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Appendix 23: John Sander (Session IX-2)
SYLFF Fellows mobility program - some issues
Context
University of Sussex, United Kingdom. Founded 1961 by Royal Charter.
・First of the "new" Universities in United Kingdom
・"Ox-bridge, by-the-sea"
・Legislative / Quality Assurance framework is onerous and requires detailed agreements
・UK Higher Education likely to be undergoing structural change, financially driven
・Sussex University also restructuring ... to retain interdisciplinary offer, "learning in context"
Our Fellows are on ONE year intensive taught Masters (MA) programmes;
Science, Economic and Environmental Policy
Development Economics, International Economics, Environment, Development and Policy, Science and Technology Policy and Technology and Innovation Management.
Internationalism
Anthropology of Europe, Contemporary European Studies, Global Political Economy, Human Rights, International Relations and International Criminal La w (LLM).
Gender Roles in Modern Society
Gender and Development, Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation and Women's Studies.
We offer awards (full) to two or three fellows per year with a combination or our
endowment and fee waivers / reductions by the University.
Fellowships are offered for students from; Central / Eastern Europe, Mexico and UK residents.
SYLFF FMP - the issues from a UK perspective
We welcome the proposal and wish to work towards establishing a sustainable and mutually beneficial exchange system.
We would be happy to accept PhD (and higher) SYLFF fellows as visiting researchers or those that wished to take parts of a Masters programme. As a result of the context in which we operate, we see challenges (particularly for outgoing students) in the following areas.
Administration - Timing of admissions procedures for outgoing students from UK (given short nature of our courses). Equally, admissions system in Sussex has deadlines that are almost exclusively before Easter, for an October start of the same year.
UK Quality Assurance System would require detailed agreement / information about offer at recipient Institutions if credit bearing for UK award. There would also need to be an agreed methodology and timetable for the feedback of assessment to the host institution.
Accommodation availability and cost is frequently an issue in UK, specifically non- October starts in Sussex.
Support provision - Majority of our SYLFF fellows are from overseas - they may encounter adjustment problems: i.e. would just get used to Sussex/UK and would then have to go elsewhere. This may well be a broader issue for reciprocal visits and globally for those students on intensive courses / short overseas visits.
If research students were involved, the sending Institution needs to be assured of the research support and supervision that students will receive at the host institution.
Other issues - At a Master's level, there would need to be a high degree of compatibility between the degree being taken at Sussex and the other institution.
Unless there is exact reciprocity (either each year) or over time, it could be financially un-advantageous for the receiving institution.
Suggestions for enhancement of FMP
Consider opening FMP to currentlynon-SYLFF fellows (expand SYLFF Fellowship membership) to allow other types (non taught Masters) of students to participate. This expansion to remain within the subject areas agreed by each Institution with the Tokyo Foundation.
Review requirement for FMP fellows to return to the home Institution upon completion of the predetermined period of study/research and complete requirements for the Master's or Doctoral degree. This would enable the extension or deepening of a Fellows study and enable a higher level of participation from those areas where courses are short I intensive.
Consider possibility of reviewing requirement for recipient Institution to be SYLFF family member (but retaining International requirement). This would have the benefits of both enhancing the likely number of participants and the profile of the SYLFF programme beyond the existing SYLFF family.
Establish a financial / administrative framework that could address the potentially negative impact of FMP on Institutions that were unable to send as many students as they receive. Equally, this would enable those Institutions unable to send for the reasons briefly outlined above to participate in the SYLFF FMP.
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