While the high influx of asylum seekers poses an enormous pressure on the host countries (nearly 3.8 million new asylum applications recorded in Europe in the years 2015-2017), studies of previous large-scale migration movements reveal insights into positive effects of welcoming refugees and significant economic returns of investments into refugees. Although exact figures are missing, there is some evidence indicating that a significant part of the refugees is highly skilled. This suggests that a substantial number of refugees could potentially contribute to the European Research Area as well as the economies and societies of their host countries and the European Union (EU). It is therefore of utmost importance to provide the job seekers with coordinated and needs-based support in job search and match making with the employers seeking work force of their competence and expertise. The CARe project (Career Advancement for Refugee Researchers in Europe) is a 21-month project that aims to support the labour market integration of refugee researchers through coordinated and tailored provision of information needed for their entry and integration in R&D market. It targets 10 European countries with high numbers of asylum seekers, the absorption capacity of the R&D labour market and proven political will to support the labour market integration of refugee researchers (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands). The project objectives will be achieved through a set of research and dissemination activities that will on the one hand, provide needs-based and country-specific information on the labour market conditions and requirements for refugee researchers, and on the other, provide Europe-wide platforms for results dissemination and exploitation on a much larger scale by involving EURAXESS centres and dissemination through the EURAXESS portal.

There is a consensus that universities have an important role to play in the reconstruction of conflict-torn societies, and that is where competent scholars are needed. However, very often, not enough attention is placed on the important role of universities and academia in emergencies. Integration of recently arrived refugee students and scholars into the European academic community serves thus long-term capacity-building in their home countries. Universities in different European countries have been active in initiating support measures for threatened students and scholars and in some countries, such as in Finland and Germany, national level actors have also been active in coordination of the support measures. However, a European-level forum for the higher education sector to focus on this specific field has been lacking. The GREET project addresses this need by providing a platform for actors on institutional, national and international level to join their expertise. GREET's main goal is to strengthen European cooperation and information sharing on existing and good practices in the integration of highly skilled refugees in the higher education system and labour market in host countries. It aims to achieve this goal through providing networking, training and mutual learning opportunities for refugee support structures at national and institutional level in 9 European countries. Taking as its basis the existing good practices from Germany and Finland, the project will scale them up to the European level through peer learning activities and a series of webinars, which will serve for dissemination, exchange and mapping different support needs in Europe. The project results will be disseminated to the wider European higher education community through a big stakeholder forum and an online repository, targeting both practitioners and policymakers at European and national level.

Blended mobility formats are recognised as important and will be supported and mainstreamed via the new Erasmus+ programme, considering their expected benefits for inclusion and sustainability and lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet evidence shows the potential for blended mobility outside the pandemic context still needs to be embraced by students and higher education institutions (HEIs). While students expect (higher) quality and engagement, institutions still need to build their capacity for blended mobility, to realise its full potential, as a complement to purely physical, well-established mobility formats, for which value has been proven over time. HIBLend aims to address this gap by raising interest in blended student mobility and building HEIs’ capacity to design and deliver such quality opportunities with value-added for different groups. This goal will be achieved through the design, validation and wide dissemination of a comprehensive framework offering guidance on the key processes, quality considerations and quality assurance approaches to be considered in the set-up, delivery or improvement of various blended mobility formats. It will be supported by knowledge-building, peer-learning and community-building activities. HIBlend will be particularly impactful at three levels. First, by focusing on quality aspects of blended mobility, it will enable significant improvements for HEIs in terms of diverse & inclusive institutional strategies and internationalisation plans linking various activity formats; effective learning & teaching outcomes and value-added for different learner groups; efficient programme administration; and better informed & aligned attitudes of various HE players to new mobility formats. Second, the project will benefit students interested in more flexible international pathways, and last but not least, national and EU funders and policymakers responsible for the design of blended mobility policies and support schemes.

