Since the 1980s, European higher education has entered a period of international cooperation.Erasmus World Programme is the first scholarship programme for the mobility of students from European countries.Since its inception, European countries have launched a series of outreach projects around it.
Erasmus World is scheduled to start in January 2004 for five years each.The first phase of the programme includes a joint master's degree programme to encourage international mobility in Europe, a World Programme scholarship to assist students and scholars from third countries in their understanding and recognition of European higher education.Among them, the postgraduate transnational joint curriculum is the core content of Erasmus Century Plan.
Increased number of non-European projects
The plan has lasted six years since its implementation.The number of joint degree programmes undertaken increased from 103 in the first phase to 129 in the second, representing a 25 per cent increase in the number of projects.These 129 programs comprise 116 joint master's and 13 joint doctoral programs.
First of all, from the perspective of the country distribution of cooperative universities, the cooperative countries with a large number of joint courses are European established education powers.Overall, European countries account for nearly 50% of all countries, and European universities are the main coordinators of the joint curriculum, developing student mobility programmes in curriculum cooperation.
Secondly, from the perspective of non-European countries participating in the joint course, the countries with the largest participation are South Africa, India, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan.Although the number of projects involving non-European countries is small, there has been a significant breakthrough compared to the first phase.Non-European universities or higher education institutions can participate as co-sponsors in joint courses with European universities, and the participation space and co-sponsorship of non-European universities have been expanded.
Two models of talent development
The Erasmus World Programme's postgraduate transnational joint programmes include joint doctoral programmes and joint master's programmes.In addition to the long study period (usually 3 to 5 years), the curriculum is biased toward research, and the training mode is similar to that of the master's joint curriculum.This paper focuses on the training model of the joint master's program.It mainly includes the following two modes.
The first is the "1+1" model, in which students freely choose two institutions of study for one year each.Students take a one-year foundation course at the first partner institution.The second year goes to the second school to continue a six-month professional course and use the last six months to complete an internship and master's thesis (or graduate design).There will usually be a short joint course in the form of a "summer school" in the two-year study, which is the responsibility of the partner institutions involved in the project, and all students must attend.After their thesis is approved, students are awarded dual degree and joint course certificates from the two institutions they attend.
The second is the "1+n(n>=2) mode.The program designates one institution (most of the main schools) to open a compulsory course, and students are free to choose other schools for course study and thesis writing for 2-3 semesters after completing the course.Some programs require students to finally return to the registered school for a master's thesis defense.After graduation, students are awarded multiple degrees from their institutions or joint degree certificates from multiple partner institutions.
High school participation is huge.
The joint school-running model of Erasmus World Plan and its talent-training model have become a model of global higher education cross-border cooperation and exchange.From the current situation, it has the following characteristics.First, the development of multinational courses contains a strong "European" color.Second, the curriculum cultivation model reflects the integration and utilization of multi-school cooperation and superior resources.Third, most non-European schools do not substantially participate in joint courses, and their authority to run schools needs to be relaxed.
Only Fudan University, Nanjing Agricultural University and China Agricultural University participated in the second phase of the multinational joint program, so there is a lot of room for universities to participate in the future.