The EUGLOH Collaborative Master Initiative

This is a unique opportunity to strengthen your master’s programme, build international networks, and contribute to the future of education. 

The EUGLOH Collaborative Master Initiative is a project aimed at enhancing the quality of master’s education through international collaboration. By sharing resources, expertise, and fostering intercultural skills, the initiative provides students with new academic perspectives and opportunities to engage in a global learning environment.

The concept is built on the collaboration between two master’s programmes from different EUGLOH member institutions. These programmes may be closely aligned in focus or complementary, enabling opportunities for interdisciplinary exploration. The collaboration is designed to foster strong connections between the participating teachers, as well as a deeper understanding of each other’s programmes.

This initiative serves as a starting platform for developing this kind of collaboration. It does not require formal agreements, such as joint degrees, but focuses on facilitating collaboration through mobility opportunities, workshops, administrative support, and other resources. 

Collaboration formats

The EUGLOH Collaborative Master Initiative offers a variety of formats for collaboration between master’s programmes. These formats are designed to be flexible and adaptable, allowing programmes to choose the approach that best suits their needs and goals. Below is an overview of the suggested formats:

Guest lectures 
Guest lectures involve virtual or in-person lectures by teachers from the partner programme. Academic staff or professionals from one institution deliver lectures, seminars, or workshops at another university. This enriches the curriculum by introducing new perspectives, expertise, or industry insights. It also exposes students to diverse teaching styles, specialised knowledge, and global perspectives without requiring physical mobility.

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) 
COIL facilitates online collaboration between students and teachers from the two partner programmes. This format integrates shared learning experiences, such as group projects, discussions, or problem-solving activities, into the existing courses of both programmes. By working together virtually, students develop intercultural competence, digital literacy, and teamwork skills, while gaining insights into the academic approaches of their partner programme, without requiring physical mobility.

Co-supervision and co-assessment 
Co-supervision and co-assessment involve academic staff from both partner programmes jointly supervising and evaluating a student’s academic work, such as a master’s thesis or project. This collaboration ensures that students benefit from interdisciplinary perspectives and expertise from both institutions. It also aligns academic standards across the programmes, strengthening the quality and relevance of the students’ work.

Pedagogical Development 
Pedagogical development focuses on collaboration between faculty members from the two partner programmes to improve teaching quality and methods. This may include joint workshops, shared teaching resources, curriculum alignment, and experimentation with innovative pedagogical approaches. By working together, the programmes address teaching challenges and share best practices, ultimately enhancing the learning experience for students in both programmes.

Erasmus exchange studies and simplified course matching for exchange students 
This format involves students studying at a partner university in another country for a limited period through the Erasmus+ programme. This enables academic credit transfer, cultural immersion, and exposure to different teaching and research environments. It supports internationalisation and enhances students’ academic and personal growth.

Internship opportunities 
International internships involve collaboration between the two partner programmes to help students secure internships with organisations in the partner institution’s country. These internships may be credit-bearing and are typically supervised jointly by university staff and the host organisation. This format provides students with practical experience, builds professional networks, and enhances their employability, while strengthening ties between the partner programmes and external organisations.

Support and resources

The EUGLOH Collaborative Master Initiative is designed as start-up support to help master’s programmes establish meaningful collaborations. It provides the initial resources and framework needed to get started. By focusing on the early stages of collaboration, the initiative aims to lay the groundwork for successful partnerships that can grow and thrive over time. EUGLOH offers these resources to support the start-up phase of collaboration:

• Matchmaking: Assistance in finding suitable collaboration partners to ensure a strong foundation for the partnership.

• Workshops: Support in organising initial meetings and workshops for collaborating programmes to define goals and plan activities.

• Mobility scholarships: Collaboration pairs are allocated scholarships for 10 mobilities to meet for two full days. These mobilities can be used flexibly to facilitate planning and set up the collaboration. 

While the initiative focuses on start-up support, participants are encouraged to leverage additional funding and resources through existing programmes and institutional opportunities, such as Erasmus teacher mobility, the EUGLOH seed programme to develop new, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), Erasmus exchange for students, EUGLOH training activities for staff etc. 

By combining the initiative’s start-up support with these additional resources, participating programmes can establish strong, sustainable collaborations that enhance the quality of education and foster international partnerships.

Join the initiative

If you are interested in joining the EUGLOH Collaborative Master Initiative, we encourage you to submit your application by 1 December 2025 to the local EUGLOH office. To apply, please complete the provided template, which can be downloaded here. 

After EUGLOH has received your application, we will try to find a matching programme in line with your wishes. Hopefully the programmes can start exploring their collaboration in Spring 2026. 

The next application deadline is set to 1 February 2026.

For further information or assistance, please contact your local EUGLOH office.