OUK Hosts PROSPER Workshop to Advance Virtual Mobility and Digital Collaboration in Higher Education

The Open University of Kenya (OUK) successfully hosted a key workshop under the Erasmus+-funded PROSPER Project, bringing together higher education leaders, digital learning experts and international partners to develop practical frameworks for virtual mobility and digital collaboration across universities in Kenya and Europe. Held at Konza Technopolis on 30–31 March 2026, the Work Package 4 (WP4) workshop convened more than 30 participants from five partner institutions: the Open University of Kenya, the University of Eldoret, the European University Viadrina (Germany), Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University (France) and the Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa). The workshop marked a significant shift from assessing existing digital capacities to designing actionable solutions that will support internationalisation, virtual mobility and cross-border learning opportunities. Participants focused on developing shared standards, institutional frameworks and implementation pathways for digitally enabled academic collaboration. The workshop forms part of the broader PROSPER Project — Promoting Opportunities and Strengthening Partnerships for Enhanced Internationalisation between Europe and Kenya — which seeks to strengthen the global presence of Kenyan universities through capacity building, institutional development and enhanced international partnerships. The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and runs from 2025 to 2028. A major outcome of the workshop was the identification of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) as the most practical and immediate pathway for virtual mobility, enabling students and staff from partner institutions to collaborate on joint academic projects across national borders without the need for physical travel.