Abstract:

Technological development and other global changes in recent years have significantly influenced the way we think, teach, learn, and communicate. Although technology-supported learning and teaching brought some advantages, face-to-face interaction still has a huge value in terms of building relationships that strengthen the knowledge-acquiring process. While attending classes in a well-known environment is a comfortable option for gaining new knowledge, academic international mobility programs promise to deliver challenges and benefits in developing personal growth and new experiences. This led to new forms of teaching, and consequently to new forms of international academic mobility programmes. One of the innovations that combines both are Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs). This paper presents the theoretical framework of blended learning and blended mobility as two well-known concepts, but also the theoretical background of BIPs as a new form of international mobility that is increasingly becoming more significant. The theoretical background of BIPs is based on a relatively scarce pool of scientific papers that can be found in relevant databases. Therefore, one of the basic contributions of this paper is the summarization of existing literature covering the topic. Further, this paper also demonstrates an overview of procedures that have been identified through experience in conducting numerous BIPs in the last three years.

The procedures are visually presented and described in detail through individual phases of running a BIP:
(1) planning,
(2) preparation,
(3) implementation, and
(4) analysis.

In addition, a specific learner selection process from a case study is presented through a process model and described as an illustration of the complexity of procedures, corroborating the early maturity state of this kind of internationalization in higher education institutions. Therefore, one of the main goals of this paper is to contribute to more understanding of new academic international mobility programs, reveal experiences in running them, and point out specific procedures in order to guide future applicants and participants of BIPs to what they should avoid or include in their BIPs.

Keywords:

Erasmus+, Blended Learning, Blended Mobility, Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP), Procedure, Higher Education Institutions.