The YEBO! project, focusing on the promotion of the internationalization of doctoral studies in South Africa, aims to address and redress the problem areas of doctoral studies. The YEBO! project is a response to the target of the South African Government's National Development Plan to have an estimate of 5,000 doctoral graduates per year by 2030 in the fields of Science and Technology. Preliminary findings indicated that capacity building is critical in supporting doctoral studies. The imperative developmental areas include supervisory support and capacity, grant capacity and proposal writing capacity, with the potential to increase access to research networks, international funding and internships. The aforementioned do not exclude capacity support to institutions in support of doctoral studies, from an international perspective, and with a focus on best practices. Three principle approches were identified in response to the capacity development needs of South African universities: - A web-based portal that encompasses research and funding networks, identification of funding opportunities, with an emphasis on training materials and videos accessible to all. - Four themed conferences, co-organized by programme and partner countries, focusing on best practices for the internationalization and promotion of doctorate studies, and fostering networking and cooperation opportunities.- Three training sessions, organized in South Africa, with a focus on supervision capacities.

In response to the increasingly important issue of security in the global world, the CG universities started a process of review their policies and procedures regarding the emergency protocols, with the objective of their harmonization and improvement. The problem of safety and response to emergency situations is particularly important for HEIs because they move thousands of students, teachers and administrative staff all around the world.The main objective of the project is to equip HEIs with protocols, as well as practical tools that guarantee the safety and security of international mobility for students and staff. The protocols clarifies roles, duties and responsibilities of the parties involved in international mobility, define the importance of risk assessment and preparation of mobility, standardize procedures addressed to the specific needs of the beneficiaries.Practical tools (such as online self-assessment tool, online open courses, emergency notification mobile app) will support beneficiaries - within the partnership and beyond it - in experiencing a safer and more secure international mobility.The project will involve 7 HEIs (UNIPV-coordinator, UNIBO, UoE, JU, UP, UGR, UAIC) which are all members of the CG and already involved in the “Focus Group in Emergency Protocols” that prepared the guidelines “Protocol Procedures for Emergency Situations Student’s safety and security in HEIs”; local sections of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) will be associated partners and will bring into the project the perspective of the main beneficiaries (students) and disseminate the results among them; Coimbra Group.During the project, the following intellectual outputs (IO), multiplier events (E) and intensive staff training weeks (C) will be carried out:Four Intellectual Outputs: O1 Online self-assessment tool on safety and security, O2 - Open Courses on security protocols for universities, O3 Open courses on Health and safety for mobility participants, O4 University's Emergency Notification System technical report;Seven national multiplier events addressed to teachers, administrative staff, policy makers, students and lifelong learners organized in the 7 HEIs consortium members and 2 international events, one organized during AeM working group (open to all the associate universities) and a final conference in Brussels (open to EC, EU universities, other stakeholders ect.);Two Intensive international staff weeks on the following topics: C1 Training of staff on safety and security addressed to international officers, security managers, faculty/department mobility coordinators of partner HEIs; C2 Intensive Study Program addressed to students/members of the local ESN sections that will be trained on safety and security.Seven transnational meetings (Ms) among partners will be held as part of the management and communication strategy to expose, develop and analyse the results of the IO. The results of the project will enable the involved staff of HEIs to get acquainted with standardized guidelines and policies, which will have a deep impact on their daily work and on the way in which safety and security issues are addressed in response to the specific needs of mobile participants.Mobile participants (especially students) will develop a stronger awareness on a broad variety of safety and security issues (from intercultural awareness to health insurance, from sexual injuries to terrorist attack), will expand their understanding and responsiveness to safety and security topics and to cultural diversity and will spend a more safe and cultural-aware period abroad.Potential longer term impact for the staff involved will be the creation of a broad international network of colleagues working on those themes, which will remain a useful source of information and exchange of best practices also after the end of the project.More broadly, the main desired impact of the project at local, regional, national and EU level is the development of shared awareness on safety and security issues during international mobility, spreading from the partners of the project to other institution and stakeholders.

CHINLONE has been designed as a structural capacity-building project aimed at fostering the modernization and internationalization of MM’s HES, currently in the midst of an epochal reform that mirrors the country’s transition towards democracy. With this in mind, the project tailors its main efforts on the needs and exigencies of three key target groups, represented by local academic leaders, professors and educators, as well as administrative staffs, in order to train them with the most prominent features of the European expertise in terms of academic governance, degree courses designing, and IR management. In doing so, the notions and know-how consolidated through their interactions with European partners will be further capitalized and disseminated on the local dimension, by means of cascade trainings and related activities with additional universities and local HEIs. Hence, CHINLONE is expected to produce a lasting legacy in MM well before the end of its timeline, through the inception of innovative and updated curricula in the strategic fields of studies of humanities and cultural heritage, economics and geography of tourism, and agricultural sciences, so to equip local prospective students with the tools and skills currently demanded by the labour market and economic stakeholders. This approach, most notably, can provide a valuable contribution to MM’s evolution towards a ‘knowledge economy’, paving the way for the introduction of new national policies in the sphere of HE on project-specific topics; which, in turn, will lead to the progressive ascendance of local HEIs in regional education rankings, to a steady increase in the overall number of students enrolling in MM’s universities, and to a parallel boost in international mobility flows to and from the country.

