The Embedded Mobility Toolkit

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is a teaching and learning format that allows you to internationalise your courses without the need for physical mobility. By using digital tools, COIL can connect students and lecturers from across all Circle U. universities within existing courses.

COIL courses are flexible in design, encourage interdisciplinary projects and can, depending on the setup, be implemented with little administrative effort to foster innovative, cross-border learning experiences for your students. Together with Circle U. partners, you develop teaching units that connect two existing courses at the participating universities. Students from different countries and cultural backgrounds work together in mixed groups to complete a task cooperatively.

Depending on the content of the course and the experience of the instructors and students, collaboration can range from a single online session to a semester-long project with a joint final assignment.

An Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) is a short, collaborative learning experience developed by at least three higher education institutions from three Erasmus+ Programme countries. It combines physical mobility abroad, lasting 5 to 30 days, with a compulsory virtual component supporting online collaboration and teamwork. For students, the programme must award at least 3 ECTS credits.

BIPs are designed around innovative, intensive and transnational learning, teaching or training, rather than simply adding mobility to a conventional course. They can bring together students and staff from all levels and/or different disciplines and institutions to address shared challenges through active, collaborative methods.

For academics, a BIP offers a practical way to internationalise an existing course, summer school or collaborative activity, test new partnerships and create learning outcomes enriched by multiple institutional perspectives.

Successful BIPs require early agreement on academic leadership, learning outcomes, assessment, recognition, partner roles, recruitment and the organisation of the virtual and physical components.

Exchange tracks are pre-approved mobility pathways where courses and learning outcomes have already been quality assured. They are designed to integrate international experience seamlessly into degree programmes, ensuring that exchange periods are predictable, academically relevant, and do not delay graduation.

Exchange tracks can be reciprocal or non-reciprocal. Reciprocal tracks require academic departments at both institutions to align their curricula and course offerings. In non-reciprocal tracks, a home institution agrees with a host university to send a specified number of students for a defined period, such as one semester, with access to designated courses.

This model is particularly valuable for language studies, where students can study a language in a country where it is spoken. At the same time, partner institutions may benefit from access to academic fields that are especially strong at the home institution, creating mutually beneficial opportunities for student mobility.

Joint programmes are study programmes developed and delivered by two or more Circle U. universities and/or associated partners. Students follow an integrated curriculum and may study at more than one institution during their degree. In some cases, they receive a joint degree awarded collectively by the partner universities.

Joint programmes have been strongly supported through the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the Bologna Process, as they promote cooperation between universities and make it easier for students to study across borders. Joint programmes offer important benefits for students, institutions, and society. Students gain international ex-perience, develop intercultural skills, and access expertise, courses, and resources from multiple Circle U. univer-sities. Circle U. universities strengthen their partnerships, collaborate on curriculum development, and improve the recognition and quality of their programmes. Joint programmes also support student mobility, credit transfer, and shared quality assurance processes.