Since 2008, the Social Work program has been collaborating with the Ministry of Education, which has established a functioning elementary school system in the refugee camps near Tindouf. In addition to mutual visits and workshops, training needs for teachers were identified and discussed. With the founding of Tifariti University in 2013, there is now an opportunity to continue and intensify this exchange at the university level.

As part of the project, a student exchange program is taking place between the Social Work program at CU Carinthia University and Tifariti University (a university located in a refugee camp).

Through this exchange, the Austrian students were able to use their experience abroad to better understand certain cultural and political contexts and apply their intercultural skills when working with refugees. In this way, they have acquired additional skills for the European job market.

Through their stay in Austria, the West African students learned about global contexts and, above all, European culture. This helped them identify and discuss similarities and differences between the two cultural spheres. This knowledge and their newly acquired intercultural skills should help them in future collaborations with European countries.

Above all, the exchange made us realize that while a university located in a refugee camp requires special forms of support, it is certainly capable of aligning with a global understanding of academia.

Through the exchange with colleagues abroad, the faculty members gained new insights for teaching and research with a view toward future grant applications. Two young female academics have already been identified in the camps in Algeria to help establish a research team. This research team should be able to study the refugee community itself according to international standards.

As part of the project, there was intensive cooperation with institutions in Carinthia (Diakonie, Kinderfreunde, etc.) as well as other universities (University of Innsbruck, University of Ljubljana). Accompanying the project, a book was published in the fall of 2018 that includes contributions from CU Carinthia University, as well as the University of Innsbruck, the Technical University of Cologne, and the University of Ljubljana. Interaction with guests from Algeria and learning from their expertise sparked a process of reflection on working with refugees at the regional level. The topic of organizing refugee camps was discussed with the Carinthian State Councilor for Integration at the Austrian State Councilors’ meeting. Local students and institutions developed an understanding of how to interact with refugees from Arab cultures.

Professors and students from Tifariti University are sharing the experience gained from the project through their membership in the African Union.

Since 2005, CU Carinthia University has been collaborating with the National Technical University of Ukraine (NTU "KhPI") on several Tempus projects, among other initiatives. Several students and professors have already participated in exchange programs.

The ICM project builds on the idea developed in the TEMPUS project ICo-oP, in which non-traditional laboratories were introduced but not yet further developed.

As part of this project, Ukrainian students attend courses at CU Carinthia University designed to help them gain a deep understanding of the technology used and to experience non-traditional learning methods through “pocket labs.” During their stay at CU, Ukrainian instructors receive mentoring and are permitted to assist university faculty in their lectures by using “Pocket Labs.” Working with non-traditional labs enhances the quality of the teaching process in technical degree programs. The introduction of this new methodology benefits not only other educational institutions but also small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in this technology.

The 2018 ICM project at CU Carinthia University is highly complex and involves institutions from countries in Southeast Europe (University of Shkodër in Albania, University of Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Heimerer College in Kosovo) as well as Armenia (American University of Armenia), the Russian Federation (Saint Petersburg State University of Economics) and Ukraine (Kharkiv National Polytechnic Institute). The main objective of the project is to strengthen the partnership between the above-mentioned institutions and CU, with a focus on the digitization of teaching, joint online teaching modules and training in specific fields of interest.The 2019 ICM project at CU Carinthia University involves collaboration with two partner universities: the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in South Africa. A successful partnership with CPUT has been in place for seven years in the field of business, focusing on student exchanges. The project objectives include the following aspects: faculty exchanges to gain expertise in innovative teaching, project-based practical applications in the field of business simulation and student exchanges to foster intercultural and global competencies.

The 2019 ICM Project at CU Carinthia University is collaborating with two partner universities: the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in South Africa. A successful partnership with CPUT in the field of business has been in place for 7 years, focusing on student exchanges. The project’s objectives include the following: faculty exchanges to gain expertise for innovative teaching, project-based practical applications in the field of business simulation and student exchanges to foster intercultural and global competencies.

The ICM Project 2020 at CU Carinthia University is distinguished by its complex structure and its partnership with seven countries. The following universities are participating: Algeria (University of Tifariti), Argentina (Universidad Nacional de Rosario), Armenia (National University of Architecture and Construction), Bosnia and Herzegovina (University of Banja Luka), Tanzania (Institute of Social Work), two universities in Ukraine (National Technical University Kharkiv Polytechnical Institute, Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics) and Russia (Saint Petersburg State University of Economics). The main objective of the project is to strengthen the partnership between the above-mentioned institutions and CU Carinthia University, with a focus on the exchange of faculty and students. Subsequently, this cooperation will serve to develop joint teaching and research projects.

The 2022 ICM project at CU Carinthia University is once again characterized by a wide variety of partnerships. CU is collaborating with institutions in six countries across three continents. CU Carinthia University has agreed to new projects with institutions with which it has already successfully collaborated. For example, there are renewed collaborations with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in South Africa. CU has also succeeded in securing new partners: the University of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, the Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia in Brazil, Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania and the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel. The main goal of these partnerships is to intensify collaboration with the aforementioned institutions through student and faculty exchanges. Particular emphasis is placed on the goals of internationalizing teaching and research at CU Carinthia University and increasing student and staff mobility.