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    The role of higher education institutions in transnational networks for teaching and learning innovation: the case of the Erasmus+ programme

    Fumasoli, T. and Rossi, Federica (2021) The role of higher education institutions in transnational networks for teaching and learning innovation: the case of the Erasmus+ programme. European Journal of Education 56 (2), pp. 200-218. ISSN 0141-8211.

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    Abstract

    Within the scholarship on internationalisation in higher education, transnational networks are seldom mentioned and even less studied. However, recent EU policy initiatives have attempted to enhance this form of internationalisation in order to tackle issues of employability, skills and competences and innovative curriculum development. Within European transnational networks, higher education institutions are posited to play a central role, as they are considered engines of socio-economic development in the so-called Knowledge Economy. To explore empirically the significance of higher education institutions in such networks, this article presents an analysis of 991 European networks promoting educational innovation within the Erasmus+ programme between 2014 and 2018. We analyse the role of higher education institutions by network size, governance, membership, and associated types of innovation. Our findings confirm expectations about the pivotal role of higher education institutions. However, expectations should be significantly nuanced, as higher education institutions tend to lead comparatively small networks. Also, higher education institutions tend to favour general innovative themes rather than specialised topics. Our contribution is threefold. First, it increases our understanding of higher education institutions’ capacity to engage with multi-level, multi-actor, multi-country innovation networks. Second, it sheds light on how higher education institutions have engaged with different priorities in EU’s modernisation agenda. Finally, our paper extends the scholarship on internationalisation in higher education by looking at transnational networks in teaching and learning as an emerging phenomenon.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): internationalisation, Europe, educational innovation, transnational networks, transnational partnerships, higher education, Erasmus+, education policy
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Business School
    Research Centres and Institutes: Innovation Management Research, Birkbeck Centre for
    Depositing User: Federica Rossi
    Date Deposited: 13 Apr 2021 16:24
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 18:09
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/43847

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