On September 13-15, 2018 Voronezh State University held International Education Week devoted to the celebrations of the 100-year anniversary of its foundation. Vasin Sergei, Vice-rector for International Affairs, Olga Meshcheriakova, Head of International Cooperation Office and Sergei Ivanchin, Head of the Department of Social Adaptation and Culture work presented Penza State University.

The highlight event of the International Education Week was the international conference “Internationalization of Higher Education: strategies and tools” which was held within the framework of Erasmus+ HARMONY project “Development of approaches to harmonization of comprehensive internationalization strategies in HE, research and innovation at EU and PCs”. It provided a platform for discussions and broad exchange of experiences of development and implementation of internationalization strategies and algorithm of development of their action plans, including such aspects as joint degrees, academic mobility, recognition mechanisms.

Dr. Anne Spangemacher, project officer of International Capacity Building Unit at EACEA, European Commission, Brussels, presented the results of the 2018 call for proposals along with the priorities of upcoming calls. During the conference partners also talked through the issues concerning global macrotrends in the development of higher education and analyzed the common challenges that are faced in higher education internationalization strategies. Prof. Stephen Hagen shared their best practice of internationalization strategies implemented in emerging countries using case studies from Central Asian Universities. Partners from Armenia, Belarus and Russia presented their results of the development of internationalization strategies in their universities.

The conference gathered together more than 120 representatives from 50 higher education institutions from Spain, France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, the USA, Serbia, Macedonia, China, Morocco, Belarus, Armenia.

The participants included rectors, vice rectors, experts on internationalization of higher education, researchers and teachers in various fields who came from such universities as University of Seville, Sapienza University of Rome, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, University of Lille, University of Birmingham, University of Halle-Wittenberg, University of Granada, Oxford University, University of Leon, Kassel University, University of Tuscia, Belarusian State University, Southern Federal University, Penza State University, Tula State University and others.

At the end of the conference there was held a coordinating meeting of the HARMONY project. During the meeting partners discussed the details of its completion and further actions on dissemination and exploitation of results.

The HARMONY project aims to contribute to increase attractiveness of higher education systems, setting a HEI as centre of excellence in higher education, research and innovation on global scene but according to national strategies by strengthening integration of education, research, development, innovation and internationalization of higher education systems within HEA considering Bologna Process provisions.

All presentations and related materials are available on-line at HARMONY project intranet (https://erasmusharmony.ning.com/) as well as http://euspace.vsu.ru/UserFiles/files/events2018/presentations/2018091314_harmony_conference.zip

The photos taken during the event can be found following this link http://euspace.vsu.ru/UserFiles/files/events2018/photos/2018091314_Harmony_Conference_photos.zip