The International Credit Mobility builds on the need to implement Georgia's 2014-2020 National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy, which currently focuses on biodiversity education, particularly in tertiary education.
The aim of the strategy is in particular to develop scientific and pedagogical capacities in the field of biodiversity protection. The strategy explicitly aims at developing opportunities for student and academic mobility, increasing funding for research activities and modernizing higher education through strengthening international cooperation.
Ilia State University (ISU)
In total, there will be organized 8 mobilities divided as:
Incoming mobilities - from ISU to CZU:
- 2 MSc students for 5 months for studies (SMS) (1 in process/1 available)
- 3 Staff for 19 days for teaching (STA)
Information about the CZU courses for exchange students: https://1url.cz/@Courses_CZU
Outgoing mobilities - from CZU to ISU:
- 1 PhD student for 6 months for studies (SMS)
- 2 Staff for 20 days for teaching (STA)
Information about the ISU university: ILIA STATE UNIVERSITY (HERE)
Information about the ISU courses: STUDY OPTIONS - ILIA STATE UNIVERSITY (HERE)
Available scholarships:
Subsistence costs (flat rate):
- Incoming students to the CR: 800 EUR / month
- Outgoing students from the CR: 700 EUR / month
- Incoming staff to the CR: 140 EUR / day (1.-14. day); 98 EUR / day (15.-60. day)
Travel costs:
In addition to the subsistence costs, a transport allowance is added, which is graded according to the distance between the domestic institution and the place of stay abroad. It is paid once for whole mobility (for travel to and back).
- For Georgia, the travel scholarship is 360 EUR / participant.
Mobility objectives and criterion
- Outgoing mobilities: Field research (ethno-botanical study of useful plant species) will be carried out (with the support of a teacher and academic staff from the host university). In the field of pedagogy, both the teacher and the student will be involved in the preparation and realization of teaching of the new subject of Economic Botany. The main criterion for the selection of suitable candidates will be relevant expertise and previous research focused on ethnobotany, agrobiodiversity and new crop development in warm temperate and subtropical zones based on CVs and personal interviews.
- Incoming mobilities: Academic staff will primarily participate in scientific and research activities at the Tropical Botany and Ethnobiology Laboratory. In case of pedagogical activities the participants will actively participate through invited lectures in the teaching of the courses of Tropical Dendrology, Tropical Phytocoenoses and Tuber, Oil and Fibre Crops. The main criterion for the selection of suitable candidates will be relevant expertise and research on taxonomic botany, ethnobiology and ecology of mountain ecosystems and warm temperate/tropical/subtropical vegetation. The incoming students will study subjects of their choice relevant to the scope of the mobility and will be able to consult their existing research results gained in frame of their theses in terms of data processing and interpretation of results with colleagues from the Laboratory of Tropical Botany and Ethnobiology and also to participate in their research and project proposals preparation.
Output and benefits
The output should be the harmonization of study fields, the exchange of pedagogical experiences and skills, the development of cooperation in the exchange of students and common results in research reflected in quality publications. Students of master and doctoral programs in particular will be involved in starting scientific cooperation through participation in the already running projects or their preparation, sharing of methodical procedures, which in turn will support the interest of participating students in scientific careers.