Following the launch of the Erasmus+ UNITA RECIPES for INTERNATIONALIZATION project in December 2023, the University of Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB), as lead partner, hosted the first meeting of the project partners on February 12 and 13.
This first meeting of the Management Committee brought together the University of Brasov (Romania), the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda (Portugal), the Public University of Navarra (Spain), the University of Brescia (Italy) and the HES-SO (Switzerland). On the USMB side, people from the international relations department, the UNITA office and the development, research and valorization department attended.
Funded by the Erasmus+ Agency, the 'UNITA RECIPES for INTERNATIONALIZATION of Degree programs' project aims to promote the internationalization of degree programs from partner universities of the UNITA Alliance, whether they are full partners or associates, in order to increase opportunities for all students to develop their international and intercultural skills. At the crossroads of social, behavioral and cognitive skills, these skills are increasingly recognized as essential for professional development in our globalized societies, as well as for preparing for current challenges.
To achieve the internationalization of training, this project will be aimed specifically at managers of degree programs. This will involve supporting them in the most individualized way possible (initially the proposals will be tested with a limited number of training courses). Degree programs’ managers will be "coached" according to their individual professional needs, to choose the "recipes" most suited to the reality of the training they are leading. Coaching will be provided by a new type of function within each UNITA university: internationalization advisor. This person will help the degree programs’ managers for training and will develop capacities in the internationalization within academic streams.
The objective of this first face-to-face meeting was first of all to recall the philosophy of the project and our common ambition. The internationalization of training will be approached as a process of continuous improvement, for which there are a multitude of different possibilities.
This meeting also made it possible to initiate a fundamental collective reflection: how to internationalize training in a very concrete way, while taking into account the specificities of each institution? It was also the opportunity to agree on the outlines of these “recipes for internationalization”, on the ingredients to use, to think about the right people to associate according to the organization of each university (the focus groups), about the necessary support, etc.
The partners also reflected on working methods, in order to leave with a detailed roadmap for each action to be implemented as a priority.
Finally, this event allowed the partners to get to know each other and create connections, thus facilitating this international and intercultural collaboration for the 3 years to come.
At the level of our respective universities and the UNITA Alliance, this new collaboration is particularly important. Indeed, promoting this openness to the world, these exchanges of visions and expertise, is a recognized means of strengthening the quality of teaching and research, of attracting talent, of obtaining international funding, and more generally to stand alongside the best universities and research centers.