Erasmus+ Exchange Program

RIT Kosovo takes pride in encouraging current students to undertake a study abroad experience and has also been welcoming exchange students from European partner institutions for many years now. Spending a few months in a different culture and community is the best opportunity to establish intercultural contacts, have a valuable insight into a different culture, learn a language and grow as a person.

Erasmus+ for Higher Education Students and Staff

 

Erasmus+ is the EU's new umbrella program for education, training, youth and sport, designed to be more global and more integrated than ever before. It brings together seven EU programs and offers more opportunities for cooperation than its predecessors. The Erasmus+ program offers a wide range of opportunities for students and staff to study and train abroad. The program funds intra-EU and international credit mobility for students to study in a receiving institution for a period of 3-12 months and obtain credits which are then recognized by the sending institution.

About Erasmus

RIT Kosovo is part of the RIT global campus with campuses in the USA, Dubai, China and Croatia. Our permanent orientation is to build linkages between our campuses and develop our wider international partnerships. We support the EU Modernization and Internationalization Agenda for Higher Education, and the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education, which we find crucial for the realization of our institutional plans. We strongly believe that higher education plays a strong role in building open, free and prosperous societies. We are committed to greatness and strive to create an international, multi-cultural and fully inclusive global campus. We promote and value diversity within our workforce and student base, and provide equal opportunity to all individuals. We believe that higher education is not just the privilege of the elites and that diversity makes our institution stronger. We develop our commitment through our outreach activities, admission and our policy to provide various kinds of financial assistance to help eradicate barriers to entry, progress and mobility. These core values permeate all our international engagements. Our international partnerships facilitate student mobility and recruitment, faculty development in teaching and learning, as well as joint research and capacity building. The presence of international students, faculty and staff enriches the learning and working at our campuses. Internationalization broadens our experiences and skills through contact with various cultures, countries and points of view. We strive to equip our students and staff to succeed in the increasingly globalized environment by carefully crafting the international nature of all our programs, by being exposed to the experiences of international students, and through special processes of learning and skill development. We make innovative use of new information, communication and media technologies to connect our campuses, enrich teaching and student experience. We actively disseminate information in our institution, to our local communities and beyond about examples of beneficial outcomes of our international activities. Our international aspirations position us in a special place in the Kosovar market because we specially appeal to those students who want to add an international dimension to their education. While our innovative approach to internationalization is built through the network of campuses in the US, Dubai, China and Croatia, our graduating students have the benefit of obtaining their diploma from the US. Our international partners are carefully chosen based on the compatibility and aspiration of their programs, opportunities they add to diversify our experiences, and also on the scope and quality of joint activities that can be developed. These include student/faculty exchange, visiting staff, joint research and others. In order to ensure that our partnerships conform to our development strategy, the President & Dean has to approve every new international partnership and engagement. By signing the relevant agreements, they ensure that every new partnership will advance our international strategic objectives, and that the suggested partner is a suitable ‘fit’ in terms of their position, organization, academic profile and reputation. In all our activities we recognize the importance of evaluation and benchmarking with our peers, in order to further develop our practices and strategies. One of the most important objectives of our internationalization policies is making sure that our current teaching programs are relevant and up to date. In our mobility initiatives we want to make sure that our students enhance their global awareness and employability skills. Our faculty and staff who also regularly participate in international exchange opportunities also enrich their working experience and portfolio of skills. We are committed to providing the best possible service and a fully inclusive environment to all visiting students, faculty and staff.

RIT Kosovo is one of the global campuses of RIT Main, Rochester New York and it allocates semester credit hours to courses as RIT Main does. All semester / credit hours awarded by RIT must conform to the applicable New York State and Federal regulations, which indicate that: Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York, Title 8 – Education Department, Chapter II – Regulations of the Commissioner, Subchapter A – Higher and Professional Regulations, Part 50 – General, Section 50.1 (o) stipulates the following: “Semester hour means a credit, point, or other unit granted for the satisfactory completion of a course which requires at least 15 hours (of 50 minutes each) of instruction and at least 30 hours of supplementary assignments, except as otherwise provided pursuant to section 52.2(c)(4) of this Subchapter. This basic measure shall be adjusted proportionately to translate the value of other academic calendars and formats of study in relation to the credit granted for study during the two semesters that comprise an academic year.” RIT’s credit hour policy is compliant with the policy defined by our accrediting body, Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), which states that: An amount of student work defined by an institution, as approved by the institution’s accrediting agency or State approval agency, that is consistent with commonly accepted practice in postsecondary education and that (1) reasonably approximates not less than (i) One hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester or trimester hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different period of time; or (ii) At least an equivalent amount of work as required in (1) of this definition for other academic activities as established by the institution, including laboratory work, internships, practice, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours; and (2) permits an institution, in determining the amount of work associated with a credit hour, to take into account a variety of delivery methods, measurements of student work, academic calendars, disciplines, and degree levels. Given that Kosovo is not a Member State in the EU and RIT Kosovo offers classes in US semester credit hours, credits are not recognized automatically. However, courses that students take in the KA1 partner institutions are already evaluated for equivalencies and the courses are transferred (through RIT Main) to the students record as soon as the official transcript from the host institution is received by our staff.

Erasmus+ Opportunities