The project has two main objectives:

• Upscale the use of the existing eQuATIC prototype

The general use of eQuATIC will lead to better monitoring of quality of international cooperation and will contribute to more successful partnerships and therefore a more efficient European Higher Education Area. This needs to happen with a minimum of workload of concerned university staff members. Experience has shown that creating separate and specific monitoring instruments that require surveys or conducting specific activities focus on the product rather than on the process. Keeping the focus on the process however, is a prerequisite for improving quality and hence setting up a process-focused instrument increases the return on investment for institutions and in a broader sense also for governments. Ultimately, this will lower the threshold for students and staff to become more internationally active. The quality of their international experience often depends on the quality of the partnerships themselves and are therefore a decisive element whether to take part in international activities in the first place.

By upscaling eQuATIC into an international system for partnerships evaluation, it can be used as an online peer assessment tool. Reports can be generated about partners and about the institution’s performance in the perspective of the respective partner. This can form the basis for quality improvement measures in international cooperation for both partners.

• Initiate a debate about quality assurance in internationalisation

Quality assurance and internationalisation are very often two different worlds. However institutions should become more wary when it comes to quality of e.g. student mobility and institutional partnerships. General Q&A practices should be applied to internationalisation processes.

eQuATIC will contribute to the debate about quality assurance in internationalisation by bringing the topic on the policy making agenda. Part of this more qualitative internationalisation approach is to stimulate data-informed decision making. Data-informed decision making is also central in the eQuATIC approach towards quality of international partnerships.