CONTEXT and BACKGROUND From September 2013 onwards, KATHO (B KORTRIJ01) and KHBO (B BRUGGE11) have become VIVES, as a result of the cooperation between KATHO, with campuses in Kortrijk, Roeselare, Tielt, Torhout and KHBO, with campuses in Brugge and Oostende. At this moment, mergers in the field of higher education are a common trend in Flanders. With approximately 12.500 students, VIVES is one of the biggest university college in Flanders. VIVES University College, with its modern and competence-based higher education, its innovative practical research, and its services provided to society, offers an adequate response to today’s and tomorrow’s social challenges. IVES is an appreciative, friendly, and people-oriented university college which concentrates on professionally oriented Bachelor Degrees and Associate Degrees. In doing so the university college ensures that its students contribute to the globalised world both as human beings and as professionals. VIVES is fully and actively committed to the development of competences. Students are given every opportunity to work on their future. Design Your Future as the university college’s baseline underlines this. VIVES believes it is important for its staff members to do their jobs with enthusiasm. That’s why the university college offers them extensive opportunities to develop and spread their expertise. VIVES opts to give centre stage to responsibility and ownership, and appreciation and respect for each individual. Sustainability is another important commitment for VIVES. VIVES aims to be a trendsetter in higher professional education through innovation. VIVES is the place to be for a broad choice and interesting offer. - 12.500 students - 1.250 staff members (650 FTE) - 162 researchers - 2.400 graduates/year - 1.050 final projects/year - 6 campuses - 6 study-areas - 29 practice-oriented course programmes - 52 specialisations - 107 applied research projects - 6 centres of excellence OBJECTIVES VIVES encourages students and staff to enhance their international orientation by anchoring internationalization in the curricula. Each study area creates 'mobility windows' thus giving all students the opportunity to study abroad. Also the incoming students enjoy mobility windows in all programs. This can be done by offering modules in English in which our own students can participate. VIVES creates opportunities to acquire international skills through 'internationalization @ home'. Internationalization is a fundamental part of the professionalization of all employees. VIVES provides opportunities for lifelong learning in the field of international competencies. Students and staff have the opportunity to develop their language skills. VIVES creates a welcoming learning and working environment in which foreign colleagues and students feel at home and can develop. VIVES gives students and staff international opportunities and supports them to step into high-quality programs offered by our international partners with whom we have sustained and structural contacts. NUMBER and TYPE of PARTICIPANTS Students mobility for traineeships: 56 participants for in total 155 months mobility for studies: 107 participants for in total 488 months Staff mobility for teaching: 51 participants for in total 266 days mobility for training: 9 participants for in total 52 days UNDERTAKEN ACTIVITIES Mobilities for traineeships: students to 14 different countries; staff to 7 different countries. Mobilities for studies: students to 20 different countries. Mobilities for teaching: staff to 17 different countries. RESULTS and IMPACT For a small country like Belgium, and in particular for Flanders being a small region in Europe, an international orientation, including in education and training, is a necessity for economically survival in an increasingly globalized world. It is unquestionable that internationalisation improves the quality of education. Standards are here, among other things, the surplus value concerning knowledge, skills, one’s personality and specialized professional and occupational competency. Besides commercial and quality considerations, internationalisation must become a recipe for intercultural competency and culture learning. Nowadays graduates require openness to new experiences and different ways of thinking, and a willingness to move outside one’s own cultural orientation, respecting and learning from other cultures. Education and learning must contribute to a peaceful world by preparing students to live and work in a multicultural society in which diversity goes without saying. A global world does not mean fading away all different cultural identities. On the contrary, diversity increases, and students just have to learn to deal with cross-cultural relationships.