Caminos - Enhancing and Promoting Latin American Mobility

Student and staff mobility is of increasing importance in terms of internationalising learning and teaching, conducting high quality research and addressing local and global challenges. It has become a key national and institutional priority across the globe for the higher education (HE) sector and is deemed relevant for employment, economic growth and generally developing knowledge economies. ‘Free-mover’ student mobility (for degree purposes) has certainly been on the rise in the past two decades (to the US/Europe but also increasingly between emerging countries). However, short term ‘structured’ mobility within study programmes has particular significance, as it is claimed to not only benefit the mobile student or staff member, but the participating faculties and institutions, in that it strengthens their collaboration and subsequently the quality of their education. There is also a growing interest in fostering structured regional mobility, as part of regional HE integration agendas.
CAMINOS is innovative both in its nature and its approach: It is the first attempt to link existing LA mobility schemes in a comprehensive way, with an interest to streamline them, identify common practices and desired rules, and link those that manage them, namely networks and associations. As opposed to starting from scratch, CAMINOS will build from the ‘bottom up’,
Capitalising on current initiatives in the region and seeking commonalities between existing mobility programmes. The idea to start practically, and build a model drawing upon what exists, responding to Latin American interest and need. An immediate tool- the Handbook – will be produced, that can be applied by universities as well as associations, networks and funding agencies that sponsor and manage mobility programmes.
CAMINOS is also innovative in that it is a joint project that engages networks and associations, and thus the impacts will be felt far beyond the partnership itself. CAMINOS will also be innovative in its methodology; it will not require that the participating universities re-invent their procedures for managing mobility nor will it impose new rules. It will simply draw consensus on how best to align different mobility programmes and outline this in the form of a ‘Handbook’, with very practice steps and guidance for universities. Universities will be incentivised to shape and build their existing procedures for mobility, and to do so in line with regionally agreed practices (for managing mobility, assuring its quality, evaluating it, collecting data on it, etc) that have been inspired by European good practice.