The partner universities of the project, led by the URV, present the results to promote equal opportunities in educational internationalisation

The ICI project (Inclusive Comprehensive Internationalisation) has come to an end after almost three years. The project, led by Universitat Rovira i Virgili, began in February 2022 with the aim, through co-creation, of working towards equal opportunities so that all students can benefit from internationalisation, regardless of their training, orientation and capacity, and improve their international and intercultural competences. During this week, the final conference of the project will be held at the URV Campus Catalunya, where the results summarizing the work done will be presented.

Positive results and future prospects

The five results of the project are considered key to promoting a more inclusive, transversal and sustainable educational internationalisation. On the one hand, the framework for the self-assessment of inclusive international learning has been developed along with a practical guide that facilitates its application. Training designed to improve the skills of university staff in the field of inclusion has also been created, with the support of a manual that guarantees its quality and continuity. Finally, the last of the results consists of roadmaps and best practices for implementing the methodologies in educational institutions.

The programme has been developed through the collaboration of five partner universities and a consultancy firm: Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Adam Mickiwicz University Poznan (Poland), Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (Italy), Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and Jeanine Gregersen-Hermans Consultancy (Netherlands). Each university created its own core team (Core Team), made up of an internationalisation leader, an academic coordinator, an educational developer, an administrative staff member, an ICT/BIP learning expert and two students. The teams have been involved in institutional research, have developed and revised the documents that have been created throughout the project and have contributed to the design and implementation of training for university staff.

Marina Vives, coordinator of the project at the URV, highlights the positive impact of the work carried out and adds that inclusion and diversity are topics that are increasingly of general and institutional interest. In addition, the project has also been presented at conferences, congresses and major platforms such as the European Association of International Education (EAIE). Vives assures that the international response has been very good: “It has been a very intense time, very enriching, with a lot of work and with very good teamwork. We believe that the results will be fulfilled, we have very good prospects for the future”.

Implementation plan for project continuity

Each partner university will determine the way to implement the tools derived from the ICI. At the moment, two Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) have been scheduled for the staff of associated European universities, which will allow to multiply the impact of the project, and an online edition focused on the Latin American public. According to the coordinator, from the Core Team there is a desire to offer the training every year at the URV, especially considering that the pilot course that was held was well received by the public and it is noteworthy that several participants commented that “everyone should do this training”.