Guideline for
HUMANE-ESMU-Winter School certified study visits
I. Introduction
This guideline has been agreed on by the HUMANE EC committee. It should be seen as a help for the arrangement of study visits and not as a framework that has to be followed strictly.
The following principles have been decided:
1. The HUMANE Executive committee will support study visits.
2. The HUMANE Executive acknowledges the necessity of a certification for those visits
3. To encourage visits the certification process will be kept very simple
4. At the end of a visit an interview with the HUMANE member of the host university will be obligatory.
5. There will be someone in the Executive committee responsible for the process of the study visits
6. The executive committee would like to extend the idea of study visits to the HUMANE members
7. The WINTER SCHOOL alumni network could be made responsible for the development of this project.
II. Design of the programme
There should be two possible ways to design a programme:
1. Every member who offers a visit should define which possible focus and activities (see list of activities) his university could propose. There should also be a description of strengths, experience, difficulties, and past and future projects (for example change of organisation, merger of two universities, etc.) of the university. If outside university activities are proposed, it should describe what the advantages of such an activity would be. The offer has to indicate how the visitor can get hold of further information (internet, brochures, reports, newspapers, government information).
2. The second possibility would be that a WS alumni with a desire for a particular study visit can directly approach other alumni or send a request for a study visit to the mailing list. They should then outline the topics on which they wish to learn more, the amount of time available and the period when the visit could take place..
III. List of Activities
This is an initial list of activities and should be extended throughout the process.
1. Interviews with:
· key managers of an university
· heads of administration
· academics
· executives
· executives of other successful NGO’s
· ministries
· funding companies
· companies who deal with universities
2. Accompany executive meetings, board meetings, project groups etc.
3. Work on a project that the host alumnus is involved in
4. Work on project given by HUMANE (working groups, research on special topic like student fees in Europe)
5. Visit other universities and establish new contacts
6. Visit other NGO’s and learn from their experiences
IV. Process of visit
Before the visit the visitor, the WS host and the HUMANE member should define a goal or goals for the visit that can be evaluated afterwards. The goals should encompass specified objectives in terms of knowledge, skills, and methods. The planned personal objectives and their practical applications after the visit should be made as explicit as possible.
1. The visit has to be well prepared. A general knowledge of the structure, the main tasks of the university and major issues facing it should be acquired before the visit. The hosting member should therefore send information and indicate how the visitor can get hold of further information (internet, brochures, reports, newspapers, government information). The visitor should gain access to both inside and outside information to have a broad view of the institution before he/she goes there.
2. The programme of the visit has to correspond with the intended learning objectives. This means that the activities to be carried out, should all contribute to one or more of the learning objectives. This contribution can be in the form of information but also in other aspects such as strategies, methods, social skills, personal styles.
3. The programme should also explicitly address the language issue: in which language will communication take place, how can language difficulties creatively be addressed by adapting visit programme elements or styles.
4. The host alumnus has a special responsibility to guide the visitor in how to deal with various cultural and social aspects: both in advance, by supplying general notions on cultural aspects and social styles of interviewees (and afterwards, by offering feedback or discussing the visitor’s experiences).
5. If a concrete programme between a visitor and a host is specified in terms of dates this should be sent out to the network to offer other members the possibility to join. This way, efficient visits with two or even three visitors will be possible.
6. The HUMANE member of the host university should be involved in the design of the programme (can give further ideas, help with contacts for interviews, etc.).
7. At the end of the visit an interview with the HUMANE member has to take place to talk about the visit, its experiences and the goals.
V. Process of certification
The certification is seen mainly as a justification for WS alumni to be able to undertake visits.
For that reason there will be no minimum of activities for a visit. The certificate will not indicate a quality level of the visit.
The interview at the end of the visit with the HUMANE member should reflect the goals and experiences of the visit and will be the basis for the certificate.
The visitor has to produce a written report with a description of the activities and experiences on the visit, including an evaluation of learning objectives and send it to the HUMANE member of the visiting university and to the HUMANE network manager.
The HUMANE network manager will provide the HUMANE STUDY VISIT certificate (signed by the HUMANE Chairman), which will specify the activities and the length of the visit.
The network manager will send the report to the appointed HUMANE EC representative and to the WS alumni network representative who is to be informed about the visits and their outcome.
If there is no HUMANE member at the host university, the HUMANE EC representative has to be contacted to find out how a certificate can be obtained.
VI. Evaluation
To see how this first process of study visits will work out, the HUMANE EC and the WINTER SCHOOL alumni should evaluate together the process of the visits and the programme after a year or 5 visits. Depending on the results, the programme may be adapted