The first part of CHAIN’s Training of Trainers (ToT) has just begun in the University of South East Asia in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This CHAIn’s ToT 1, taking place from the 3^rd to the 7^th of March 2025 will focus on IRO staff needed skills, it will be followed by the ToT2 focusing on top-management staff including leadership, intercultural communication and networking skills, which will take place in Fall. These workshops are a core part of the CHAIn project and really much relate to the aim of these project of building capacity for internationalisation. 

On the first day of this training week, an inauguration session has taken. In this session, the President of the host institution (USEA), Dr. Sothy Mean has given some welcome remarks, the Under-Secretary of State from the Ministry of Higher Education, Youth and Sport, Dr. Som Rotana has participated with an Opening Speech and last, CHAIn Coordinator from USAAR, Bettina Jochum and Work package 4 Leader (which includes the ToT) from UA, Elena Olmos, have provided a brief overview of the project and the training agenda for the coming days. These interventions have been given to an audience formed by the ToT1’s but also by USEA students.  

This inauguration session was followed by the first Training Session which focused on the establishment of an International Relations Office (IRO). This session was carried out following a theory-practical logic in which 5 groups were formed including representatives of the different partner institutions that had to discuss and create the “perfect IRO”, which will result from the day 1 and day 2 sessions. 

In this day 1, focusing in Foundations and Strategic Planning of IRO the topics that were discussed, in which the participants had to reflect and which resulted on exchange of best practices between the different trainees were the following: 

• The strategic role of an International Office, which included a definition of internationalisation, understanding the importance of internationalisation in higher education institutions and its role to achieve institutional goals (including educational quality, student employability, research, global ranking and international prestige, etc.).  

• Planning and structuring an International Office, focused on assessing institutional needs and goals, defining the actions of an IRO and putting in place problem-solving approaches. 

• Different forms of mobility and how to react to them, which highlighted the basics and benefits of physical and online mobility including its contribution to student employability with the acquisition of the hard-to-gain transferable skills which are particularly valued by employers. During this session, some insights about different types of mobility which included co-designed exchange, international joint universities, micro-credentials and internationalisation at home.

To sum up, this first training day contributed to increasing the understanding of participants on the key aspects for the foundation and strategic planning of an International Relations Office but also to exchange experiences and best practices which consequently served them to learn from each other and identify the missing roles/functions in their institutions. They also acquired a deeper understanding of the different types of mobility and how to include them in their internationalisation strategies and activities.