In November CMEPIUS in cooperation with the US embassy organised special trainings on developing an effective recruitment strategy for American students. The workshops were organised in three different regions thus enabling participants from different universities to get familiar with American HE system, needs of the specific target groups (what is the American student looking for abroad), good case practices and other useful information. New information, approach and debates brought up new ideas in addressing foreign students not only of from USA but also other countries. The workshops were delivered by two experts from US higher education institutions.

With this CEEPUS generation of programme coming to an end, CMEPIUS organised a conference to present and to some extent compare the outcomes of the programme with the Erasmus+ programme. Studies show that both programmes have a huge positive impact on individuals and institutions and good case practices that can be shared and exchanged. The latter was evaluated as very useful, since over 50 participants of the event – coordinators of either or both programmes, commented that they received valuable insights on how to implement experience from one programme to another to achieve even larger impact.

On 4 December CMEPIUS had their traditional yearly event, where they presented national awards “apples of quality” to institutions that have achieved a wider institutional or systematic impact through their international cooperation. In the field of higher education DOBA Faculty was awarded for developing special programmes of virtual mobilities, such as virtual summer school Creative Cross Cultural Communication, and implementing those in their regular learning activities including Erasmus+ activities as preparation for mobilities or as part of internationalisation at home.