Virtual mobility refers to students and teachers in higher education using another institution outside their own country to study or teach for a limited time, without physically leaving their home.
It complements physical mobility in which students travel to study abroad, such as within the Erasmus Programme.
Student and teacher mobility are perceived as important quality issues in higher education.
[1][2] Virtual mobility has been defined as an activity that offers access to courses and study schemes in a foreign country and allows for communication activities with teachers and fellow students abroad via the new information and communication technologies.
The public policy background is to be found, e.g. in the Leuven declaration on Mobility, by 46 European Higher education ministers.