The Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) provides the general quality framework for European and international cooperation activities a higher education institution may carry out within Erasmus+.

The University of Genoa has been awarded an ECHE, in order to participate in learning mobility of individuals and cooperation for innovation and good practices under the Erasmus+ programme.

The development of cultural exchanges and international cooperation is one of the main objectives of the University of Genoa. By cooperating with foreign Institutions, the University of Genoa promotes activities aimed at increasing educational, scientific and cultural exchanges. Internationalisation is aimed at improving the quality and increasing the quantity of mobility, also according to the objectives of Europe 2020. In particular, student mobility has a central role. The University of Genoa offers a wide range of courses, organized at different levels: Bachelor, Master, Doctoral, specialistic post-Degree courses.

The University of Genoa firmly encourages the international mobility of students. Attending lessons, performing traineeships, sitting exams or preparing a dissertation become an integral part of the student's study plan and enables students to directly perceive the International dimension of education and to move easily outside their frontiers. To better organize student mobility and enhance the transparency of all the related aspects, the University is going to adopt a Mobility handbook. Academic and non-academic staff take active part in the Internationalization strategy by participating in International programmes.

Teaching mobility is encouraged to develop a stricter cooperation on teaching, to exchange best practices and knowledge, share common research interests, enhance the quality of the University courses. Staff mobility activities, such as job shadowing, traineeships, workshops, seminars etc, are aimed not only at curricula development, but also at exchanging best practices in order, among others, to reduce bureaucracy, to develop on-line procedures, IT and web applications.

At present the University of Genoa has international partnerships activated among countries participating in the Lifelong Learning Programme and beyond. Qualitative aspects are of fundamental importance in the choice of our International partners to ensure high quality standard in mobility: teaching and administrative level, quality of placements offered, student and staff facilities, common research interests are subject to a periodical monitoring and assessment. A mutual written agreement defines all the terms and conditions among the parties involved. Cooperation agreements have been signed with renowned Institutions such as Paris Sorbonne University, Pantheon Assas University and University Pierre et Marie Curie, Complutense University of Madrid, Royal Holloway University of London, King’s College London. Among our International partners for traineeships in enterprises we can mention CERN Geneva, OCSE and professional teams of great importance (among them Hanse Yachts AG, Greifswald).

Cooperation agreements and partnerships cover a vast geographical area:

• countries participating in the LLP
• Mediterranean Countries
• Vatican
• Russian Federation and East-Europe
• Central Asia
• East and South-east Asia
• North America: Canada and USA
• Australia and New Zealand
• Central and South-America

The Internationalisation plan of the University will include in the next future new countries of interest, in particular Brasil and Japan. With reference to the development of double and joint degrees, the University of Genoa has promoted academic cooperation in highly advanced scientific and technological fields, such as nanobiotechnology, robotics engineering and chemistry. The first agreements have been signed with European partners (University Pierre et Marie Curie, among others). Nowadays the list of our partners includes important Institutions in the United States, Japan, China and Russian Federation as well. The University of Genoa intends to widen the offer of double and joint degrees fully aware of the particular interest showed by students, as double and joint degrees facilitate employability in labour market. Furthermore they enhance scientific cooperation. An important emphasis has been put on partnerships involving enterprises, local and regional authorities, social partners in order to develop cooperation between education, research and business. The University is involved in projects aimed at developing a strong capacity building in third countries with particular regard to the improvement of the education system. The University of Genoa has a long term cooperation with Regione Liguria (Liguria Regional Body), NGOs, Trade Unions and other bodies in order to develop projects in third countries, such as India and Central Africa countries, also in educational and training fields. The following schools play a particularly active role: School of Social Sciences, Polytechnic School and School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Partnerships with the Italian Institute of Technology and other highly qualified institutions provide new research and learning opportunities in innovative areas. To reinforce the connection between academic world and labour market the University of Genoa offers an increasing number of professionalized courses. Expected impact of the participation in the new Programme:

1. Prevent and reduce drop-out through constant monitoring, orientation and counseling. Support students to select and pursue a course of study and to face different obstacles. Punctual and complete information concerning all the programmes, including entry requirements, course objectives, access to further study and employment opportunities.
2. Provide qualifications that match the requirements of the labour market in order to facilitate employability. Improve the chance of finding the right level of employment quickly after graduation and getting adequate wage. Provide students with key and transferable competences needed to adapt themselves to the changing and demanding workplace and to act in a multicultural context.
3. Increase quantity and improve quality in mobility: attract the best international students and send our students to the best host universities. Promote the mobility of academic and administrative staff.
4. Strengthen links with local and regional bodies and business: to establish synergies in order to better understand the needs of the labour market and design and adjust curricula. Work in partnership with professional boards and employers to measure the usefulness and the exploitability of the degree on the labour market.
5. Funding: maximise the EU funding and co-finance the projects. The University of Genoa has been one of the first Italian Universities to adopt and implement the recent reform of the Italian HEIs aimed at the reorganization and modernization of the University system.