Developing All Round Education (DARE+) is an innovative Project in the context of the European Higher Education Area and student-centred competence based learning. The project has brought together a prestigious and complementary group of partners, including leading world expects in the fields covered. The Consortium included seven universities (Trinity College Dublin, University of Deusto, University of Granada, University of Groningen, University of Padova and Uppsala University), an international non-profit association (Education for an interdependent World, EDiW) and the Coimbra Group of Universities.During two years (2014-2016) the DARE+ partnership has evaluated how university students could improve the DARE+ generic competences (ie. Teamwork, Leadership, Project Development and Management, Social Entrepreneurship, Communication, Intercultural Competence and Conflict Transformation) through the combination of formal learning with structured competence acquisition experiences outside the classroom. As stated in the project proposal document, the DARE+ project sought to “rethink in terms of opportunities of developing generic competences – various activities and initiatives that university students can get involved in during their free time.” The identification and analysis of the aspects of the generic competences which can be developed in non-formal and informal environments would lead to a better recognition and further development of learning in non-formal and informal contexts, as well as raising awareness about the development of the above-mentioned competences in such contexts both among students and educators.The main activities undertaken by DARE+ can be summarised in the production of intellectual outputs, the design and implementation of mobility and local activities and the dissemination of results through the DARE+ multiplier event. Along with the DARE+ publication, intended to be a reference tool for students to develop any or all the generic competences, the DARE+ project designed and developed a rubric for assessing each of the competences (DARE+ Rubric), a series of materials for dissemination purposes, a methodological and pedagogical model for the design and implementation of Intensive Summer Programmes, an evaluation system in relation to levels of competences (DARE+ Portfolio) and a strategy for the adaptation of methodology for recognition of prior learning (DARE+ Recommendations). Regarding the mobility and local activities, they have served as the testing ground for a sample segment of the targeted audiences of the project: students and trainers. Two Summer Intensive Programmes and three Train the Trainer Workshops were carried out focusing on each targeted audiences, respectively. Finally, the DARE+ multiplier event allowed for presenting the results of the project as well as raising interest in the assessment and accreditation systems developed, which, ideally, will lead to an impact at a regional and national level.The implementation of DARE+ has resulted in the design of innovative materials, piloted in real-life learning situations which constituted rich learning experiences to students and tutors involved directly in the project. The impact of DARE+ includes the establishment of a close-knit international network of partners committed not only to facilitating and recognising non-formal and informal learning, but also to highlighting the importance of the acquisition of generic competences. Additionally, DARE+ has led to the publication of materials in open format, which will remain available even when the project is formally over, as well as recommendations to universities, networks, associations and authorities at all levels regarding the need to advance in the recognition of the learning taking place in non-formal and informal environments.The partnership of DARE+ believes that the project has made a significant contribution, setting the basis and developing the tools to further work on the evaluation, assessment and recognition of generic competences in non-formal and informal contexts. Along with the materials designed, tested and made available by the consortium, DARE+ has engaged in the incorporation of the assessment and learning tools, and in the recognition of the above-mentioned competences in non-formal and informal environment. In this sense, policy recommendations have been designed in order to support decision-making at a national and local level.

Internationalization in the MENA region is a quite complex undertaking and international mobility has become a key tool to improve the quality of Higher Education, thus addressing the regional need for a strong skills base to uphold economic and social development. Within this framework, Erasmus+ and its International Credit Mobility (ICM) Scheme have represented a challenge for MENA governments and HEIs, who have felt the need to share information and best practices to develop an innovative, effective and efficient management of ICM.ICMED, though the activities carried out in its 30 months of implementation and thanks to the effective involvement of its Partners, has contributed to building Partner countries’ HEIs capacity in the field of international relations, with a specific focus on E+ ICM, thus reinforcing EU partners cooperation in the region and improving the quality of mobility flows under KA107. More specifically, the project aimed at strengthening partner HEIs staff capacity to deal with ICM & International Mobility in general, through the implementation of a comprehensive Training Programme held in the region. First, a Consultation Process was carried out with the objective to map the status of ICM implementation at institutional and regional level. This included a desk research, interviews with academic and administrative staff, as well as National Erasmus+ Offices in Partner countries; and the development of a comprehensive Training Plan. Based on the results of the Consultation process, 3 training weeks were carried out on different themes, including “Effective cooperation between EU & Partner countries towards a successful application and Instruments and services for ICM”; “Recognition mechanisms and instruments within ICM; “Beyond ICM: developing of JD/DD programmes”. A comprehensive International Mobility Toolkit was then developed to support Partners in the institutional implementation of ICM. The Toolkit includes a set of templates to be used as daily guidelines and roadmap to implement and manage ICM and potentially any other international mobility scheme. The toolkit has served as a reference to HEIs staff in the region, as demonstrated during the final conference and Train-the-Trainers event. These outputs were widely disseminated and multiplied during the Train-the-Trainers event and the Final Conference.Four Policy Briefs addressing local authorities in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, as well as the EC, were also prepared with the aim to contribute to the discussion on the future generation of ICM programmes (E+ 2021-27/ national programmes) and shared with key stakeholders during the Final Conference and separate meetings. At local level, MENA HEIs have widely benefited from the project results as demonstrated by Partners feedback and new actions undertaken (see other sections of the Report for further information), exploiting achieved skills and establishing new privileged cooperation forms with EU and other African HEIs; at national & EU level, local NEOs were stimulated to reflect on ICM management and implementation as well as on its potential revision and restructuring in the MENA region, with a special attention to digital innovation, blended mobility and virtual exchange.