader (PL) (or their depute/programme mobility lead) initiates discussions with potential partner and collates all the information required to enable completion of ‘Exchange Partner Proposal Checklist’.  The document can be downloaded here​.

2. PL will send ‘Safeguarding Policy Framework Policy Commitment’ form to the partner, which must be signed and returned along with the ‘Exchange Partner Proposal Checklist’. 

 

3. The ‘Exchange Partner Proposal Checklist’ requires the signature of the PL, School Lead for Mobility and the School Academic Adviser for visiting students.  Once signatures are obtained, the for, along with the ‘Safeguarding Policy Framework Policy Commitment’ form should be sent to studyabroad@napier.ac.uk. (It is expected that the person fulfilling the School Mobility Lead role has designated authority from their Dean to approve agreement proposals). 

 

4. PL submits completed and authorised ‘Exchange Partner Proposal Checklist’ and the ‘Safeguarding Policy Framework Policy Commitment’ form to studyabroad@napier.ac.uk. It will then be reviewed by the Global Mobility Manager. 

 

5. Global Mobility Team (GMT) will confirm receipt of the proposal.

 

6. GMT will table each ‘Exchange Partner Proposal Checklist’ submission for the appropriate Institutional Mobility Forum (IMF) for information and formal acknowledgement only.  The IMF will rarely overrule or refuse an agreement. More information regarding the Institutional Mobility Forum (IMF) can be found here​.

 

7. The Global Mobility Manager will complete the agreement template and liaise with contact at partner institution to negotiate final terms.

• Erasmus Inter-institutional Agreements are a set EU-wide template and therefore not open to negotiation beyond the agreement discipline area, duration, and number of mobility’s. Therefore, the setting up of these agreements is relatively simple
• Overseas exchange agreements are much more detailed and often require extensive negotiation to agree terms due to differences in governance and standards. It may be necessary for the GMT to seek further guidance from University’s Governance team to ensure the agreement terms are acceptable to the University

 

8. After agreement content is approved by both institutions, the Global Mobility Manager will arrange signature from the Principal’s office.

 

9. All signatories of the ‘Exchange Partner Proposal Checklist’ will receive a copy of the finalised student exchange agreement. GMT will hold master copies of all reciprocal exchange agreements.

 

10. GMT will record the agreement and operational details for use in promotion, application and management of the exchange. 

Frequently asked questions are answered here​.

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