Context, background and objectivesAccording to the UN projection, the world’s urban population will double in one generation and by 2050 most major cities will become large metropolitan areas, amplifying issues related to climate change and increasing inequality. Many disciplines are dealing with these issues, yet in sectoral ways rather than with an integral metropolitan vision. TELLme was triggered by the metropolitan challenges that our century is facing, both in the extreme urbanisation growth and in the lack of a systematic approach in the HE disciplines studying the metropolis. Understanding the complexity of the metropolis and the gaps between the theory and practice with proper tools: TELLme was a response to this growing demand for metropolitan competence. The main project objective was therefore to lay the foundations of the Metropolitan Discipline, as a new transdisciplinary and shared approach to the study of the metropolis, and to shape its Educational proposal for training a new generation of leaders that understand the metropolitan issues. In this respect, the partnership composition enabled a fundamental work of comparison and enriched the Metropolitan European Knowledge with the Latin American approach, more focused on the need for an environmental pact between nature and the human being.Activities and resultsThe Metropolitan Discipline addresses the complexity of the metropolis according to its physical, social, economic, and governance dimensions, understood and described in a theoretical framework, called MGIP. With the MGIP (common premises) and the Glossary (common language), we defined the conditions for dialogue and mutual understanding between different disciplines. On them, TELLme framed the method, i.e. the Metro-dology, for applying the MGIP in the concrete metropolitan contexts making use of the Cartography, i.e. maps setting relations among selected elements and allowing to refer simple data to the concepts of the discipline, and the digital tools, e.g. the Hub where maps are visualised. The Metro-dology is also at the core of the TELLme Educational proposal: it is the base on which we built the pilot training experiences and the Training Programme Guidelines with the framework of the Transversal competences and management skills it aims to develop. Since the Discipline is conceived as a theory built on practice, the influence of the tools is predominant. Among them, the most relevant for the Training and the Cartography is the MGIP/Glossary Software, a software prototype deeply linked to all the project outputs.As a final result and a narration of the collective effort, the Inaugural Book was published, explaining the Discipline under different perspectives and showing the creativity of the collective intelligence gathered by the project.ParticipantsAbout 500 participants were directly involved in the project activities. In particular, in the 3 training pilots, the Initial Project Seminar held in Seville, Spain (Feb 2018) and the 2 Training Labs held in Guadalajara, Mexico (Feb 2019) and Mendoza, Argentina (Sept 2019), we could involve HE students and professors, policymakers and civil servants at the local, regional, and national levels, NGO and civil society representatives, entrepreneurs, and local and international experts covering the full spectrum of metropolitan actors and stakeholders.Impact and longer-term benefitsWith the aim of promoting a Discipline that addresses the problems of metropolitan regions in the world, one of TELLme’s purposes was to create a community of practitioners of the metropolitan discipline. TELLme aimed to strengthen social capital, primarily through a network of experts, as well as generating new knowledge and a global foundation for a discipline that will see its peak in the coming decades. Through the dissemination and exploitation activities, we could reach more than 6,000 people: HEIs students and teaching staff, public administrators, policymakers, NGOs, and also citizens, thus promoting the growth of this community and the adoption and replication of both the Training Programme and the Cartography, at HE level and in the metropolitan government bodies.This endeavour was possible thanks to the infrastructural value of the project. TELLme, in fact, enabled the creation of a reference framework with tools for this community as a benchmark for current metropolitan discourses open to further development and enrichment in the next years. In this context, TELLme was also instrumental to question the increasing disciplinary boundaries and create a ground for transdisciplinarity both within the HE and in the relation between the HE and the society with the aim to reduce the gap between theory and practice around metropolitan concerns, so to establish, at a global level, the importance of comprehensively addressing the challenges faced by large urban agglomerations through the consolidation of a metropolitan discipline.

HEADCET aims to support Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile in tackling the challenges of sustainable development by enhancing their relevance for the labor markets and the society at large. The project specifically focuses on Circular Economy (CE) and Social Innovation (SI) which are strongly interrelated in Latin American (LA) Countries and are considered crucial to foster a more sustainable growth and to identify new jobs opportunities. To do this, HEADCET will support LA HEIs through a wide set of interrelated actions:- Training Services for University Engagement - Updating curricula on CE, SI and sustainability to make universities’ offer more compatible with labor markets demands. - Development of pilot Offices for sustainable development & circular economy (Oficina Desarrollo sustentable y EC - ODEC). ODEC will be conceived as university centers specialized in offering services of support and counselling on projects of SI and CE. The project will set-up 3 pilot ODECs that will represent a concrete job opportunity for graduates and young researchers.- Implementation of COllaborative Local Labs (COLLs): to directly involve local stakeholders (SMEs, NGOs, public agencies) on initiatives and skills needed in the regional ecosystem of each Latin-American university on CE and SI. - Organization of Career Development Centres (CADEC) for meetings and job-matching between students/graduates and companies around CE competencies and jobs- Creation and promotion of a regional network on CE and SI, enriched with EU partners, in order to take advantages of the opportunities under the Programme “Regional Coalition on Circular economy in Latin America”.The project consortium is composed by 6 LA HEIs and 3 European HEIs and a University Center with established experiences on engagement, CE and SI. The consortium is complemented by Fundacion Eurosur that has strong expertise and knowledge on LA countries and networking management.

