CEU Erasmus Policy Statement 2021-2027
Central European University (CEU) is an English-speaking research-intensive university. Established in 1991, CEU's mission is to promote open society and democracy through advanced research, research-based teaching, and civic commitment. The university offers master, doctoral, and, starting in 2020, bachelor programs in the social sciences, humanities, law, management, cognitive science, network, and data science.
Accredited in three countries—Austria, Hungary, and the USA—the University is committed to the principle of One CEU, whereby all CEU entities share a single mission, governance, and administrative structure. CEU students, staff, faculty, and alumni are part of and contribute to a single vibrant intellectual community dedicated to research, learning, and upholding open society values.
From the academic year 2020/2021, CEU's main campus in Vienna will be home to world-leading research and to US- and Austrian-accredited degree teaching. A new research institute will be established at its Budapest campus, along with Hungarian-accredited degree teaching. Other activities, including teaching, and internships will be undertaken in partnership with Bard College in New York State. CEU has historically been a graduate-only institution in Budapest and New York State. With the opening of its new Vienna campus, CEU will enter the field of undergraduate teaching, and the student body is to grow from a current level of 1,300 students to 2,200 by the year 2025.
Internationalization is integral to CEU, recruiting students from over 100 countries and hiring academic and administrative staff from over 40 countries. The university has been one of the promoters and early adopters of the Bologna Process; academic degree programs of CEU are designed in line with its overall objectives, as well as with the aims of the EU Modernization Agenda.
Specific areas of focus are research and challenge-based teaching; implementation of student-centred learning; and the internationalization of higher education. CEU is committed to contributing to the development of the European Higher Education Area, European Education Area and European Research Area, through its teaching and research, and to engaging in cooperation with universities in other parts of the world. To this end, it aims to create solid ties with higher education institutions in and outside of Europe, in the framework of Erasmus+, other funding schemes, and our own institutional initiatives.
CEU actively participates in key university networks such CIVICA: the European University of Social Sciences (under the European Universities Initiative), the European Transnational Governance Network (ETGN), and is a founding partner of the Open Society University Network (OSUN). CEU has some 200 Erasmus Bilateral agreements, runs four Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's Degree Programs (coordinating three of them), and currently has over 100 academic and research project partners around the world. CEU's objective in participating in the Erasmus+ Programme is to contribute to a platform that facilitates free and open academic exchange at all levels across countries and continents and to contribute to educating future generations with a vision of open societies.
Participation in the Erasmus+ Programme is core to CEU's institutional strategy. Erasmus has enhanced the mobility of a yearly increasing number of students and provided the framework and funding for international cooperation projects in Hungary, with excellent results. The institution's goal is to continue this valuable work at our new campus in Vienna.
The Jean Monnet Programme, along with other Erasmus+ projects, aims at capacity building in Partner Countries and at the improvement of the European Higher Education Area. In encouraging teaching, research, and reflection in the field of European integration studies in HEIs, the Activities contribute to CEU's research goals as well as its internationalization, through vital partnerships and funding.
CEU has extensive experience in coordinating and managing different types of European Commission funded projects in research collaboration, joint degree training, academic exchanges, and other schemes. Academic cooperation agreements and projects hold an important role in the life of the CEU. Our departments have 200 valid Erasmus agreements with counterparts from all European countries and beyond. CEU Erasmus Office is committed to maximise the potential of existing and new cooperation projects.
To highlight CEU's research collaboration capacities: over the past 15 years the university has successfully managed 120 collaborative Framework projects, 21 ERC grants, including three Synergy projects. It coordinates 3 and is full partner in 1 Erasmus Mundus Joint MA Degree consortia, 3 of which received funding in 3 consecutive cycles and 1 of which is implemented through the first EU-Japan Erasmus Mundus Partnership pilot. Within the Erasmus+ Programme CEU has participated in 14 Erasmus+ KA1, KA2, K3, and Jean Monnet actions. Over the past 15 years, CEU hosted 19 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellows and has been partnering in 11 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Training Networks, in 1 Marie Sklodowska-Curie RISE Action, and in 1 Marie Sklodowska-Curie COFUND Fellowship Programme.
Mobility projects: CEU will launch a series of innovative multidisciplinary bachelor programs at its Vienna campus in AY 2020/2021. An objective will be to provide each student the opportunity of funded study abroad for one semester or one academic year (conditional of matching academic criteria set by CEU). The possibility of applying for extra funding for study abroad for each student through a merit-based competition will be secured with appropriate measures implemented for students with fewer opportunities due to background, disability or
family circumstances. (Such measures apply to merit-based competition at all levels and in all fields at CEU.)
As an institution committed to innovation in higher education, CEU has a vested interest in improving master-level education in Europe and better aligning it with the labour market. CEU's master programs combine teaching with research and make use of a variety of methods: skills courses and modules meant to prepare students for their future careers, internships, start-up and business incubators, capstone projects, innovation labs, and research schemes. The objective in terms of Erasmus+ exchanges is to provide the possibility for each student of applying for study abroad and traineeship places with or without extra funding at CEU's partner institutions, following a merit-based competition.
