From 17 to 19 November 2025, teachers and staff members from the five partners institutions gathered in an enthusiastic atmosphere at the university of Caen Normandie for the IKAS project kick-off meeting.

IKAS – Intercultural Skills for Administrative Staff in Higher Education Institutions – aims to enhance the language and intercultural skills of administrative staff to meet the needs of increasingly international university communities.

Delegations from five partner universities arrived at Caen to further develop pedagogical solutions, to share responsibilities and to agree on the overall management of IKAS project. It is very motivating for the highly professional teachers to exchange expertise and address common challenges together.

The IKAS project partners are the University of Caen Normandie, the University of Lapland,  the University of Valladolid, the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, the University of Pardubice, and the University of Fribourg. The IKAS project receives funding from the French Erasmus Agency and Movetia – the Swiss National Agency for Exchange and Mobility. The Normandy region generously supported the project by covering the costs of bringing additional members from partners universities to the kick-off meeting in Caen.