Reinout Klamer wears several hats at the Hague University of Applied Sciences and one of the most important ones is as virtual collaboration coordinator. This role links well with his international background.
VE/COIL at THUAS
THUAS conducts extensive virtual exchange (VE) projects including about 60 initiatives reaching 2,100 students and involving 70 lecturers. Although VE projects began with individual lecturer initiatives, it has evolved into a more centralised approach with institutional support from leadership and a research group focused on global learning.
The above infographic illustrates some insights into how Reinout’s institution has managed to organise the VE projects.
“It’s more of an approach to try to institutionalise virtual collaboration and to support lecturers, but also to build a an ecosystem around that as well,” he explains.
“I was active with it from 2016 with a few lecturers doing forms of virtual exchange by themselves. At a certain moment, things began to shift and there was some pace gathered, with more projects developing. From then, it became more faculty led. As a result of this shift, it also became more centrally led. It’s really been a bottom up approach.”
He explains how this more centralised approach garnered institutional support from leadership and led to a research group focused on global learning. The institution emphasises internationalisation at home and conducts research on VE pedagogy and practices. Over time, they have shifted from single case studies to broader studies and involving multiple roles such as educational advisors and international coordinators.
“We’ve always been very pro-internationalisation at THUAS. The second important aspect to consider is the emphasis on research. We have a research group global learning, and they research the practice that we also do. This enables a kind of back and forth flow with practice. Sometimes it’s the practice that develops, and you can research that. And sometimes, it’s the research that develops, and then the practice can take advantage of that too.”
Continuous Improvement through Qualitative Research
As already mentioned, the focus at THUAS is very much on internationalisation at home.
“We try to give all our students an international learning experience,” Reinout explains.
“And one of the ways we do that is through COIL and VE and we research the pedagogy and other aspects associated with that. The other thing we try to do is to take a step from single case studies and look at what is happening more broadly.
“Sometimes lecturers can be rather too enthusiastic about researching their own practices and we are trying to steer away from this approach and to focus a bit more on the roles of those who are involved. By that, I mean the role of an educational advisor or an international coordinator, or the lecturers, or the students.
Then we try to take several of these projects or practices at one time and conduct research into those.”
Reinout says the research is often used for internal improvements, but some are published and can be found online in various places such as through Google scholar, blogs and magazines. Also via the VIS collaborative project here and at the university itself. See here for more.
Virtual Exchange Research Insights
Reinout explains how the research conducted by his team on virtual exchange/COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), focuses on institutional approaches and he says measuring quality in these programmes can be challenging.
“We need to look at people’s experience and opinions during an international collaboration and to that end, we interview both lecturers and students to gain insights into their respective experiences.”
The research reveals that Dutch students participating in virtual exchange projects tend to rate themselves highly on intercultural skills, but may face challenges in practice, particularly with digital and language aspects. Reinout emphases the importance of linking intercultural and language aspects to subject insights in virtual exchange projects.
“Through these virtual exchange projects, it’s not so much their technical language skills, but more the willingness to speak to others that is enhanced.
But it can also be the subject insights, and the increased knowledge of the subject itself. Plus, the insights from the other partner.”
Co-Design for Virtual Exchange Success
Reinout says the importance of co-design between lecturers for effective virtual exchange programmes cannot be underestimated. He emphasises how the lecturers receive support through training sessions and meetings with educational developers and how much the university is committed to virtual exchange and using it as a tool for internationalisation at home.
“It’s an ongoing process, not a one-time initiative. That support varies across different programmes and faculties. Reinout explains that the success of virtual exchange programmes lies in their flexibility and ability to meet diverse educational goals. This is what appeals to lecturers with different motivations and interests.
“With their first VE, our lecturers have to have a kind of mini-VE between themselves. By that, I mean they have to talk to each other. They have to collaborate to begin the design. They have to co-design. And the strength of that co-design is very important for the outcomes of what the students learn.
In terms of support, we encourage them to take at least two training sessions before they start a virtual exchange practice where they understand more about what collaborative learning is and what it isn’t.
Support is ongoing during their design and execution process with educational developers with an ongoing dialogue exchange between all those involved.”
Institutional support for VE
Reinout explains how funding and support for virtual exchange is an ongoing process.
“We haven’t yet fully institutionalised that part.
“Different programmes and faculty still have different approaches – also within our university. So sometimes lecturers get time and get everything on top of that. And in other cases, they don’t.
Lecturers have different motivations for initiating a virtual exchange. Some thrive on being international and they want their students to feel international. This is seen as a unique approach. Others love VE due to the content of the subject and the knowledge of their international colleague, for example. These aspects make VE a motivating pedagogy.
“Funded or not, it still takes time for the lecturer to develop and to deal with the flexibility that’s required. And to deal with the students, and that always seems a bit on top.
Because it is something different, it requires some different skills than your regular teaching.”
University’s Global Partnerships Overview
THUAS has over 200 international partners for various programmes. And that is not only for virtual exchange, but for everything combined. Two-thirds are within Europe and the remainder outside. They focus on both European collaborations for integrated study programmes and international perspectives on specific subjects not offered in-house, such as partnering with Ukrainian universities for war crimes studies and South African or Mexican institutions for intercultural management.
“Mostly the collaborations are within the humanities and I’d say take-up with STEM subjects is more challenging.
But the mindset is changing and some are becoming more open to it, albeit with strings attached!”
Stakeholders and Virtual Exchange
Reinout says that whilst working on institutionalising virtual exchange, it’s good to look at which stakeholders you can reach and which stakeholders are particularly important for you.
“There are also presentations at EAIE and on the Nuffic website where we focus on different Dutch institutions and ask some questions about how internationalisation at home really works.
It’s of course good to have enthusiastic lecturers and it’s essential to support them.
But it’s even better to think about who else can we involve to make sure it all happens.
A virtual exchange is never perfect the first time round, so there is always room for improvement next year. The best way forward is to learn by doing in this case.”
Main challenges for 2026 and Virtual exchange
“The main challenge is to really institutionalise the support for COIL/virtual exchange, and that means the certification. That means the hours. That means some standards.
Therefore, good discussions on how to organise this the best way are essential. Because yes, we have leadership support. Yes, we have capacity.
But we do not yet have everything in place to provide continuous support. So that is something that we want to focus on.”