WISHES is a new project developed by several European Universities which are the members of the Erasmus Mundus Programme. Nowadays their primary aim is to establish a new mobility portal for the university students who want to study abroad. For this reason, they are trying to build a database of interested students, higher education intuitions and enterprises.Until now they organized several workshops in Germany, Cyprus, Austria and Turkey. The official launch of WISHES mobility portal to the public will be in September 2010. For now, the portal is supported by 70 universities but in a short time i believe that this number will be doubled thanks to their aggressive and informative marketing.
Benefits for students
As an innovative networking and intelligent information tool WISHES offers plenty of benefits for international students
WISHES enables you to: Easily find your dream job / dream university abroad– supported by former students feedback.
Make well informed decisions grounded on the relevant information – based on the expressed needs of 4.000 students worldwide.
Directly get in touch with students of your future university – before going abroad.
Sustainably network not only towards students but also towards higher education institutions and enterprises – expending your stay abroad by an internship.
Fully benefit from the Bologna Process – enhancing your CV by an unforgettable stay abroad.
If you are interested in this project, keep on checking my blog. I will try to inform you about the developments in the WISHES project and their upcoming mobility portal.Below you can find some FAQ and answers to them taken from the projects website.
When will WISHES be launched?
In September 2010 the portal will be opened first time for students.
How many universities are involved in WISHES?
The WISHES mobility portal is set up by a consortium consisting of 9 institutions (see partner). Furthermore, a growing number of currently 70 supporting institutions already ensured to benefit from WISHES from its very beginning. (see WISHES network).
How is WISHES financed – if it is free of charge for all users?
WISHES is a European project and is as such co-financed by the European Commission under the former Action 4 of the Erasmus Mundus Programme. In detail 65% are financed by the Commission, 35% by the Consortium.
How does WISHES help students to find the right place to work/study abroad? Via the WISHES mobility portal students have got a central source of information to find interesting study and work offers in Europe. WISHES provides well structured information based on the expressed needs of 4.000 students. Therewith, it highly reduces the efforts for students to find the best matching university and/or enterprise for their time spent abroad.
How does WISHES connect international students even before going abroad?
This is realized by the WISHES online community that is included within the WISHES mobility portal. Each student has got the possibility to create his/her own user profile and can then start to communicate with other students. That’s how contacts towards former and/or future international students can be easily established and obstacles to mobility are reduced. Thus, students can already find friends/roommates etc before their first day at the new university which in result strengthens their decision to go abroad.
What are the differences between WISHES and the study-in-europe.org website? The study-in-europe.org website provides the user with general information about the country one would like to study in. WISHES on the other hand offers detailed information about the particular university one is interested in – including everything one wants to know about the future place to study/work and to live: where to find suitable accommodation, which courses to participate in etc. Furthermore, WISHES offers the opportunity to start a social network and find friends even before the first day in the new country by the “WISHES online community”.
Why is WISHES not yet supported by all European HEIs?
The WISHES project is still a relatively new project which was approved in October 2008. It was presented on several international conferences and the interest attracted is enormous. However, up until now, not all European HEIs know of WISHES and thus, did not yet have any possibility to announce their interest. In case your own institution is not yet listed in our mobility portal and you would like to change this, please feel free to get in touch with us by means of the following contact form.)
You can request exclusive access to the WISHES mobility portal before its official launch by means of the following contact form.
