Strategies for inclusive and sustainable student mobility

We believe it has never been more important to be an internationally inclusive institution and to utilise our knowledge, partnerships and people to help tackle global challenges. To do this we endeavour to create a shared ‘Newcastle Global Experience’ and encourage our community to think, feel, and act ‘globally’.

For students more broadly, this global focus provides greater access to; career-building opportunities; skills development including cross-cultural understanding, languages and adaptability; and helps to positively influence overall educational attainment and graduate outcomes.

We see global mobility (both physical and virtual), as an enabler to this endeavour and have therefore pledged to provide every student with access to a global opportunity. 

Diversifying traditional models of mobility

Whilst physical mobility remains a key driver, our ambitions are to increase the scale, outcomes, diversity and quality of the ‘global’ options available. To do this we have broadened our offer beyond the traditional year and semester abroad to include a range of activities which we feel better reflect the needs of our diverse student population. These include: 

• An enhanced short-term global offer
• Virtual exchange opportunities
• The development of a digital badge in global and cultural awareness
• A refreshed focus on Internationalisation at Home activities

Widening access to global opportunities

Institutionally, we have seen a noticeable upward trend in demand for short-term opportunities which offer a greater level of flexibility in terms of the type of experience (summer schools, internships, volunteering, online), duration and country destination. However, as the majority of short-term programmes do not reach the required duration to be eligible for Turing funding, in practice what this means is that these experiences are only accessible to students who are able to afford them.

In recognition of this and to counter the negative impact, we have included short-term mobility as an integral element of our Access and Participation Plan (APP) and have committed significant sums to support these initiatives.  In doing so we hope to enable a greater and more diverse number of students to gain a global experience and create parity of esteem when it comes to a fostering a ‘one’ Newcastle University student experience.  

We have evidence that our strategies are working – in the Academic Year 2022-23:

• 24% of the students who took part in financially supported semester and full-year mobility came from disadvantaged backgrounds 
• For our short-term summer programmes, this increased to 72%.

Sustainable travel

Whilst our revised mobility offer is having a positive impact on uptake, we don’t want to lose sight of our institutional commitment to net zero. To maintain a more equitable balance between our student global travel requirements and our environmental responsibilities, we have launched a Sustainable Travel Grant to sit alongside our short-term mobility offer.

The Sustainable Travel Grant is available to students who elect to travel to their European mobility destination in a more environmentally friendly way. We offer a great range of fantastic summer programmes in Europe, which can be reached via more climate conscious modes of transport – for example, train, bus or ferry. European countries are also extending their sleeper train networks, making it more accessible and comfortable to travel longer distances. However, these transport options are often more expensive than their aviation counterparts. We are therefore positively incentivising students who chose to travel via these methods by means of an additional grant to support their decision.

We hope you can join us at the Global Mobility Conference on 20 February to find out more about our initiatives and join the conversation about the future of International Higher Education!