The Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) is a leading European association supporting research, innovative practice-development and smart policymaking in international higher education (IHE). ACA capitalises on its network of members, partners, and experts to enable transnational knowledge transfer and foster internationalisation of HE for high-quality, inclusive, innovative, and sustainable education, with impact on the economy and society at large.

In 2022, ACA continued to work towards these goals through supporting the promotion and implementation of key European policies and programmes in the field of higher education in line with four priorities of the Von der Leyen Commission, embedded in the Erasmus+ programme and the 2020 European Education Area (EEA) Communication.

Activities proposed under this project particularly supported the inclusion and digitalisation angles of international higher education. Specifically, ACA focused on further building capacity of its members and higher education professionals to better address & incorporate these priorities through holding thematically-oriented peer exchanges for its members (WP1 & WP2) and widely disseminating related good practice and recommendations (WP3). It also contributed to the co-creation and promotion of new policy frameworks at the EU level via a dedicated event and related policy input on effective transnational collaboration (WP2).

The association has sound implementation procedures in place based on effective management, quality assurance and monitoring activities, and on substantial expertise of its staff. Combined with an ambitious set of dissemination activities, this ensured far-reaching impact on the association itself and its main target groups. As a result of activities covered by this grant, ACA is a stronger, more participatory and resilient association, enabling its members to better deal with ongoing changes in the field and guide the national higher education sectors on new topics.