Challenges and opportunities of US student mobility: the case of the study in Portugal network

• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, Ricardo Jorge Simões
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/13682
• topic: International student mobility; Higher education; Study abroad; Gestão internacional; Internacionalização do ensino superior; Estudante; Mobilidade; Interculturalidade

This case study aims to analyze the political, institutional and academic background regarding student mobility, specifically from the US to Portugal, which allowed the creation of a study abroad program – The Study in Portugal Network (SiPN), managed by Luso-American Development Foundation, a Portuguese non-profit institution. While an increasing numbers of international mobility students move to Portugal, the interest from North American universities/students is still residual. Therefore, it is both pertinent and challenging to design a program that articulates Portuguese universities with the academic and bureaucratic framework of US higher education. The success of such a program would contribute to place Portugal as a serious destination for North-American students. With this in mind, this case: • Provides a brief assessment of existing international mobility programs (Erasmus, North American mobility) and how Portugal stands as a destination for incoming international student mobility (ISM); • Presents the first two years of the Study in Portugal Network (SiPN) led by the Luso-American Development Foundation, in partnership with four Portuguese universities, to attract North American students; • Proposes a framework that may inspire the design of similar international mobility programs; • Provides a tool for international relations offices and other decision making authorities at universities, education policy makers, and similar, to design policies that suit their institution’s missions, specifically when trying to bridge US and Portuguese higher education systems. This case has been prepared through formal and informal contact with local administrative and organizational mobility program stake-holders and in consultation with scholars and officers in Portugal and in North American schools. It aims at contributing for further research that serves the mutual academic interests of all partners in international mobility.