WISHES

For other uses, see WISHES (disambiguation).

WISHES stands for Web-based Information Service for Higher Education Students (WISHES). As a European Project run by nine European institutions WISHES centrally promotes European work and study offers for students worldwide by means of a user-driven web-based information portal.[1] Based on the expressed needs of over 4.000 students, this WISHES web-portal centralizes information and creates profiles of European higher education institutions (HEIs) and employment bodies, tailored to Bologna and Lisbon parameters.

Backed up with a powerful and diverse supporting network consisting of more than 100 HEIs, European associations and networks, as well as with the support of various national agencies, Rector's Conferences and the European Commission, WISHES offers its services to three main target groups: Students worldwide, higher education institutions and enterprises. [2]

WISHES target groups

WISHES offers its benefits to three main target groups:

Students – students of universities and colleges worldwide interested in studying or working abroad. Additionally, WISHES also targets pupils searching for higher abroad. Close cooperation with student associations are currently set up (such as with the Erasmus Student Network or the European Medical Students Association).

Higher education institutions – Universities, Colleges, Academic Associations, Educational Networks, European Network, and other higher education institutions based in the Bologna signatory countries are eligible to present themselves and their offers in WISHES. Concretely WISHES targets persons responsible for international affairs such as vice rectors for international relations and international officers.

Enterprisers – employment bodies, members of professional associations, and companies based in the Bologna signatory states looking for ways to reach international students and recent graduates worldwide.

Basic elements

Meeting the needs of today's international students, the WISHES Mobility Portal consists of three components:

WISHES consortium

The WISHES consortium consists of 9 institutions:

[3]

History

In December 2006 during their Erasmus Semester at Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Czech Republic Michael Steinmann and Ricardo Dores came up with the idea of creating one web portal centrally presenting all relevant information about living and learning in the Erasmus Universities throughout Europe.[4]

Due to their huge commitment and achieved early support by various universities, their idea grew rapidly : Presentations on diverse international conferences were followed by an invitation from Alan Smith to present the idea behind WISHES in the Directorate General of Education and Culture (DG EAC) of the European Commission in Brussels in April 2007.

Supported by the University of Paderborn, Michael Steinmann and Prof. Dr. Leena Suhl submitted in 2008 a project proposal within the Action 4 of the Erasmus Mundus Programme to enhance the attractiveness of higher in Europe. Subsequently in October 2008, WISHES has been approved by the European Commission (Agreement No. 2008-2457 / 001 – 001 MUN MUNATT), and was kicked of in December 2008.

In 2009 three major WISHES surveys have been carried out to lay solid grounds for the future WISHES mobility portal: Within these surveys 600 higher education institutions, 100 enterprises and 4 000 students stated their wishes concerning a central source of information concerning European study and work options. Additionally, to further promote the project's idea, WISHES has in 2009 been presented within various major European conferences on higher education mobility: The ERACON Conference 2009 (29 April – 3 May 2009, Nicosia, Cyprus) and the EAIE Conference 2009 (16th – 19 September, Madrid, Spain).

In May 2010 the WISHES mobility portal was launched for higher education institutions during the WISHES Networking days (NWD 2010) in Essen, Germany. Since June 2010 European higher education institutions have been enabled to prepare their presentations in WISHES for the launch of WISHES for students worldwide in September 2010. [5]

Next steps

In September 2010 WISHES will be launched for students worldwide. Starting from February 2011 employment bodies will be able to promote their offers by means of WISHES.

Furthermore, Erasmus Mundus WISHES Project will be presented on the following conferences:

2010

2011

The WISHES Network

WISHES is still offering further institutions to join its network. Until today the following higher education institutions have joined in on the WISHES idea:

See also

References

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