"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."

A global discussion is taking place among Higher Education (HE) stakeholders to strive for HE that does better justice to the needs of the learner and of society. The relevance of study programs is probably the most pressing issue in HE today worldwide, including the countries in South America. In the public eye HE institutions should offer high quality programs that contribute significantly to the welfare of society by preparing graduates well for work and for civic and social engagement. To meet this need, a paradigm shift is required from traditional expert-oriented teaching to student-centred and active learning, based on competences and learning outcomes. Although there is full awareness that this shift is to be made, HE institutions and their academic staff in SA (and beyond) lack capacity, expertise and experience to make this happen. Building on work already done in Europe and in LA, ACE aims to develop effective mechanisms to give student-centred education a serious boost by acting as a catalyzer in 6 South-American countries, involving 13 key universities. ACE covers in each country 1-4 core academic fields, Nursing, Environmental Engineering, Education and History, representing as many HE sectors. At the heart of the project are 20 local working groups (WGs) consisting of 5 academics and of 5 student representatives each. The broad involvement of (local) staff and students is a unique feature. The WGs are all represented in transnational Subject Area Groups. Its members will be empowered to train their local WGs to reform their own programs. For this purpose, subject area qualifications frameworks will be made, based on (updated) meta-profiles developed in earlier LA projects. These will be complemented with in-depth training at 7 transnational meetings. As a result, ACE will result in 20 well informed learning communities that have reformed their programs and be equipped to assist other programs to make the reforms so urgently needed.

Although Latin American society has gained greater access to education at all levels, government officials in education, schoolteachers, trainers and researchers are calling into question the ability of their higher education institutions (HEIs) to address education professionals' needs. Typically, such groups criticize the bureaucracy of HEI training programmes, their failure to address practice as well as theory and the lack of commitment to society. Regional meetings between education specialists have identified other weaknesses in these programmes, including the following: the poor development of trainees’ professional skills; inadequate training in civic values, competencies for the globalized world and ITC skills; and, in general, the failure to engage in curricular reform). To address the situation, the 2021 Education Goals adopted in 2008 by education ministers in Ibero‐America prioritized “strengthening the teaching profession”.The interuniversity TO-INN Programme adopts a systemic approach to ensuring quality in HEI programmes for trainee educators. It does this by prioritizing the development of programmes with socially and professionally relevant teaching content that encourage trainee educators to play an active role in their learning and make institutions more innovative in policymaking. the Programme comprises 22 institutions from a total of 12 countries (16 institutions from Latin America and six from the EU). The TO-INN Programme is organized along four axes: 1) Culture and tradition; 2) Citizenship and participation; 3) Social cohesion and 4) Digital culture. Taking Spanish as its common language, TO-INN aims to promote well-fundamented changes in university training programmes by creating a virtual platform for collaborative work and learning. This platform will be used to revise curricula structures and frameworks, develop teaching and learning strategies and create a network for HEIs to ensure relevance in curricula content.