Erasmus Policy Statement, EPS, and Erasmus Charter

Another one of SEDU’s tasks is to contribute to national and international security through research and development. Research is carried out in diverse but inter-related subject areas and subsequently disseminated to other interested sectors of society both nationally and internationally. Research at SEDU concentrates on specially selected subject areas, including crisis management and international cooperation, leadership, international humanitarian and human rights law, security policy and strategy, war studies and military technology, command and control science, and military history.

All research projects are closely linked to the education and training activities at SEDU. The education and training at SEDU is primarily targeted to officers and civilians in the crisis management and comprehensive security sectors. SEDU offers civilian courses in political science, leadership, military history, and military technology.

SEDU is thus in many ways a unique higher education institution due to its combination of military and civilian studies and research, with its main goal to make a contribution for the world to become a safer place. An important goal for SEDU´s internationalization strategy is linked to its strategic aim for its educational programmes to have the highest national and international quality. The idea is to continue to be the first hand choice for the defence and security sector when in need to enhance the level of competence and to offer well-tailored life-long learning options.

The main reason for participating in the Erasmus programme for SEDU is primarily connected to its potential to enhance quality and relevance to our educational programmes, research as well as within the various types of national and international collaborations. It has become evident that international perspectives in the areas in which SEDU operates are no longer an option but a necessity in order to be relevant. By participating in the Erasmus programme, SEDU is aiming to enhance its participation by not only an increase in the numbers of mobile students, teachers and staff, but also by working more actively in various forms of international collaborations. This aim is also connected to the modernization goals of SEDU, expressed in the mission statement and strategy for its operations for the years 2020-2030. When people of different backgrounds meet, the possibilities of creative development of knowledge is created. This is one important reason why SEDU strives to be an open and inclusive higher education institution where diversity and equality is valued. These values are in line with the goals of the European Education Area.

One example is to further develop existing collaborations by using the platform of Erasmus programme and extend the possibilities to fill the gap of competence in, for example, the area of societal security. The concept ‘societal security’ is interdisciplinary, multi-level and transnational in its nature. Societal security can be understood in part by looking at the concept of resilience and society’s ability to prepare, respond, recover, and learn from intentional and unintentional events that disrupt the functioning of society. The fact that crises and risks do not adhere to state borders means that an important part of the future skills-set includes the ability to work internationally. This skills-set does not just appear, it needs to be created by fostering flexibility, cultural sensitivity, and cooperation across borders.

SEDU intends to participate in Key Action 1 (KA1) area: mobility of higher education for students and staff. SEDU has the ambition to facilitate and to institutionalise transnational cooperation in higher education in order to make it more systemic and sustainable. This long-term strategy for education will also integrate research, innovation and the society at large in order to stimulate long-term multilateral cooperation.

SEDU has created a common mission and shared values for pursuing sustainable cooperation and these will be directed into activities with students and staff at other higher education institutions so that complementary strengths can be built. By encouraging student, teacher and staff mobility, it will be possible to pool expertise, experiences, and resources and establish strategic partnerships, networks and sustainable cooperation structures. This in turn will build knowledge and increase trust between higher education institutions as well as between countries.

Targeted information efforts will be directed to key target groups in order to inform the students and staff regarding the opportunities available within the Erasmus programme, in line with the new institutional strategy of SEDU. Mobility for staff training is one important activity that will contribute to fulfilling SEDU’s internationalization strategy and that will provide university staff the possibility to networking and to personal and professional development by experiencing new perspectives and insights and by fostering flexibility and cultural sensitivity.

At SEDU, there are several mobility opportunities within the civilian programmes both at the bachelor and master levels, including study exchanges and trainings. However, there are currently limited opportunities within the officer´s programme due to the fact that the duration of the exchanges are incompatible with current practice and thus the number of Erasmus participants within the officer´s programme are currently low. However, SEDU is investigating alternative forms for international mobility activities, including digital solutions in terms of virtual mobility and blended mobility with the aim to increase officer participation in Erasmus.

Furthermore SEDU plans to intensify the ongoing collaboration of the Erasmus network “European initiative for the exchange of young officers inspired by Erasmus” (EMILYO) and will continue to develop collaboration initiatives within this area. Currently, shorter mobility periods are being carried out within the officer´s programme but these do not qualify as Erasmus student mobility. Though a restructure of the programme with larger possibilities for mobility will be implemented. However, these short courses are one step towards encouraging future mobility periods within the Erasmus framework. One clear advantage of these short courses is the fact that they have the potential to promote the participation of students with non-traditional backgrounds; for example, students who are parents and cannot be away from their families for longer periods of time as well as students who might not otherwise be able to choose a longer mobility period due to work obligations.

SEDU aims to continue the work of finding new partner universities in order to boost the mobile possibilities for students, teachers and staff. SEDU also intends to further develop collaborations with military educational institutions that are currently undergoing academic reforms in order to contribute to strengthening the international academic environment for officer´s education and enhancing security and defence research.

Being able to send students and staff to other higher education institutions is just one aspect of Erasmus. Another important aspect is being prepared to receive international students and staff and to assist them in order to make these exchanges purposeful and meaningful. Consequently, SEDU is in the process of creating a special working group that will be assigned with the task to promote internationalization at SEDU. This task will include stocktaking and assessing current activities in order to determine what more should be done to support the transition to a more internationally integrated higher education institution. This will provide a starting point for creating a comprehensive plan with concrete strategies for moving forward and for providing better support for visiting students and staff. This working group will consist of representatives from SEDU’s different departments and student union.