CEU doctoral programs are committed to academic excellence and are focused on both research and teaching training. PhD candidates have a multitude of opportunities and financial support to do research abroad, participate in research projects with faculty from CEU and from other universities, in summer schools, international conferences, and workshops, because CEU provides the opportunity of research mobility for every doctoral candidate/early-stage researcher, and the possibility of applying for extra mobility funding through a merit-based competition. The Erasmus+ Mobility Programmes and Research collaboration initiatives serve a crucial role in providing opportunities and funding for CEU doctoral candidates. CEU's own initiatives include the Doctoral Research Support Grant which enables funded research periods internationally for all doctoral students and the Global Teaching Fellowship Program, through which CEU doctoral candidates and recent graduates get the chance to teach at partner institutions around the world.
CEU aims for reciprocity with partners on all levels of student mobility for studies.
Traineeship mobility is supported on all levels. Students and early-stage researchers can apply for funding (Erasmus+ and CEU's own resources), through a merit-based competition. One of the university's top priorities is to provide the possibility of funded internships to at least 20% of our degree students during or immediately after finishing their studies. There is close cooperation between CEU Erasmus Office and Careers Services Office to seek opportunities.
Faculty mobility for teaching, both incoming and outgoing mobility, is encouraged across disciplines on all levels, with the purpose of enhancing institutional connections, exploration, and implementation of joint research projects, contribution to high-level teaching at the involved institutions, and mutual support in all arising academic and administrative matters.
Staff mobility for training is supported, promoted, and recognized across administrative units. To encourage administrative staff of international partners to visit CEU, an annual Erasmus Staff Training Week has been organized over the past four years which is open to participants from Program and Partner Countries.
To note: CEU is a fully international institution: with no dominant nationality, there is no distinction between "local" and "international" students in study requirements, classroom management, and campus opportunities. Erasmus students are fully integrated in the life of the university: incoming exchange students are supported by the same admissions officers and department coordinators as degree-seeking students. Additional administrative tasks required by the Program are performed by the Erasmus Office operating within the Academic Cooperation and Research Support Office (ACRO). ACRO is also responsible for all other collaborative programs, including the management of CIVICA: The European University of Social Sciences (under the European Universities Initiative), which is committed to student, faculty and staff mobility, joint teaching and outreach programs, executed together by its members: Bocconi University, European University Institute, Hertie School, London School of Economics and Political Science, the Romanian National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Sciences Po, Stockholm School of Economics.
CEU's mission is to offer excellent education to students who would otherwise not have the opportunity to undergo an international experience, in an institution promoting the values of an open society. It does this through high-level research, research-based teaching, and through civic engagement. The Erasmus+ Programme enables CEU to widen its impact by allowing a) students from partner institutions to spend a short study period at CEU; b) CEU students to experience different academic settings through study mobility and work-placements through traineeship mobility; c) CEU researchers to collaborate with their international peers; d) CEU as a whole to participate in an alliance under the European Universities Initiative; and e) pan-European higher education policy development at CEU. Furthermore, the Erasmus Programme provided vital funding for outreach activity to promote the integration of refugees in the EHEA (OLIve, the Open Learning Initiative).
CEU is committed to provide Erasmus+ Grants to as many students and staff members as possible.
The feedback we have received from participants shows students feeling more embedded in European society as a result of their participation in Erasmus+. Staff report improved discipline- and sector-specific competences. More widely, data shows that participating in Erasmus+ mobility is a mind-opening experience that shapes participants' future endeavours.
For those coming to us, CEU offers a densely international environment for staff, degree-seeking-, and exchange students alike. A set-up of seminar-like classes, a 7:1 student-faculty ratio, and the fact that there is no dominant nationality in any department or classroom, enables our students to have open intellectual exchanges in a highly diverse environment. Incoming Erasmus students and staff are no exception.
On bachelor level CEU has a target of admitting 200 students per year by 2025 and provide the opportunity for exchange for each of these students. At master level we encourage all students to consider applying for an exchange, if it can contribute to their academic development, either during, or after their studies in the form of an internship. Doctoral student mobility may focus on research, but applications for study mobility or internships are also encouraged. CEU intends to have 700+ master students and 400+ doctoral students yearly in Vienna, continuing the institutional practice of CEU in Budapest. CIVICA aims for 50% of all students to be involved in a European University Alliance-related exchange activity (physical, blended or virtual). CEU' internship target is that at least 20% of all students should have funded opportunities.
At an institutional level, CEU intends to increase the number of Erasmus Mundus Joint Programs by adding another four EMJP's by 2025 and renewing two of the existing programs. Research funding from external sources is set at an year-on-year increase of 10%, which is why CEU gives increased support to faculty members for applications to additional Horizon Europe and other research funding.
At the cusp of its fourth decade, CEU has grown from its regional roots to become an institution with a global reach, with students from 100 countries –, many of whom devote special attention to emerging democracies worldwide. We believe that our work educating these future leaders of society reflects the open and democratic nature of the European Union.
