Abstract:

Exchange programs are of a great importance nowadays; they help to improve employment, language skills, and international relations, and try to reduce intolerance and discrimination against minorities and migrants, which is one of a current and important topic of today. There is a growing interest in exchange study programs from year to year, and there is a greater administrative burden on institutions that implement exchange study programs. For this reason, different online applications have been developed to manage exchange study programs. These applications operate electronically and institutions and participants of exchange programs can save time by using them as they minimize administration and bureaucracy. The objectives of the research is to analyse the software (online) for mobility management, and based on the analysis, a suitable application for Slovak universities is proposed.

The paper deals with exchange study programs, mainly with the Erasmus+ program and its development in the European Union (EU). There are identified online applications that serve to manage Erasmus+ (Erasmus without paper, EMREX, Online Learning Agreement, DreamApply, DreamFoundation, and more). These online applications serve to facilitate the whole mobility of students abroad and make the sign up process easier. Candidates can sign up for mobility directly in the online application environment where agreements and other administration of application is automatically at disposal. The work of coordinators who are in charge of the program is more effective as well, and thanks to these online applications, the management of the program is much easier. Participants who has finished their mobility abroad, they fill in the report in the online application with direct connection to the Mobility Tool, software provided by EU.

After collecting the necessary information concerning Erasmus+ and management software, analysis and interpretation of the research results were conducted. The collection of the primary data of the marketing research was carried out by electronic questionnaire inquiry. Respondents were the creators of the applications. The basis for our research to be relevantly processed and evaluated was the assumption that all respondents would send us a response, which was successful. The research includes an analysis of the usability of identified online applications to management mobilities in those EU countries, which are involved in the Erasmus+ program. The main output of the paper is to identify which of the investigated online applications are most used in the EU. We found out that the most used online application to manage exchange programs is the Online Learning Agreement, which uses an average of 50,000 students per year, in over 25 countries and at more than 300 universities. Partial result is also a comparison of the most used online software in the European Union with the Slovak software studyabroad.sk. We found that applications provide the same capabilities. The essential difference is that in the studyabroad.sk application, the student can choose only the mobility for which his school has a bilateral agreement. In the Online Learning Agreement, students can prepare their own learning agreements.

Keywords:

Erasmus+, online, application, software, Mobility Tool, studyabroad.sk.