"The starting point of the project was the standard and widely accepted definition of internationalization as ""the process of integrating an international dimension into the teaching, research and service functions of the institution"". In our opinion, this definition does not capture the essence of a process whose ultimate goal should be to integrate the institution into the emerging global knowledge production and transfer network. In this respect DHIP conceived internationalization of HEIs as the process of integrating the institution and its stakeholders into a globalizing world. This process calls for a change in existing structures, operating modes and mind-set in order to allow the institution as a whole to join and contribute to the emerging global knowledge and learning network. The DHIP project has allowed the Latin American (LA) partners to increase their capacity of managing an internationalization process effectively and to generate a spill-over effect on the three target countries through the developed good practices and tools. This has been achieved thanks to a new tool, the Internationalization Enhancement Plan (IEP). IEP enables an integrated approach, based on a strategic vision of internationalization and on a multidimensional, integrated and recursive operating plan containing process improvement actions, services, communication tools and marketing skills. IEP also identifies milestones, deliverables, mid-term results, expected results and monitoring, and evaluation criteria.Despite the pandemic forced the Consortium to reschedule some tasks, all the activities planned in the proposal were realized:WP1: N. 7 Territorial Fora held; N. 9 video conference rooms implemented in LA;WP2: N. 9 IEPs implemented and officially approved with formal administrative act; N. 3 LA tutoring meetings;WP3: N. 9 organizational redesign of the IROs (and N. 9 IROs equipped); the development of training activities on internationalization (N. 9 Training Webinars and N. 3 study visits in Europe); N. 27 Multicultural and social events realized; N. 78 international agreements signed;WP4: quality plan definition and continuous quality monitoring; development of the Impact Evaluation System;WP5: DHIP Guidelines on internationalization in higher education; N. 18 Twinning Events; N.1 Dissemination Event and N. 1 Final Conference. WP6: effective project and financial management; constant monitoring of activities and results; continuous sharing of information. DHIP achieved the following specific objectives.1 - Developed and/or improved effective HEI internationalization strategies for each LA partner consistent with the ECHE principles and priorities through the design and implementation of IEPs.2 - Increased and/or consolidated a network of contacts and regional alliances with peers and with other institutions or associations for mobility, academic exchanges, including the use of Tuning tools, to effect the shift to student centred learning, and experience with the Latin American Reference Credit - CLAR.3 - Developed soft skills and transversal competencies and provided specialist training on strategic topics for the implementation of the IEP.4 - Developed participation, communication and networking tools able to connect HEI internationalization policies with the needs/vocations of the local production systems.5 - Promoted the dissemination of institutional strategies for internationalization based on good practices among the Latin American HEIs community and supported the development of strategic alliances with other LA and EU HEIs and the inclusion of communities of knowledge and of practice that boosted the viability of IEPs and generated new initiatives and activities."

Climate change (CC) has become a structural phenomenon which will imply severe and irreversible impacts. In this context, tourism has received increased attention as a high-energy and often environmentally destructive sector, significantly contributing to the pollutants that are causing CC. This is particularly true in many LA countries, where tourism is of undisputed importance for employment generation. It is clear that this sector must adapt, as must the research, teaching and training associated with it. HEIs have a role to play in innovating curricula related to tourism, so that it addresses CC needs and proposes dynamic solutions that graduates can bring to market. HEIs also have a role to play in continuous professional development, as most tourism professionals need upskilling to best address the changes in the sector caused by CC. CLIMAR aims to link inter-disciplinary research, innovation & knowledge transfer to HE curricular development and continuous professional training, so as to prepare the tourist sector to best face climate change and to mitigate its impacts. It targets specifically HEI in Colombia, Panama, Argentina and Mexico and has the following specific objectives:i) Support the creation of transnational and multidisciplinary research groups specialized in CC, Circular Economy & Tourism (CC&T), among HEIs from EU and LA and reinforce their capacities to increase regional knowledge on CC&Tii) Promote research-based collaborative teaching in CC&T, via the development of a transversal study module that can be inserted in different courses at the postgraduate leveliii) Enhance university-NGO-industry-public administration knowledge transfer so as to contribute to sustainable development and new employment opportunities, via a professional development course in CC&Tiv) Ensure sustainable academic relations and strategic partnerships among HEIs from EU and LA, based-upon multi-disciplinary approach

VitaGlobal brings together university partners and networks from diverse regions (Europe, Georgia, South America and South Africa) interested in contributing to local development by building joint study programmes in agricultural science science and, specifically, vitiviniculture, which are of strategic economic importance to their countries and regions. The project willbuild capacity to develop joint programmes in vitiviniculture and oenology at the masters level, which is seen as a means to internationalise and integrate curricula, widen mobility opportunities for students and staff and ultimately internationalise the university contribution to local development. Work groups looking at specific expertise from each partner in the viticulture sector will develop study modules, in collaboration with local industry partners, which will be piloted in existing programmes of partner universities. Multi-lateral knowledge transfer and training events will be provided to teaching and administrative staff of partner universities, to generate teaching and administrative capacity in joint programmes. A diverse international network of higher education institutions with a common interest to contribute to local development and a shared commitment to agri-science, vitiviniculture and oenology will be an outcome, which will sustain collaborative activities after the project.