Workshop 3: Ethics by

Clauses removed from agreements.

2026-03-27 09:34:08 UTC

When partners in authoritarian states (China for example) wants to remove some clauses from agreements that concern for example compliance with our ethical standards (magna charta). How do we deal with that and what is the point of adding clauses aviyt values in the agreement when we know that the partner cannot honor it?

Unequal/unbalanced partnerships

2026-03-27 09:35:59 UTC

Issue with partners not wanting to send their students to our university

Safety

2026-03-27 09:36:39 UTC

More focus on safety than ethics in daily work with student mobility.

Issues with safety

2026-03-27 09:37:51 UTC

students having to worry about whether to report issues during exchange, because that would mean end of mobilities between universities
issues with cooperation with Israle and israeli universities and the response of the students to the cooperation

2026-03-27 09:39:38 UTC

Changes at a university while students are there on exchange regarding courses, language etc may raise questions regarding if they are a trustworthy partner long term.

Financial renumeration

2026-03-27 09:40:25 UTC

Long term collaboration (+10 years) with partner. We receive information that our teachers have been receiving financial renumeration from the Chinese partner although they already get funding from the home university. Caused by different cultural norms but from our perspective it is not suitable or In line with anti-korruption policies

System rigidity

2026-03-27 09:40:29 UTC

Students are not able select their gender in mobility system, gender follows social security number, but Erasmus+ reports give the possibility for "other" which certain countries systems dont offer (example of Denmark)

2026-03-27 09:41:16 UTC

Yes, for example where to follow our ethics and opinion and what if they differ from our HEI - how to address protests for a free Palestine. Also how to prepare students for mobility to Hungary - how to “warn” LGBTQ+ students before their mobility

2026-03-27 09:41:46 UTC

Changes in political leadership and the leadership of the university we had an ICM project with changed. Actions based on democracy and student influence had to be changed into other more neutral actions. Required lots of diplomacy in order not to get involved teachers into trouble.

Conflicting laws - Uganda

2026-03-27 09:42:40 UTC

Ethical dilemma to collaborate with countries that have very strict laws on things that we consider part of human rights. for example death penalty on homosexuality in Uganda. Can such collaboration be aligned with our values?

New collaborations

2026-03-27 09:44:24 UTC

Usually new collaborations at small universities come from connections on a department level, so there is knowledge about them on a personal level before going into partnership.

Political backdrop of cooperation?

2026-03-27 09:46:12 UTC

Cooperation with universities from certain countries, such as China, can be misused and used for propaganda.

2026-03-27 09:46:42 UTC

Meeting one contact from a partner university whose statements do not align with values; Does this person represent the whole partner university and are we at an international office the ones to decide if this should effect the partnership.

2026-03-27 09:46:54 UTC

We know we have to collaborate with HEIs in for example China so we have to take a decision on where our red line is. For example we would not go into joint programme work but there is value in welcoming incoming students, also to help them get to know a real democracy.

Financial issues vs. immigration

2026-03-27 09:48:22 UTC

Universities having to look into their fee paying students background due to immigration laws or certain coercion from immigration perspective.

Need for guidance

2026-03-27 09:49:53 UTC

We need somewhere to turn with questions and dilemmas, not only written guidelines.

Transparency in student selection

2026-03-27 09:51:30 UTC

Can we have a partnership with student mobility that is not available to all students (e.g. because of sexuality or race)?

Differentiate between state and individual, and state and university

2026-03-27 09:51:38 UTC

Cosnidering whether the university is just operating within the limits of their national system or if they have their own agenda that we find unethical

Ethical dumping is not OK

2026-03-27 09:51:56 UTC

Networks

2026-03-27 09:52:12 UTC

We need networks for sharing cases and experiences regarding these things, especially for smaller universities, so that we can learn from each other.

legitimizing the regime

2026-03-27 09:54:31 UTC

need to consider what actions and whose actions we risk legitimizing through our collaboration

Gathered country and institution-specific information

2026-03-27 09:55:45 UTC

information relevant for higher education institutions

Complex due to subjectivity

2026-03-27 09:56:26 UTC

Very (and too?) complex to put something subjective as ethics into a risk assessment model.