"An incredible opportunity": Université PSL staff share their mobility experiences across Europe

What motivated you to participate in a Staff Week through the Erasmus program?

Justine Petit: My decision to participate in an Erasmus exchange is driven by a desire to develop my professional skills. It also allows me to practice a foreign language in a professional setting and to discover a new country and its culture.

Baptiste Biancardini: Being able to go on an exchange is an incredible opportunity. First of all, it’s an opportunity to travel for work, to visit another European country and experience a different culture. For example, I had never been to the Czech Republic before, and I was all the more interested because my colleague is from there. It takes us out of our daily routine and immerses us in a rich intercultural environment for a week.

It’s also a chance to meet peers from other universities or within our European alliance. Different roles, different national contexts, but generally the same challenges. We’re all driven by the same questions and ambitions (student services, for example), and the conversations quickly become rich and engaging.

Can you present the Staff Week in which you participated this year? How did this experience benefit you?

Justine Petit: This year, I participated in the “Healthy Campus” Staff Week organized by Charles University in Prague as part of the FISU certification process. Divided into small international teams, our goal was to design a certification project inspired by the model developed by the host university. The days alternated between presentations by experts, tours of university facilities, and collaborative work sessions.

This experience was particularly enriching because I am currently working on creating a PSL certificate for the DATA minor. I was thus able to draw inspiration from the best practices implemented by Charles University, which has a strong culture of inter-institutional cooperation across its 17 faculties spread throughout the city. The workshops, focused on the themes of sports and well-being, also allowed me to discover numerous innovative facilities and initiatives.

Baptiste Biancardini: I took part in a Staff Week titled “Intercultural Connections: Strengthening Support for International Communities," which focused on welcoming and supporting international students at our universities. It was held at Palacký University in the city of Olomouc, in eastern Czech Republic. It was organized by a department similar to mine, their Welcome Office.

As a bit of background, they had participated in the Staff Week [Université PSL] organized two years ago, so I knew they were doing a great job, and it felt quite natural for me to apply and take part in their Staff Week. The program for this kind of Staff Week is usually a mix of cultural activities around the university and the city, along with workshops and conferences to get to the heart of the matter and discuss best practices.

What is the added value of this type of mobility for higher education staff?

Justine Petit: In my view, the main benefit of this experience lies in the exchanges — both formal and informal — with participants from various countries participating in the Erasmus program. These discussions allow you to take a fresh look at your professional practices, quickly identify your strengths and areas for improvement, and learn from others’ experiences.

Furthermore, the participants’ open-mindedness and friendliness create an environment particularly conducive to exchanges, making the experience both enriching and very enjoyable.

Baptiste Biancardini: I’d like to start by dispelling two common misconceptions that might discourage colleagues from participating: that it takes time and that you need to be fluent in English. Yes, it takes time, but we almost never step back or give things time to develop. A Staff Week is a week to take a breath and reflect on your daily routine and your own practices. Even when traveling to another country, we remain in a professional setting: we reflect on what we do and how we do it.

I understand that English can be a barrier, but often it’s more of a mental block: colleagues speak and understand English better than they’re willing to admit. In Olomouc, there were Greeks, Portuguese, a Spanish woman, a Slovak woman, a German woman, a Hungarian man, and so on. Some speak better than others, but as long as we can communicate, that’s what matters. No one holds it against a French person for having a French accent — sometimes it’s even the opposite!

As for what we gain from it, it’s already an awareness of the challenges of our work on a European scale. Seeing that others share the same concerns and don’t necessarily address them in the same way is an essential enrichment. Discovering another university in its local context (city, country, administration) inevitably makes you reflect on how our university is organized and how we implement our practices. The networking aspect is also valuable: having contacts at this level opens doors to projects — for example, within EELISA — and offers the opportunity to host these colleagues during visits or even to visit their institutions one day.

A Staff Week lasts only a week, but its benefits can last for years because it serves as an invitation to develop projects.