Key Factors and Best Practices for Successful Student Exchange Partnerships

The list below is a compilation of key factors and best practices shared by the Fulbright Finland Capacity Building Workshop speakers and participants on establishing strategic partnerships with U.S. HEIs to promote student exchange and academic mobility.

Fulbright Finland organized a Capacity Building Workshop on Establishing Partnership Agreements with U.S. Universities to Increase Student Mobility on March 14, 2018. The event attracted over 40 representatives from more than 20 different higher education institutions.

Key Factors

  • Faculty champions who lead the effort to build long lasting partnerships
  • Key actor’s strong personal commitment to the partnership building
  • The Institution also invested and works for the partnership so that the partnership is not solely dependent on the personal connection (otherwise risky when faculty member changes employer). 
  • Making sure there are real possibilities for the institutions to work together by the representatives meeting face-to-face, getting to know each other and the institutions and learning about the goals and motivations of the institutions.
  • Putting effort in persuading and convincing people at the institutions including the institution heads (resource allocators), colleagues, administrative staff and international office personnel. Biggest challenge can be people due to hesitation and resistance. Important to address that the partnership is for the benefit of the students.
  • Ensuring credit transfer and making it very this clear for the students before the exchange (e.g. credit transfer fact sheet).
  • Success of marketing Finland and recruiting U.S. students depends on how you package it!

Best Practices

  • Finnish institution provides short-term opportunities for U.S. students in change of longer term exchange placements for Finnish students in the U.S. institution
    • Finnish institution sends its own students to a partner institution in the U.S. for example for one semester and in turn provides summer/winter school placements for U.S. students or hosts a U.S. faculty-led U.S student group for a short time at own campus.
    • Winter school provides greater emersion for the U.S. students compared to summer school. More Finnish students on the campus and Finnish professors better available in winter.
    • Consider also having a Finnish guest lecturer in the U.S. promote and lead a student group to Finland for a summer/winter school program.
    • Requiring U.S. faculty to teach on your campus and allowing your institution’s students to join the classes to promote emersion of U.S. students and interaction between Finnish and U.S. students.
  • Packaging volunteer work opportunity in a local organization with your institution’s support services for U.S. students. Usually attractive for U.S. students.
  • Founding an Ambassador Program: Train your own students and faculty going to U.S. institutions as ambassadors of your institution and Finland. Task them and explain them their role.
  • Take advantage of your U.S. alumni and current students and faculty on your campus.
    • Talk to them to get recruitment ideas for U.S. markets. Make a promotional video with them.
    • Task and train them as your ambassadors and agents who help to build collaboration and can initiate student exchange partnership discussions (Ambassador Program).
  • Using Fulbright program (e.g. Fulbright Specialist program) to initiate collaboration and to bring a member of a U.S. institution staff/faculty to own campus. Enables creation of personal connections, learning more about the institution and finding out if there are real possibilities for working together as student exchange partners.
  • Testing cooperation with the U.S. institution first in a form of a joint online course/project. A great way to see how the faculty cooperation and student cooperation functions.
  • Participating in the U.S. Higher Education Partnership Fair at NAFSA