For more than twenty years. the Higher School of Fine Arts of the city of Liège (ÉSAVL-ARBAL) has been taking part in the Erasmus mobility programme (Erasmus+ from January 2014) within the European Union.
The later not only allows students to enrich their artistic training with a study period or internship (of 3 months a year) in a higher college or university of art in the European Union but also allows instructors to gain experience and transfer their skills and competence abroad.

The Higher School of Fine Arts of the city of Liège, heir to a public education tradition in the graphic arts, has always had an ambition to promote its openings as widely as possible within the European Union. It was in 1992 that the college signed up to its first Erasmus partnerships with higher colleges of art and universities. Since then, student exchanges have been carried out repeatedly with partner institutions.

The school’s international status is guaranteed through several factors: the repute of its instructors and their presence on the art scene ; the international careers of former students ; the representation of numerous nationalities at the heart of the school. Artistic schooling should entail the offer of meet-ups, exchanges and mutual enrichment within its training framework to the creators of tomorrow. The period during which the student is out of his comfort zone represents the chance for enrichment which far outweighs the benefits he can reasonably expect to profit from in terms of courses of study, workshops, or seminars that he would attend in any other school. Thus, the Fine Arts student, as creative as he is, benefits as much from courses staged by the host university as he does from link-ups afforded by his stay abroad ; to wit, a different university environment, different fellow students, other customs, traditions, another country, another language, another city…

It is also worth underlining that enrichment doesn’t just have a single meaning in the sphere of the fine arts; the attendance of students from overseas and presence of invited teachers at an establishment is not only advantageous for those being hosted, but equally for those who host (both instructors and students)

Set in this context, Erasmus exchanges participate in the training of the European conscience beside future artists from the Europe of today and tomorrow, including those of ÉSAVL-ARBAL. These exchanges certainly make attending other educational institutions easier, but principally facilitate finding out about other things, getting to know them, sharing experiences, and self-enrichment through recognition of reciprocal differences.

To this very day, it serves as one of the most valuable apprenticeship tools, since it turns our students into European citizens in the service of art. ÉSAVL-ARBAL has the clear ambition to build on exchanges initiated thus far with its European partners, to implement new types of exchanges (flexible internships, instructor flexibility, and cross-border co-operation projects), and to develop links with new partners whether European or not (for several years with China and Canada, for example). These exchanges represent an opportunity in real terms for arts teaching to supersede the regional and national framework.

OUR FOREMOST PRIORITIES ARE :

• to inform the teachers of programmes and LLP candidacy procedures and to further this type of mobility
• to enhance internship flexibility for outgoing students in such a way as to balance their number with the number of incoming students
• to enhance internship flexibility for outgoing students

NON-DISCRIMINATION : cultural and social diversity of the scholar population generally means greater student flexibility in integration and is a natural barrier to racism and xenophobia. Both at student as well as at instructor level, perfect balance is established between the genres, and all this since the school was set up.

The school’s international activities are prominent on the internet site, under the regular headings dedicated to Erasmus activities (« international/current news »).
THE ERASMUS CHARTER (EPS) is accessible on line, as are all admin documents aimed at student mobility :

• for outgoing students : Erasmus Charter +, student charter, information brochures on Erasmus+ mobility, list of school partners, etc.
• for incoming students : info sheet, learning agreement, application form, lodging brochures, course timetable, etc.

BILATERAL AGREEMENTS are brought into being by the teachers responsible for the students ‘artistic training and/or by Erasmus co-ordination (following certain student requests) in collaboration with their counterparts in the schools in question, by agreement with the management heads. These are founded on the coherence of educational projects and methodological and objective compatibility with partner schools, which eases student integration, increases the educational benefits which may be attained, and guarantees academic recognition of courses and their assessments. Erasmus co-ordinators ensure administrative follow-up.

All dossiers (in and out) are analysed by teachers in the subject areas selected and are then forwarded to the partner institution.

For incoming students, a study programme is devised by the ÉSA institutional co-ordinator in accordance with the joint expectations of the student and his institution of origin. Co-ordinators remain available to them to provide the school’s functioning keys.

In order to establish conformity between marks obtained by our students in other institutions (within and outside the EU), we use the « transcript of records » prescribed by the AEF, following a procedure to be followed outlined in the good practices’ charter in the area of transcribing marks. We generally respect the marks received whatever the geographical zones may be. We use the conversion charts present in each signed bilateral contract agreement and we deem these exchanges to be based on a relationship of trust with our partners.
In real terms, once a student decides to complete a section of his studies in another establishment, we draw up an agreement with the academic partner concerning the transfer/ crossover of results. The study contract agreed between the two establishments and the student (Learning agreement and Application form) before his departure guarantees the latter that the entirety of the credits obtained will be applied according to the agreed plan.

For more information on the Erasmus+ mobility plan please visit :

• « Erasmus+ Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport » : http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/index_en.htm
• AEF EUROPE, « French agency for lifelong learning and training » : www.erasmusplus-fr.be.

For the students :

• SMS : Student mobility for study purposes (1 semester or 1 whole year )
• SMP1: Student mobility for internship purposes (during studies) (1 to 3 months)
• SMP2 : Student mobility for internship specialisation purposes (after studies) (1 to 3 months)

For the teachers :

• STA : Teacher mobility for course and workshop purposes (1 week to 2 months)
• STT : Teacher mobility for training purposes (1 to 3 months)