Student Mobility/ NATMOB (abgeschlossen 2005)

European Commission

• Ute Lanzendorf
• Prof. Dr. Ulrich Teichler

• 2004 - 2005

Student mobility has been promoted by the European Union for almost a quarter of a century. In recent years, the improvement of students’ personal and professional skills through study and learning periods abroad has increasingly come to be considered as a starting point for building a Europe of knowledge. Under this perspective, recent EU policy papers establish ambitious goals with respect to a further increase in student mobility. To reach these goals, it is not only envisaged that EU mobility programmes should in future receive substantially more funding than before. A second point of strategic interest is the coordination of EU programmes with measures taken by individual Member States to facilitate international student mobility.

The NATMOB study aimed at providing an overview of the current situation with respect to student mobility in the individual EU Member States. It took a comprehensive and integrative approach: For each of the countries under study, it investigated the volume of incoming and outgoing students in secondary and tertiary-level education and vocational training as well as measures taken at the national level to improve international mobility in education. . Finally, through comparative analysis, quality benchmarks were identified to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of national mobility instruments. On this basis recommendations were made for the most efficient way of promoting mobility.

Data collection "Mobility statistics": The NATMOB study considered all different types of mobility statistics available at national and European level (data on participation in national and EU mobility programs, official national statistics and Eurostat comparative foreign student data). Data collection "National measures for the promotion of mobility": To establish an overview of the legislative and non-legislative measures taken by individual Member States to promote mobility at all three educational levels, national evaluative reports prepared for the elaboration of the follow-up report on mobility within the Community and also Eurybase national reports were drawn upon. 

The NATMOB study was conducted jointly by the Centre for Research on Higher Education and Work of the University of Kassel, Germany, (coordinating institution) and the European Institute of Education and Social Policy (EIESP), Paris, France and is funded by the European Parliament.

Lanzendorf, Ute und Teichler, Ulrich: Student Mobility on Secondary Level and Tertiary Level Education and in Vocational Training (NATMOB). Kassel 2005 (Bericht an das Europäische Parlament, Directorate B).

Lanzendorf, Ute und Teichler, Ulrich, in Zusammenarbeit mit MURDOCH, Jake: "Student Mobility in Secondary and Tertiary-Level Education and in Vocational Training (NATMOB)". Brussels: European Parlament.