The project will create a consortium of key strategic partners involved in innovative teaching, research and publishing in the field of small state studies and European integration. Small state studies is an under-developed research field best suited for development through the collaborative efforts of higher education institutions in small states. The strategic partners in this project are academically recognized leaders focusing on specific aspects of small state studies. Transversal synergy and cross-fertilization will be created by pooling capacities from the partners. The overall objective of the project is therefore to address the challenges concerning the need to develop the field of small state studies. This will be achieved by utilizing innovative practices in education with the strategic use of information and communication technologies (ICT), open educational resources (OER), promoting awareness and close cooperation. The project will ultimately improve the capacities of the participating institutions and promote cross-border collaborative learning, teaching and research. The objectives of the project are linked to the following activities: i. intensive study programmes, ii. blended mobility, iii. multiplier events, iv. new open-access online courses and curricula, and v. new academic publications. These activities will be developed in close cooperation between the strategic partners and will be based on four interlinked key teaching and research pillars. These pillars are built on the specific expertise of the partners and jointly create new inter-regional synergies fostering the development of the field at the European level. Pillar 1: The role of small states in European integration Pillar 2: Good governance, innovation and entrepreneurship in small states Pillar 3: Foreign policy and security challenges of small states Pillar 4: Promoting sustainable development in small states To fulfill the objectives of the project, the Centre for Small State Studies at the University of Iceland and the strategic partners will: 1. Organize an annual intensive study programme in Iceland where participants from all strategic partners (teachers and students) meet. A second programme will be hosted at Vilnius University in Lithuania each year. These study programmes will promote structured transnational cooperation linked to the above mentioned four pillars. 2. Blended mobility activities will be utilized to promote the professional transversal engagement of staff and students. This will contribute to the removal of artificial boundaries and promote capacity building and cross-national synergies, as well as promote inter-European collaboration on small states studies. 3. Open access on-line teaching material will be created jointly by all partners in the consortium and made available to all. Furthermore, teachers from different universities within the consortium will jointly develop new courses that students from the partner universities can actively participate in. Software such as Moodle will be utilized with the emphasis that the students, and not just teachers, can contribute to the virtual educational experience. Using on-line technology, students will be supervised in their final dissertations by academic staff from across the partner universities, facilitating access to expertise and insight that may not be necessarily available at their home university. The consortium thus truly aims at inter-European integration vis-à-vis the delivery of knowledge about small state studies. 4. With the new forms of cooperation listed above, the consortium will develop multidisciplinary research projects, deliver scientific publications in the field, drawn from the four pillars, and increase public access and knowledge by offering open seminars aimed at disseminating the intellectual output realized by the project. Each strategic partner brings a particular strength to the consortium linked to the four pillars. The partners, in addition to the Centre for Small State Studies at the University of Iceland, are: - University of Copenhagen (Denmark) - Vilnius University (Lithuania) - Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) - University of St. Andrews (Scotland/United Kingdom) - University of Malta (Malta) As a whole, the consortium aims to trigger the further modernization and internationalization in the involved higher education institutions and to remove artificial boundaries set by geography. All of this to be delivered in the realm of small state studies – an under-developed research field and one which, to date, has not established an active and vital transnational collaboration effort such as envisaged by this project. The future goal of the consortium is to develop a joint Masters programme in small state studies. This initial collaborative project should thus be seen as a first step in that ultimate direction.