INTERnationalization at Home: Embedding Approaches and Structures to Foster Internationalization at Western BAlkans

"The internationalization of higher education is not regarded as a goal in itself anymore, but as a mean to improve the quality of education and increase the relevance of HEIs within the society at large. Notably, for higher education institutions from developing countries, internationalization brings significant benefits in terms of the improvement of the academic effectiveness, through the mutual exchange and experience of different practices in teaching and learning. Moreover, it fosters the development of human capacities through international collaboration, and students obtain intercultural competences by being exposed to an international setting.Internationalization of HEIs in the Balkan region has been primarily achieved through student and staff mobility as well as Erasmus + CBHE projects that involved a limited number of staff. HEIs have realized that trying to approach to internationalization through these initiatives leaves room for fragmented and individualistic results which prevents internationalization to be embedded within the institutional structures. In this vein, ""internationalization at home” (IaH) is vital as it refers to the policies and processes that purposefully integrate international and intercultural aspects into the curricular and co-curricular activities for students. By leveraging on the potentialities of information and communication technologies, this project aims at removing the financial and formal barriers that prevent internationalisation to reach a wide number of students and staff. The process to integrate learning material and teaching approaches, and the technical solutions that will be devised, will allow promoting a framework that can be re-used in other contexts, thus providing an additional tool for effective internationalisation in higher education."