Ms. Schaettgen, you have been the administrative contact for Erasmus+ at the department for over 10 years - how high is the demand?
The opportunity to go abroad for one, two or more semesters as part of a degree course and to receive Erasmus+ funding is not so popular in the Department of Mathematics. This is why we receive many so-called "non-subject-specific" applications, e.g. SimTech students.
We have exchange places at over 20 European partner universities, from Ireland to Poland, from Norway to Turkey.
We have also had partner universities in Portugal for a number of years, a cooperation with the University of Rennes in France is brand new and, at the suggestion of Professor Stamm, we are currently in the process of establishing a cooperation with the Ecole des Ponts in Paris. A cooperation with the University of Cyprus is also being considered.
Collaborations that are established on the initiative of professors in the department are of course particularly interesting due to the contacts they have with the partner universities.
Which partner universities are particularly popular?
Norway and Sweden are generally always in demand due to their comprehensive English-language programs. Interestingly, however, in recent years we have also received applications for partner universities that were not previously in demand. As we only ever have one or two places, priorities have to be set. One year, for example, various students wanted to go to Grenoble, and the following year there was suddenly a greater demand for Barcelona.
And what has been your experience in recent years?
We've seen a welcome increase in demand - both during and after the coronavirus period. This year has been very quiet again. For example, this year we have no one for the one place we have available at the university in Uppsala, which I think is an extreme shame. This place has always been in demand in the many years I have been involved with the program. However, three students are going to Spain and two to Italy. Of course, it has to be said that planning a stay at one of the Nordic universities is challenging due to the different semester times.
But Erasmus+ doesn't just mean student mobility, does it?
That's right, for some years now all university staff have had the opportunity to take part in further training as part of Erasmus+. I've been able to take advantage of this several times myself.
This year too?
I had my third stay at the USMB in Chambéry this year as part of the SMILE week, a week every year at the end of June for international participants and employees of the USMB. This time, however, I was sponsored by the University of Stuttgart's relatively new Global Glimpse program, which serves to promote sustainable networking and is also open to non-scientific staff.
What would you recommend to our students and your colleagues?
The University of Stuttgart offers a wide range of opportunities for international mobility and I would like to encourage students, but also colleagues, especially from the non-scientific area, to take advantage of these opportunities.
New collaborations and opportunities for international mobility at the department (via Erasmus+)
Portugal - Universities of Porto and Aveiro
France - University of Rennes, in preparation - Ecole des Ponts
Elisabeth Schaettgen
Contact for Erasmus students at the Department of Mathematics
Institute for Mathematical Methods in Engineering, Numerics and Geometric Modeling IMNG