European Policy Statement

De acuerdo con los requisitos del programa Erasmus+, la Universidad San Jorge hace pública la siguiente declaración de política europea:

Universidad San Jorge has as the objective of reaching and maintaining excellence in every scope of its teaching and research activities. Among the goals of its Strategic Plan are to build strategic partnerships and knowledge alliances, to promote mobility of students and university staff through different actions, or to strengthen its internal structure with views to developing educational collaboration both nationally and internationally.

In line with this strategy, the university promotes participation and development of appropriate thematic networks that lead to the establishment of new relations with universities, companies and other institutions, towards broader collaboration possibilities, exchange of knowledge, good practice, innovation in teaching and coordination of academic programmes.

The university modernisation and internationalisation strategy is part of its strategic plan. Thus, the internationalisation strategic focus defines the goals and courses of action.

The general objective is to continue developing the lines in which the university has been working and to develop new areas such as:

Undergraduate and postgraduate student mobility, both for study and work placements, within and outside the EU.
University staff mobility to higher education institutions or other organizations (EU and non-EU), both for teaching purposes and for training. This constitutes an important contribution to the international development of the human resources, as well as to the curriculum development.
The design of high quality joint programmes with European universities (with possible partners or beneficiaries from non-participating countries) to promote student mobility and talent attraction.
To join international networks (for academic issues as well as for research).
Joint activities with other universities for the creation of activities involving different institutions with views to achieving a critical mass of researchers training. This would be reached through collaboration projects supported by the Programme, or through existent relationships with international organisations.
The development of activities in the area of research, aimed at the development of projects.
The choice of higher education partner centres is carried out considering criteria such as the official recognition of their programmes; if they have accredited quality management systems; the similarity of programmes and professional profiles; or the possibility of establishing common research lines.

In relation to the alliances with companies, they are assessed following criteria such as that they are legally established organizations, that they are qualified to participate in research and innovation projects, or that their work areas meet the professional profiles of the university academic programmes.

Although most of the activities are carried out within the EU, the university is interested in developing activities in a broader geographical area, including America (USA, Latin-America), Africa, Asia, etc.

The participation in European and international projects is integrated in the modernisation and internationalisation strategy and is based on an analysis of specific needs.

The University establishes strategic alliances (according to priorities and ability to actively participate) and takes part in initiatives that reinforce its international projection, and the transversal cooperation with other educational or private sectors. The exchange and transfer of knowledge (research and innovation), good practice, and academic activities underpins the university growth. Furthermore, the university participates in European research projects that enable it to contact new institutions with which it can strengthen bonds and create new alliances.

Within the Programme, the cooperation strategy mainly focuses on:

The creation of knowledge alliances to foster intense, structured and long term cooperation with key partners (local/regional companies, educational authorities, research institutions, etc.) to promote creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, offering relevant learning opportunities. And, through them, launch projects leading to a higher employability, such as international work placements in business, programmes for entrepreneur training or Information Technology support platforms.
The knowledge transfer to neighbouring countries and to third party countries through capacity building projects, examples of good practice, as well as through support and guidance programmes. And, in general, the international cooperation aimed at supporting the modernisation and internationalisation of higher education in partner countries.
The participation in the Programme represents a key element in the internationalisation strategy of the University, as it boosts mobility, and allows the creation, in a more focused and organised manner, bonds with other institutions within the framework of implementation of international cooperation projects.

This impulse to the modernisation and internationalisation of the University through the financial and corporate governance support allows the improvement of both quality and relevance of the programmes. The staff mobility experiences are to the advantage of the teaching as well as to the research activities. In addition, student mobility, with the subsequent improvement of professional and intercultural competences, will lead to an increase in the global performance levels that help in the training of the graduates and researchers that the employment market demands.

Actions 1 and 2, with regard to the mobility for training purposes, bring a stronger collaboration between university and company. These actions, together with the bonds created for research consultancy, research and development projects to develop new business solutions, patents, etc., are fundamental in order to reach excellence and regional development.

The contribution to the development of third party countries through voluntary services and development cooperation projects, applying knowledge transfer and involving companies in joint funding (through “crowdfunding” systems) is another of the lines that will be strengthened through the Programme.

Moreover, the promotion of network creation and of policy support measures, both included in action 3, constitute an important element to gain quality through cross-border cooperation.