Overall Strategy

The Institution agrees to publish this overall strategy (all three parts) on its website within one month after the signature of the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education by the European Commission.

EPS I

The extent of an organisation’s international dimension has been increasingly recognised worldwide as an important criterion of quality; this comes as a consequence of the globalisation process and the creation of a global market of research and higher education.

LUISS Guido Carli University’s Rector is committed to keeping LUISS a first-rate University and to improving its results, especially at an international level, by intensifying world-wide collaborations, strengthening post-graduate programs, expanding research opportunities, recruiting new faculty all over the international arena and tailoring its curricula to the evolving needs of the global scenario. LUISS provides high quality education and gives an international scope to the study of social sciences.

LUISS is extremely selective in choosing its partners abroad; first of all, these will be strictly research universities. Bilateral agreements are signed taking into account academic rankings and coherence with the priorities of LUISS in terms of teaching and research. LUISS aims to join the best multilateral networks of international collaboration, and has started doing so especially with the admission to a global multilateral Network based in Brussels. A limited number of strategic partners has also been chosen by the Academic Authority; in this respect a specific target group of world class universities has been identified. Our internationalisation strategy focuses on developing strategic partnerships and agreements in the areas of the world which are driving economic growth and recovery and have gained a crucial role in global governance.

These are: North America, China, Brazil and the European Union. In the last three years, more than 30 new partnerships have been signed following these qualitative and geographical criteria.

LUISS’ mobility activities are addressed to both students and professors. The ratio of incoming to outgoing students and professors has been revised and extended; moreover, specific initiatives to increase the percentage of professors with an international background is being implemented. LUISS’ internationalisation strategy is also affecting life on campus, and will bring internal change according to the principle of “internationalisation at home”. Policies such as the creation and training of ad hoc teams are being adopted in order to improve the reception procedures of international students and researchers.

Student mobility is a special focus for LUISS; the Erasmus and Exchange programs, and later the Double Degrees and supranational certificates, have had a deep and stimulating impact on the whole University and have played an important role in enhancing the International dimension of the institution: the organization of arrival, the welcome, the orientation activities, the on-going tutoring throughout the stay at LUISS, the services for an international audience, the recognition procedures: all these have been shaped from the LUISS experience in exchanges and have been applied to many different projects and audiences. The use of the ECTS system has improved the transparency and clarity of student qualifications.

The procedures have been extended to the other international mobility programmes and the system has been useful to develop programs in partnership with other universities such as double and joint degrees. At present LUISS university has 135 exchange agreements in 33 countries; 109 with EU Institutions and 26 with non-EU universities for student mobility.

In addition to the Erasmus and non-EU exchange programs, LUISS offers students the opportunity to study abroad with several international programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, in partnership with universities around the world.

An important objective is to further develop and encourage mobility programs at all levels and to allow students to enhance their academic experience and future employability. To make student mobility possible for the majority of eligible students with high academic standard. For these reasons, in 2009 a specific office was created by LUISS, dedicated to the University’s international development: this office is in charge of implementing new exchange agreements - 25 in 3 years - and new international projects, following the above-described standards: at the time, 8 Double Degree programs, 4 programs based on credit recognition and different than exchanges, and Faculty mobility programs are managed by this  administrative structure; and more are being implemented.

EPS II

In 2012 LUISS approved a new comprehensive internationalization strategy to achieve four main objectives:

1. improve the coordination between the academic departments and schools and the international  dministration offices in the implementation of the Internationalization process,
2. increase outgoing and incoming mobility of students and professors under the Erasmus programs and bilateral agreements,
3. select a few outstanding EU and non-EU privileged partner universities outside the current multiple cooperation agreements, to develop on the one hand Erasmus projects and on the other hand a joint program,
4. internationalization of the campus: improving all facilities, welcome desks, teaching programs and classes in English, evaluation and assessment procedures.

Implementation of the objectives:

1. The new Council of International Relations – chaired by the Rector, and Rector’s delegate and with participation of prorectors for teaching and research, administrative and academic units - meets four or five times a year to coordinate the new dynamics of internationalization and establishes LUISS strategic priorities. It also creates working groups and promotes meetings with each department and schools to discuss achievements, obstacles, new objectives.
2. Partially achieved and to some extent still on the agenda, by a better balancing of Erasmus flows, by new partnerships in BRICS, US, Japan and EU.
3. 15 universities have been selected mostly including Erasmus/Erasmus Mundus partners plus a second joint program: either a double degree and/or a joint research program, and/or an Erasmus Mundus (currently LUISS is member of GEM Erasmus Munds doctoral program, including 10 universities and up to 50 PhD students).
4. New programs in English have been established in Law and in Political Sciences. The reception and the orientation structures, facilities and services have been improved. Quality assessment and evaluation documents have also been established.

EPS III

EU Member States have set a clear target for year 2020: at least 40% of young people should have attained a higher education qualification. We strongly believe that an effective way to achieve this result would be to promote cross-border mobility of students and teaching staff within the Union, and LUISS has got the resources and competencies to play a major role in this. LUISS stands out in the Italian educational system for its academic excellence; the number of applications for our degree programmes has grown substantially thanks to very low drop-out rates, high employability and a low student-teacher ratio. Our participation in student exchange programmes has witnessed a comparable growth both in terms of students applying for an exchange and of agreements. We therefore have had to set higher selection criteria, accepting the best students only. Those who participate in exchange programmes also show greater interest and motivation in pursuing careers or further education abroad. They are also convinced (with good reason) that employers are looking for graduates with an international background. The economic crisis has caused an overall increase in unemployment levels throughout Europe; nevertheless, unemployment rates among graduates are still much lower than among those who decided not to continue with their studies. For this reason education still represents a safe investment and an important resource for future economic growth and development. Contributing to the creation of a professional and competent European workforce is a priority for LUISS. Our students can enhance their relational, critical and creative skills through logic, public speaking, leadership, project management and negotiation classes; furthermore, thanks to intensive laboratory practices they can learn how to use new technologies and apply them to business scenarios and start-ups.

LUISS has also set up a centre for the development of youth entrepreneurship where students can meet successful entrepreneurs, managers and consultants, and get a real perspective on the job market dynamics and the chance to form priceless networks of relations. Having said all this, figures are clear: 75% of our graduates are employed within one year after graduation. Our main focus is to build strong relationships with partners who believe in our same values and who show a greater deal of participation in the Erasmus programme. Cooperation is key, and is one of the core ideas of exchange programmes and the EU itself. If our teaching staff and our students are exposed to different models of education both parties will be encouraged to try and understand each other more, to fill in any educational gaps, to stimulate versatility and flexibility, all aspects which benefit the quality of teaching at LUISS.