The first Training of Trainers (ToT) for the CHAIn project took place from March 3rd to 7th, 2025, at the University of South East Asia in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This first session focused on skills for IRO staff and fundraising, while a second session will focus on top-management staff, including leadership and networking skills, scheduled for Fall. These workshops aim to build capacity for internationalisation.

The training involved 24 staff members from different Cambodian higher education institutions. The first two workshops addressed establishing an International Relations Office (IRO) and implementing best practices for internationalisation. Participants worked in groups to create an ideal IRO based on theoretical guidance from Saarland University. A third workshop on fundraising strategies was led by experts Roberto Escarré and Carolina Madeleine, who offered practical advice based on their experience working in the Institutional Project Management Office (OGPI) that since its foundation over 20 years ago has gained and managed over 255 projects with over 1300 partners in 117 countries all over the world.

The participants reported after the training week that what they liked the most about the training was the interactive dynamics, the clear communication, the structure, and particularly having the opportunity to acquire this information and recommendations from trainers with a strong experience and expertise in the matter. They also pointed out that, as a result of this training they will improve their IROs, reconsider their existing strategy, organise internal trainings on the basic concepts and strategies of internationalisation, and even disseminate existent practices of Internationalisation at Home and link them with the IRO strategy and practices. 

In general, this training course served the participants to reflect on their current performance to advance internationalisation, to identify their weaknesses and to take the necessary steps to improve their International Offices and their current practices, as well as to develop some of the required skills to ensure that internationalisation in their institutions is successful. After the first and second part of the Training of Trainers, the Cambodian participants will have to replicate the training workshops to 480 Cambodian HEI staff including internal staff from the partner institutions, but also other institutions not involved in the project, what will in turn contribute to improving skills for internationalisation in the Cambodian HEI landscape.