The National Round Table 1 (NRT 1) was conducted on August 19th and 20th, 2024, at the University of South-East Asia (USEA) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The NRT 1 aimed to:

• Facilitate Collaboration: Foster stronger connections between DGHE (MoEYS) and HEI’s IROs.
• Promote Dialogue: Cultivate a robust national discourse centered around HEI-IROs, encouraging meaningful discussions and knowledge sharing.
• Exchange Information: Facilitate both formal and informal exchanges of insights, ideas, and information related to IROs.
• Network Building: Create networks among IRO personnel, enabling collaboration, best practices, and mutual support.
• Data Collection: Gather comprehensive data to inform the development of a future Management Guide for IROs and an Internationalization Strategy.

The panels included not only CHAIn HEI members and MoEYS representatives but also HEIs outside of the CHAIn consortium. Most notably, students’ voices were presented, and the keynote speeches by MoEYS and DAAD added significant value to the event. This marked the first time that IRO practices were openly and collaboratively shared, demonstrating participants’ willingness to enhance and strategically develop the IRO Guideline and the IRO Strategy. 

The event included: 

• Two Keynote speeches on "Internationalisation! Why & How? Some examples from Vietnam", conducted by Mr. Felix Wagenfeld, DAAD Regional Office in Hanoi, and on "Supporting Higher Education Internationalisation in Cambodia" by Dr. Nith Bunlay, Deputy Director General of Higher Education in Cambodia. 
• Several panel discussions focusing on: (1) what are the leaders' roles to advance internationalisation in Higher Education in Cambodia; (2) what is the status of the IROs in Cambodia, particularly within the CHAIn's consortium and what actions they conduct nowadays; (3)  best practices for internationalisation at the Cambodian Higher Education Institutions, were representatives from other universities outside the consortium provided their insights; (4) lessons learned from EU experiences in internationalisation; and, finally (5) the students' perspective was taken into account and different students representatives participated in the conference sharing their views about the internationalisation efforts of their HEIs. 

Additionally, informal conversations during lunch and coffee breaks provided insights into networking and fostered strong connections among all participating HEIs. This fruitful meeting directly contributes to the further Internationalisation (INZ) Strategy development of each participating HEI and the nationwide strategy formulation in relation to IROs of HEIs in Cambodia. 

In general, it was a very big success as it brought together people from different regions of the Cambodian territory, spread across six different cities and provinces.

Moreover, there were efforts to involve students in this event and 61% of the participants were students that could learn more about the efforts on internationalisation conducted by their institutions and Ministry, as well as to express their views and opinions on the matter. 

This event constituted the first national forum where discussions focused on the Internationalisation of HEIs in Cambodia and managed to bring up together people from very various areas but which connect directly or indirectly to the advancement of internationalisation of Higher Education. This event also served to raise awareness on the need of internationalisation of Cambodian HEIs to meet the different global needs such as ensuring quality of education, providing the students with the skills to enter business market or to transfer knowledge between institutions.