Inclusion and civic engagement are two horizontal priorities of the Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027, but approached as individual elements. Based on this observation, the Enriching Communities through Engaged Mobilities (ECEM) project wants to further develop the connections between civic engagement, internationalisation and inclusion. Ensuring active citizenship and participation in society is understood as a key element in the process of making mobilities more inclusive and societies more integrated. Ensuring a sense of belonging through actively participating in society, enforces inclusive and integrated societies at European level.The ECEM project seeks to: (a) Increase the civic engagement component of mobilities in the field of internationalisation of Higher Education, contributing to making interaction with local communities the norm in mobilities (b) Ensuring recognition of learning outcomes for participants that take part in civic engagement initiatives. (c) Improve the collaboration frameworks between Higher Education Institutions and other societal actors to make mobilities contribute to societal change and common European values.The project brings together organisations representing students, Higher Education Institutions, national funding agencies and civil society parties and community organisers to create a cross-sectoral approach that improves policies and practices by creating tools to foster collaboration and improve implementation. It builds on the experiences of the project partners in the fields of inclusion and engagement, trying to consolidate advances that have been made in the last programme cycle.The project consortium will aim to influence the implementation of the current Erasmus+ programme at the different levels while paving the way for changes in the future Erasmus+ programme. It will do so through a combination of training events, research, policy materials and testing of activities on the ground.

Many universities in the Central-Eastern and South-Eastern European region have made a substantial progress in developing services and professional capacities for internationalisation of HE, especially thanks to the ERASMUS+ programme. However, the already existing services focus mostly on the mobility of (under)graduate students and short-term staff mobility. Services to support incoming researchers and academics have not been developed at the same speed, nor to the same extent. Assistance, this target group needs, is typically still provided in a decentralised manner and on a highly-individualised basis, by the host departments or even by the host academics. With most institutions aiming to increase the number of incoming academics such approach is not tenable in the longer run. Hence the necessity to establish dedicated structures that can provide professional services to the target group at central and faculty level and to further professionalise such support. This project aims to address this challenge through elaborating practical tools to facilitate development of such services and through delivering training to HE managers and professional staff to be involved in the process. This way we hope to increase the quality of assistance provided to incoming PhD students and academics and contribute to stronger welcoming institutional cultures attracting more international talents. Six experienced partners from five countries will join the forces to work towards these objectives, among them three universities (Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia University of Nis, Serbia, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria), two mobility funding agencies (SAIA, Slovakia, NAWA, Poland) and a European-level federation of national organisations supporting HE internationalisation (ACA, Belgium). Comprehensive set of activities is foreseen to fulfil the project goals. The project will start with an in-depth mapping and analysis to ensure the developed tools will be anchored in the specific HE institutional realities in the target region and will reflect the specific needs of PhD students and academic staff. In the next step, a model welcome service framework proposing flexible mix of services and activities to support this target group will be drafted using the examples of existing measures implemented across Europe and adapting them according to the needs and limitations identified in the initial analysis. An online app will be created to facilitate the use of the framework. Comprehensive training programme supporting implementation of measures proposed in the framework will be developed and its content will be transformed into online form. To pilot test the programme, international training will be organised for HE managers and professional staff who should then be able to take over the initiative in developing and delivering services proposed by the model service framework at their institutions and act as multipliers promoting project outcomes among their colleagues. To spread the project outcomes beyond the project consortium, project partners will organise national dissemination workshops for representatives of HE institutions and key stakeholders in their country. Finally, international dissemination conference will be carried out to present the project outcomes to other HE institutions across the CE-SE European region as well as to the European level actors active in promoting internationalisation of HE education. All the outputs will be designed in a way to be easily transferred to other contexts and institutional settings.The major impact is expected within the participating HE institutions and beyond, in the CESEE region. HEIs should be able to take more strategic approach to supporting incoming mobility of PhD students and faculty, improve the management processes in the area of internationalisation and develop services addressing the existing mobility obstacles. HE managers involved in project activities will be able to make better evidence-based decisions about the strategies they develop and implement in the area of international mobility. Members of the support staff will understand the specific needs of mobile PhD students and academics, will have a good knowledge about the most common obstacles they face and will be familiar with a broad spectrum of possible services and measures and available tools to support this target group. And finally, international PhD students and academic staff coming for mid and long-term stays will gain an easy access to assistance they need before and during their stay and thanks to this they will be able to enjoy the full benefits of their mobility.In general terms, the project outputs are expected to contribute to higher professionalisation of the university services for international PhDs and academic staff, more efficient recruitment and higher attractivity for talents and raised international credit of the universities.