The purpose of the project - establishment of a bilateral, institutional cooperation - has been to develop cooperation in the areas, education, research and administration between Malmö University (Mah) and Roskilde University (RU), in a way that strengthen the integration of the Oresundregion. The method has been a number of concrete activities. These activities have served as the project's red thread. The activities were divided into four sub-categories:

Activity 1, Research collaboration
Activity 2, Educational collaboration
Activity 3, Collaboration in the field of Ph.D. studies
Activity 4, Exchange of administrative staff

Activity 1 - Research collaboration
This activity was initiated in November 2008 when the project started and the task was to develop collaboration between four different research groups: “Governing mechanisms in the Oresund Region” and" Strategic Communication in the Oresund Region", "Social innovation in the Oresund Region" and "Migration and integration in the Oresund Region.

Activity 2 - Educational collaboration
The overall goal of the project's educational activity was to increase the mobility among students at the two universities. The methods for this was two pilot projects under the subjects History and Communications, and information material.

Activity 3 – Collaboration in the field of Ph.D. studies
This activity had two objectives. One goal was to identify how the two universities could join in the utilization of their resources in co-organized Ph.D. courses, and strengthen their roles and visibility on the research area. The second objective was to investigate whether Roskilde Science Sunrise Conference (RSSC) could develop into an “Oresund Regional” concept with roots in both universities.

Activity 4 - Exchange of administrative staff
The goal of this activity was to share insight about working methods and establish a foundation forcollaboration between staff. The method was study visits.

Results:
The attempt to establish an institutional partnership that focuses on various forms of activities is slightly different in comparison to normal practice, when collaboration within universities takes place. In most cases, the focus is solely on research or education and the contact between the researchers are already established. The project fulfilled the objective of establishing four different cross-border collaborations, all with roots in the community, two of them with external partners.

The student mobility is at the moment seen in an average of 35-40 students per semester, more than 20 persons have participated in knowledge exchange every year and a bit fewer teachers have participated in educational exchange. The project has identified that the majority of students, who are interested in studying cross-border are international students.

Overall, the project has fulfilled the project goals, and above all; many new activities - such as cooperation in the recruitment of international students – have been created.

Final remarks
When carrying out a project with a goal to establish a new form of cooperation, and when working with offset in an open (bottom-up) framework, it is a risk that many ideas and proposals do not materialize. This was a risk in all the activities that the project initiated, but was by far biggest in the field of education. Since many aspects of education such as admission, degree requirements and the prerequisites are governed by national rules, there is a risk that ideas on how to cooperate may turn out to be impossible to realize. It is therefore crucial to continuously examine and ensure that the proposals and ideas can be put into practice.

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