Europe is the envy of other continents when it comes to student mobility. This has, however, not stopped ministers of education in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) from setting the 20% outbound mobility target, to be reached by 2020. To reach this target, there is a wide consensus that the biggest obstacle in the way of attaining the above ambitious target is a lack of funding.  And to overcome such financial obstacle, the potential role of portable state student grants and loans appears enormous in quantitative terms, compared to mobility scholarships which tend to be selective and small in scale.

In the framework of the STiME project (State Grants and Loans as a Means to Increase Outgoing Mobility), ACA and DSW have taken a close look into the portability of national grant and loan schemes in 31 European countries.  Key findings in the study indicate that much work remains to be done towards full portability of state grants and loans. This does not come as a surprise. What deserves more thinking is rather the low percentage of grant and loan recipients (between 1-3% in most countries reported full portability) using the already portable funding for studying abroad, or, the high concentration of the outflowing portable grants and loans into certain receiving countries (e.g. the UK, USA, and the neighbouring countries). 

For the first time, the STiME project will present quantitative evidence made available by national organisations in charge of grants and loans to enrich the discussion on this subject matter. Such new evidence has confirmed, falsified or revised some of our beliefs in the impact of portable grants and loans on mobility volume. Some old questions were answered, but new ones arise. Are we betting on the wrong horse – portability of national funding – for reaching the 2020 mobility targets in Europe? Are national governments not doing enough to make state grants and loans “fully” portable? Or are we simply expecting the unrealistic scenario of a 100% mobility of the students receiving state funding that primarily aims at supporting students for studying at home?     

Not all of the above questions can be answered or should be answered in the framework of STiME, only. Therefore, ACA and DSW are inviting you to join us in a webinar discussion on December 17 (Tuesday) 2013. 

The webinar will feature some of the hard-won quantitative data on state grant and loan recipients (mobile and non-mobile) and features of portable schemes (by Danja Oste, DSW), key findings obtained and conclusions drawn in the study (by Bernd Wächter and Queenie Lam, ACA), and responses by an external advisor of the project (Ulrich Teichler, INCHER-Kassel).  

To participate in the webinar, please register early to secure a place.   

This complimentary webinar is presented with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union. 

Click here for more information about the project STiME.