VitaGlobal brings together university partners and networks from diverse regions (Europe, Georgia, South America and South Africa) interested in contributing to local development by building joint study programmes in agricultural science science and, specifically, vitiviniculture, which are of strategic economic importance to their countries and regions. The project willbuild capacity to develop joint programmes in vitiviniculture and oenology at the masters level, which is seen as a means to internationalise and integrate curricula, widen mobility opportunities for students and staff and ultimately internationalise the university contribution to local development. Work groups looking at specific expertise from each partner in the viticulture sector will develop study modules, in collaboration with local industry partners, which will be piloted in existing programmes of partner universities. Multi-lateral knowledge transfer and training events will be provided to teaching and administrative staff of partner universities, to generate teaching and administrative capacity in joint programmes. A diverse international network of higher education institutions with a common interest to contribute to local development and a shared commitment to agri-science, vitiviniculture and oenology will be an outcome, which will sustain collaborative activities after the project.

In the last decade internationalisation has become a primary component in the strategy of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to meet their goals and institutional missions. These changes have been reshaping gradually the processes and models traditionally followed by universities to interact and cooperate internationally. In the case of Latin American (LA), despite some progress, many obstacles to a more coherent and cohesive international interventions are identified. One of the key problems, widely found among their institutions, is related to the lack of professionalism of their International Relation Offices (IROs). Despite the heterogeneity among LA HEIs, a common picture in many universities is still the following: poor implementation of internationalisation strategies, lack of autonomy in decision-making processes, poor prioritisation of the staffs in charge of internationalisation within the governing bodies or lack of project management culture to conduct international actions. As a consequence, internationalisation in the region remains spontaneous, reactive, widely implemented in individual bases and without a comprehensive and integrated vision of all the key activities of their mission.Taking this into account, the project aims to contribute to improving the management culture on internationalisation of HEIs in LA through the following results:I) Development a comprehensive training program aimed at professionals of the IROs of LA HEIs.II) Development benchmarking and comparative studies to identify the main characteristics of the internationalisation processes in LA in order to formulate adequate and tailor-made policies and actions.III) Development of a Guide on Internationalisation Management for HEIs that can serve as a model for the creation and improvement of IROs in LA HEIs.IV) Enabling a specialised service to assist HEI in the implementation of their policies/strategies of internationalisation and international cooperation.

CAMINOS deepened the Latin American Higher Education Space by improving the capacity of universities, associations and networks to enhance, promote and manage regional Latin American student and staff mobility. Specifically, the project developed a common mobility management model (defined by a Handbook) to this effect, premised upon and linking existing Latin American bi/multi-lateral mobility programmes and providing guidance on managing mobility. The project had three essential phases:1)A research phase for mapping a) existing Latin American mobility schemes and their management practices and rules, b) the actors and universities that participate in them and manage them2)A development phase for generating a Handbook that provided concrete advice to universities and networks/associations on how to enhance and promote mobility in the region. Focus groups on topics such as mobility management, credit transfer, recognition, institutional partnerships and joint degrees were organised to help draft the Handbook. In addition, study visits of Latin American partners to European universities were organised, to look at institutional case studies on these topics. 3)A pilot phase, whereby the Handbook was applied by both the partner associations/networks and the partner universities. Each partner implemented a pilot project that corresponded to at least one aspect of a mobility management ‘process’ listed in the Handbook. This included building a website for promoting mobility in the region, installing a new database for mobility, organizing international internships and summer schools in the LA region, etc. Coaching was provided by European partners to support the pilots. The project responded to the fact that LA regional mobility is a growing priority as it fosters academic cooperation and regional harmonisation. CAMINOS also reflected the interest to better promote ‘structured’ mobility and staff mobility. The project involved universities from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador, as well as university associations from these countries. Additional actors and related E+ projects were involved in project activities to ensure wider ownership and synergies. A final project conference was positioned as a larger event for generating ‘clustering’ and synergies between beneficiaries of E+ projects in LA, dealing with themes related to internationalisation, mobility, recognition and joint programmes. The project has a direct impact in the LA partner universities in terms of their ability to manage mobility and generate awareness for the importance of regional mobility. In addition, the associations in the project were able to launch and and conduct a first assessment of a regional programme for mobility – ‘PILA’ – which allows for mutual exchange between Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, and should be expanded to other countries in the near future.