Mobility-Online: Digitalization in the International Office

In addition to the internationalization of the higher education institution location, the International Office´s core business is the administration of student and staff mobility. The mobility software Mobility-Online from SOP has been helping with the administration of these mobilities since 2019. In the meantime, most mobility programs such as Erasmus+, the Marshall Plan Scholarship or short-term mobilities are handled by this software. The aim is to manage all mobility flows on both the outgoing and incoming side via Mobility-Online in the future and to register all mobile persons accordingly.

This digitalization of mobility programs is part of the so-called Action Plan for Digital Education, an initiative of the European Commission to develop an efficient digital education ecosystem. Step by step, higher education institutions are now required to digitize their processes. Data such as the learning agreement or the transcript of records will be exchanged digitally via the newly generated Erasmus without paper network (EWP). In order to be connected to the EWP network, the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien also needs Mobility-Online.

The software helps to automate existing processes and to save time thanks to the data processing by the applicants themselves. The system can be customized; for example, application forms and workflow steps can be freely defined and interfaces to internal systems such as the FAS can be configured. The workflow supports the applicants during the entire application process and the subsequent stay abroad. All tasks to be completed on the applicant side are displayed in a clear To-Do list and can be completed directly in Mobility-Online (e.g. complete data, upload documents, print documents, etc.). This allows applicants to keep track of the current status of their application as well as any deadlines that may still arise. On the International Office side, Mobility-Online enables flexible workflow design by creating an individual pipeline. This keeps track of which tasks still need to be completed by applicants and which need to be completed by the International Office. In addition, the sending of mass emails directly from the system is a very helpful function.

Other major topics of the software are the partner and financial management. The entire contract management including digital exchange on a European level takes place via Mobility-Online. The partners as well as the exchange possibilities are visible through an individually customizable portal. Regarding the financial management, there is an automated process that transfers the scholarship rates as well as the instruction for payment from Mobility-Online to the FAS.

On the one hand, this software is very versatile, as it can be individually adapted to the needs of the institution and to the programs to be managed. On the other hand, it also confronts the International Office with new challenges in the implementation of some processes, as the software follows a chronological logic and work steps must be adapted to this.