Mobility targets proposed

National governments should adopt quantitative targets for the mobility of students and academics, says a study conducted for the European Commission by the Academic Cooperation Association. Most countries have poor mobility policies, the report found, even though governments were adamant that student and staff mobility was important to them. It found that the number of international students, from the EU and the rest of the world, enrolled at European universities rose from 4.5 per cent in 1998-99 to 6.9 per cent in 2006-07. The report recommends an EU-wide average target of 10 per cent. However there are strong differences between countries, so individual nations should set their own growth targets, it said.