The Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) coordinated one pillar of the multi-faceted Erasmus Mundus Global Promotion Project, financed by the European Commission. A collection of studies addressed the feasibility of various education promotion services, as well as a subsequent pilot project and conference will be the focal points of this endeavour.

The first integrated attempt to bolster the attractiveness of Europe as a destination of higher education, this project aimed to

1) Improve availability and accessibility of information on European study opportunities and
2) Enhance the professional capacity of Europe to proactively promote itself as a destination of higher education.

ACA, with the help of partners DAAD and CampusFrance, as well as subcontractor JWT Education, have assumed a series of studies within the framework of this project, addressing primarily ‘Innovative Services for international study’. This entailed:

1) a feasibility study for the potential launch of an online information service (call centre) for European higher education, (to be carried out by JWT)

2) a comprehensive analysis of the existing networks of promoters and national information offices in higher education and subsequent recommendations as to what form a European network of promoters/information offices should take, and a pilot project in a target country (Mexico), based on the outcomes and recommendations of the aforementioned study.

3) a study on current trends in transnational education (TNE) (e.g. distance education, branch campuses, and joint programmes) was completed in July 2008. The study maps the current supply and demand for European transnational education, and analyses the possible opportunities and risks for European providers in this area. It contains five extensive country reports that look in detail into the provision of transnational education, in terms of policies and practice, in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Furthermore, the study includes an analysis of the profile of typical transnational education students and their decision making mechanisms based on a web-survey.