International student services are becoming key for the attractiveness of an institution, which does no longer depend only on its academic, teaching and research standards. Indeed,
services to students have come to play an important role in the quality assessment – and thus competitiveness - of institutions. This said, European institutions seem to be lagging behind on provision of extensive student services, and need to be made more aware of their importance for the internationalisation objectives at national and institutional levels.
This is why ACA has decided to embark on a new project on services for international students in European higher education – a follow-up and extension of a
study carried out in 2006. The new project is to result in a comprehensive report on the support needs of non-European degree students, the impact of services on student decision-making, and the strategic approaches and organisation of support at the institutional level. Furthermore, concise and targeted
guidelines of good practice for international student support at the European level will be elaborated and presented at an international event at the end of the project period. ACA is pleased to work on this project with
two experienced partners: CIRIUS - the Danish internationalisation agency - and International Education Consultants UK. The project is planned to start in November this year and to be finalised by the end of April 2010. The project receives funding from the Action 4 of the European Commission’s Erasmus Mundus programme.