Systemic University Change Towards Internationalisation (SUCTI)

Internationalisation, in order to be successful, should be an institution-wide project and ambition. While most internationalisation efforts target students and academic staff, the SUCTI project aims at empowering the backbone of institutions: its administrative staff. As part of the project, the EAIE is mapping out the in-house training provisions available to administrative staff and providing expertise for a Train the Trainer programme.

Status: Finalised
Period: 2016–2019 

Context

Academics and students have plenty of opportunities to be part of the internationalisation process, yet attaining support from administrative staff can present a challenge. Sending staff on mobility programmes is one way to get them involved, but a more sustainable and possibly better solution is to provide them with opportunities at home – such as in-house training. The SUCTI project aims to create a training course on internationalisation that is delivered to administrative staff in their own language at their home institution – not only raising awareness of the importance of internationalisation, but also reinforcing that everyone has a role to play in the process. As a result, administrative staff can become important change agents towards internationalising their institutions.

Content

Project goals and activities:

• Based on the results of an online survey and case studies at selected institutions, a report will outline the current state of affairs on existing in-house training offerings.
• A Train the trainer programme, the ‘HEI training experts in internationalisation’ training.
• Course pilots at project partner institutions, followed by a series of open seminars.
• The development of a tool for measuring the impact of the training programme on participants; followed by a presentation of the results in a report.
• The creation of a network of training experts in internationalisation and a virtual resource centre. 

As a full project partner, the EAIE will be contributing to the various aspects of the project with a focus on the following outputs:

1. Mapping out current in-house training provisions: through an online survey among a segment of its network, the EAIE will map out the existing in-house training offerings on internationalisation for administrative staff.
2. Train the Trainer Programme: building on its longstanding expertise in training design and delivery, the EAIE will play a key role in the development of a Train the Trainer programme and the establishment of a SUCTI Trainer network.

Project partners

• Universitat Rovira i Virgili (project coordinator)
• European Association for International Education (EAIE)
• UNESCO Chair of Higher Education Management (CUDU), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC)
• The Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
• Global Impact Institute
• Justus Liebig University
• Adam Mickiewicz University
• University of Porto

 Associate Partner: SGroup European Universities’ Network