International relations at UBFC
UBFC is a university involved at an international level, with worldwide prospects and an increasing worldwide outreach.
UBFC’s mission is to reinforce societal values by ensuring top quality in training, education, research and innovation at the regional, national and international scales. The university’s strategy is included in the UBFC roadmap of the ISITE-BFC “initiative of excellence” project awarded by the French government “Investments for the Future” program in 2016. The global ambition of UBFC within the framework of the ISITE-BFC project is to:
- Create a stimulating international environment to attract talented students, professors and researchers
- Encourage excellence and internationalisation of teaching and research at UBFC
- Reach international leadership in three priority lines of research: 1) Advanced materials, waves and intelligent systems; 2) Territories, environment, food; and 3) Individualised and integrated care.
UBFC aims to:
- Become a world-class university, with an international outreach
- Merge the institution and its main stakeholders – students, faculty and staff – into a more and more global world
- Create an environment that will allow students to become citizens of the world and stand out anywhere in the world.
International development is a principle that underlies ISITE-BFC and UBFC strategies.
An essential part of UBFC’s mission is to commit its students, staff and professors to learning and international research, at the national and international levels. The strategic objective of UBFC’s international activity is to internationalise the university’s education and science activities so as to reinforce the status of UBFC on the regional and international markets.
UBFC’s internationalisation strategy is focused on the setting-up of long-term partnerships in the fields of education and research, the enlargement of contacts with international partners, and the diversification of student and lecturer bodies through internationalisation, in order to attract international professors and researchers. UBFC concentrates on improving the worldwide renown of the university, supporting and participating to professional communities and associations on a worldwide scale, while developing durable international connections.
The strategic program “Promoting internationalisation of education” was implemented to contribute to the achievement of this objective. It is specifically aimed at developing and reinforcing the international nature of its research and teaching programs. A wide range of topics has been identified, among which projects are developed to contribute to the internationalization of education at UBFC. There currently exist different projects in the field of internationalization, such as facilities, services and hospitality, project development and international funding, the international master’s degree portfolio, the recruitment of international students, or strategic networks and university partnerships.
UBFC has made international cooperation one of its priorities and considers it as an important tool to reach excellence in research and education. It implements its international strategy at the local level by internationalizing its training offer, as well as at the international level by developing partnerships and exchanges with other institutions and universities. UBFC has established numerous partnerships with universities across Europe, but also across the whole world. The targeted partnerships have been identified based on existing collaborations or on relevance with respect to one of the priority fields of ISITE-BFC.
By allowing students exchanges, these agreements contribute to promote student mobility but also imply university staff exchanges or shared research projects. A certain number of master’s degrees in common with highly ranked education institutions on a worldwide scale have been developed, whether supported by initiatives of excellence in their own country or corresponding to the priority fields of ISITE-BFC.
A full list of UBFC international partners is available.
The European Erasmus+ program is open to all areas of education and lifelong learning, including higher education. It is particularly known for its study mobility grants or dedicated internships for students.
Erasmus+ gives students, teachers and administrative staff the opportunity to stay abroad. They can thus develop their knowledge of foreign languages and cultures, their sense of citizenship and belonging to the European Union, their skills and interpersonal skills, their professional and personal relationships across more than 200 countries.
Early 2021, the European Commission granted UBFC the Erasmus+ Charter for Higher Education for the period 2021-2027. More information here.
Interested in going on the move? Go to the Going abroad section.
UBFC’s International Office actively contributes to implement UBFC’s international strategy, especially by promoting the university internationally and laying the emphasis on its visibility as a world excellence centre in the fields of education and research.
The objective of the International Office is to develop and oversee the international activities of UBFC staff and students.
The main missions of the International Office are as follows:
- set up the strategic plan on internationalisation in as far as it affects staff and students
- develop agreements with partner international universities
- manage and promote the Erasmus + program
- manage and promote staff and student mobility
- provide students and staff information about international mobility
- promote UBFC’s education programs and scientific activities
- develop the recruitment of international students
- develop international partnerships for student training and mobility
- develop international partnerships leading to joint degrees, doubles degrees, with foreign universities at the master’s degree and PhD levels, and international alliances of doctoral schools
- ensure that international students and researchers are welcome and integrated.
Contacts with international organisations, embassies and partner universities are also an essential task of the office.