Alternative Forms of Mobility in an Emergency Remote Teaching Context: A Study of Greek Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes

Abstract

Since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lot of talk about alternative ways of student mobility. Higher Education Institutions are adopting new forms of mobility to provide flexibility. Among them, hybrid mobility and internationalisation activities at home are offered to university students. Within this framework, a preliminary study has been conducted to investigate Greek undergraduate students’ attitudes towards alternative solutions devised by Higher Education Institutions in an emergency remote teaching context in a time of global crisis due to the coronavirus. In essence, the present study addresses the following research question: How do undergraduate university students in Greece view hybrid mobility or internationalisation activities at home compared to physical mobility? More specifically, 57 students from two public universities in Greece completed an online questionnaire and five students were interviewed. Both the questionnaire and the semi-structured interviews were designed to measure students’ attitudes towards physical mobility, hybrid mobility and home-based internationalisation. The findings demonstrate that although the pandemic has not notably affected students’ attitudes towards Erasmus+ mobility, most of them prefer physical mobility to alternative forms of mobility as it provides a more complete and unique experience. The findings obtained herein are used to make suggestions on alternative ways of making home-based, online and blended internationalisation activities more effective, inclusive and engaging in the years to come.