The University participates in a European project that opens up internationalisation activities to the local sphere

Internationalisation in Higher Education for Society (IHES) is a European project through which the University introduces internationalisation to its Social Engagement with the territory. The URV will do this through the educational, research and university extension activities carried out by its Extended Campus, Service Learning Programme, URV Solidarity and Volunteering, URV Sports, the Student Office and the Environment Office, among others. In this way, the URV will bring internationalisation to the local communities that it serves.

The aim of this Erasmus+ project is to ensure that the internationalisation activities do not focus solely on URV staff and students; therefore, the URV and the Palacký University Olomouc, in the Czech Republic, have joined forces to implement the activities, each in its own territorial area with the assistance of other organizations involved in the project. In fact, they are using an experimental design intended to ensure that the knowledge generated in Catalonia and the Olomouc region can be transferred.

To test the activities, the two universities will create the Catalonia IHES Lab and the Olomouc IHES Lab. That is why the staff of the Office for Social Engagement, the URV Student Office and the International Center have been trained to design internationalisation-oriented activities to be offered to society during the 2021-22 academic year. After the activities have been implemented, their impact will be evaluated and they will be offered again in subsequent years.

The expected results of the project are the publication of a report on good practices in the Internationalisation of Higher Education for Society in Europe; a report on the concept, implementation and results of IHES regional laboratories in Catalonia and the Olomouc region; a guide to implementing IHES; the development of a regional IHES implementation model and the creation of an IHES network of organizations.

Palacký University Olomouc is the main coordinator of the project, which also includes the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, the Generalitat de Catalunya and its Secretariat for Universities and Research (Catalan Government); SGroup Universities in Europe, a network with URV among its members; the Association for Academic Cooperation; the Lifelong Learning Platform in Belgium; the Global Impact Institute, and the Olomouc region in the Czech Republic. The Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) also participates as an associated partner.