A variety of support services and solutions (including housing and language assistance) will need to be arranged for visiting students and staff either directly by SEDU or in collaboration with other universities in the Stockholm area in
order to optimize efforts and to utilize resources more efficiently. Currently, SEDU has a language support structure in English, French, German and Russian for its military students and staff but there are plans to extend language support activities in Swedish for incoming students and university drawing upon the experiences and activities of neighbouring universities.

Another important step in assisting visiting students and staff will be strengthening SEDU’s mentor system so that support is more individual and personalized. Different cultural and social activities will also enhance interaction and contribute to well-being.

In line with the European Student Card Initiative, SEDU plans to intensify its efforts to digitize the mobility process and to implement digital solutions that will better accommodate students and their needs. An important aspect to be taken into consideration is the great benefit these efforts will have on simplifying administrative procedures and reducing the administrative burden so that SEDU’s time and efforts can rather be spent into enhancing the quality of its internationalization work.

Currently, SEDU is making plans to offer a wider variety of master programmes with the aim to increase the numbers of international students who can apply directly for an entire programme, while at the same time providing more international mobile opportunities within these programmes in the form of study exchanges and trainings.

SEDU aims to strengthen its work in gender equality, sustainable development, and the implementation of Agenda 2030. SEDU is also a part of the Climate Framework for Swedish Universities, which serves as the basis for individual climate strategies at universities with the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their own activities and operations in line with the Paris Agreement and Sweden’s national target to be climate neutral by 2045. This commitment means that SEDU will work with activities within the areas of education, research, collaboration, business travel, and energy usage. Furthermore, SEDU plans to enhance its efforts on the subject of widening participation and focus even more on active measures to promote equal opportunities within the university. SEDU is collaborating with, among others, the Swedish Armed Forces in this effort so that young people irrespective of gender or social background may consider a future in the armed forces or in the security sector. An important symbol of this commitment is SEDU’s participation in the annual Stockholm Pride Parade together with the Armed Forces which is led by the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces. These and other activities in the support for equal opportunities will continue so that more people will feel included and welcome to participate.

Participation in the Erasmus Programme is crucial in achieving the objectives and goals outlined in the SEDU’s guiding document “A World-leading Higher Education Institution in Defence, Crisis Management and Security: Aims and Strategies for the Swedish Defence University 2020-2030.” In order to further institutionalisation and modernization at SEDU and to monitor the impact of the Erasmus Programme, the following targets have been formulated with the aim to be reached by 20272: (Due to the uncertainties associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, the numbers regarding physical mobility may differ.)

• Goal: A 100% increase of all students graduating from SEDU will have participated in a mobility period compared to 2021 (including physical mobility, shorter mobility or a blended mobility). Indicator: Comparison of 2021 and 2027 regarding the percentage of graduating students who have participated in mobility activities.
• Goal: 50% of all students graduating from SEDU will be reached by internationalization efforts available on-site at SEDU; for example, international and intercultural dimensions stipulated in course syllabi. Indicator: Comparison of 2021 and 2027 regarding the types of internationalization efforts recorded as well as the percentage of graduating students who have been reached by them.
• Goal: 50% increase of academic staff who have participated in mobility programmes such as teaching exchanges or research sabbaticals abroad. Indicator: Comparison of 2021 and 2027 regarding the percentage of academic staff who has participated in physical or virtual mobility training.
• Goal: 20% of non-teaching staff will have participated in some type of physical or virtual mobility training. Indicator: Comparison of 2021 and 2027 regarding the percentage of non-teaching staff who has participated in physical or virtual mobility training.
• Goal: Increase in the number of courses at the bachelor and master levels at SEDU that are available in English. Indicator: Comparison of 2021 and 2027 regarding the number of courses at the bachelor and master levels at SEDU that are available in English.
• Goal: Increase in digitization of administrative processes and in digital learning in line with the Erasmus digital strategy. Indicator: Comparison of 2021 and 2027 regarding the number of administrative processes available digitally and the number of digital learning activities.
• Goal: Additional support services for visiting students and staff, including housing, mentoring, community outreach, and language. Indicator: Comparison of 2021 and 2027 regarding the types and number of support services available to visiting students and staff.
• Goal: In close collaboration with the student union, the promotion of civic engagement activities with the aim of encouraging students and staff to get involved as active citizens. Indicator: Comparison of 2021 and 2027 regarding the types and number of civic engagement activities promoted to visiting students and staff.
• Goal: Establishing a series of peer-learning activities to both SEDU and visiting students and staff. Indicator: The creation and institutionalisation of peer-learning activities that have solid participation from SEDU and visiting students and staff.

The long-term impact of SEDU’s mission to achieve safer and more secure societies in Sweden, the Baltic Sea Region, and the EU. Part of this includes contributing to social progress and building a common societal security culture. A stronger common societal security culture will enable students and staff (who many in turn become decision and policy makers, professionals, and experts) from different countries to work together more easily so they can harvest the benefits of mutual development and international cooperation. Transnational mobility increases relevance, quality and meaningfulness, and consequently future generations of societal security professionals and officers will have a better understanding of the context and work their peers are doing in other countries. Furthermore, communication and connections between higher education institutions will be strengthened and improved as a result, which will pave the way for future cooperation and development.