A Partnership Strengthening Internationalisation Between European and Latin American Universities

On 3–4 December 2025, the final conference of the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education project “I‑MAT – Innovative Mobility Attracting Tools for Latin America” was held in Bogotá, Colombia. The event showcased the outcomes of three years of intensive cooperation.

The I‑MAT project was implemented by a consortium of nine universities from Europe (Portugal, Lithuania and Poland) and Latin America (Brazil, Peru and Colombia). This diverse partnership brought together complementary strengths: the structured internationalisation management of European universities and the Latin American universities’ leadership in inclusion and virtual exchange (i.e. Collaborative Online International Learning, COIL).

As a project partner, VILNIUS TECH played a significant role in delivering the project’s success.

Researchers from the VILNIUS TECH Institute of Dynamic Management, Prof. Doc. Dr Indrė Lapinskaitė and Doc. Dr Viktorija Stasytytė, conducted an extensive study involving more than 4,000 students and 1,000 staff members from partner universities in Latin America. The research identified key factors hindering international mobility among students and staff. Its insights and recommendations – related to motivation, communication, and support services – formed an essential basis for designing tools to enhance internationalisation across partner universities.

Representatives of the VILNIUS TECH International Relations Office organised a week-long practical workshop in Vilnius and delivered training sessions to colleagues from Colombian universities on internationalisation strategies and development measures. They shared best practices and contributed to the creation of the project’s core outputs: the Catalogue of Tools(CoT) for promoting mobility, and the I‑MOB mobile application presenting academic exchange opportunities within the I‑MAT partnership. 

All I‑MAT project results share a common goal: to make internationalisation more accessible, and mobility processes clearer, simpler, and more inclusive. Prepared in English, Portuguese and Spanish, the CoT is a practical instrument for evaluating a university’s internationalisation maturity, enabling institutions to assess their level of internationalisation and identify suitable measures to advance management, internationalisation of the curriculum, digitalisation, student and staff mobility, and communication.

Creative events organised by Latin American partners to promote internationalisation among students and staff have also inspired VILNIUS TECH to introduce similar initiatives.

Participation in the I‑MAT project not only strengthened existing partnerships and helped to build new connections with Latin American universities but also enhanced the visibility of VILNIUS TECH and Lithuania globally.

Further information about I‑MAT and its outputs can be found on the project website: https://i-mat.eu/