The conference was organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nordland and the NORRUSS project “Higher Education in the High North: Regional Restructuring through Educational Exchanges and Student Mobility” (funded by The Research Council of Norway).

Cooperation between higher educational institutions (HEIs) became the main conference topic in a time and world portrayed as increasingly globalized. The conference was designed to be an arena for knowledge exchange, debate and discussion on International Educational Collaboration involving HEIs and international organizations. Conference participants discussed new trends in transnational education, the results of international collaboration in education, its failures and successful outcomes.

National Information Centre gave a keynote speech regarding the role of recognition institutions in the sphere of academic mobility. Main directions of internationalization in Russia, international students, joint programmes and practice of NIC in terms of foreign education recognition were presented as part of the report. University of Nordland representatives showed their interest in further cooperation and development of new joint programmes within the Barents region and beyond.