Internationalisation today is measured in collaboration: it is not only mobility, but alliances that promote shared projects, academic networks and new opportunities in teaching and research. Along these lines, the relationship between the UCAM and the Daffodil International University (DIU) of Bangladesh has become one of the most solid academic bridges of UCAM in South Asia.

Since 2015, both institutions have maintained a constant collaboration based on the exchange of experts, teacher training and international mobility, which translates into stays, institutional visits, specific Erasmus+ agreements and scholarships that enable students and teachers to enjoy a very productive international experience.

Bangladesh is a country with a growing university ecosystem and a youth population that is very oriented towards international training, so the collaboration between Daffodil University and UCAM allows for the creation of new university opportunities: exchanges, intercultural experiences and shared projects.

A partnership that began in 2015

Dr Sabur Khan, founder and president of the DIU, paid an official visit to the Los Jerónimos Campus to meet with the UCAM Presidency in October 2015. That meeting served to seal the commitment to work on joint educational projects and opened up an institutional relationship that, a decade later, continues to grow.

Internationalisation is not about adding agreements, it is about building collaborations that generate real opportunities for students and faculty.

Erasmus+ as a driving force

In addition to the previous route, a specific agreement was signed for the Erasmus programme in 2022, which made it possible to activate new mobility channels. In the Erasmus KA171 calls for 2022 and 2023, UCAM obtained funding for:

• Receiving students and teaching/admin staff from DIU.
• Send UCAM teaching/admin staff to Bangladesh through the programme.

Erasmus+ thus becomes a key tool for transforming academic cooperation into tangible international experiences. 

In addition, both institutions are activating new channels of research collaboration, with the aim of identifying areas of common interest and building stable working teams between the two institutions. This line of cooperation is based on direct contact between academic staff and the creation of a framework to progressively facilitate joint initiatives (specialised seminars, academic stays, exchange of methodologies and exploration of future shared proposals).

Talent exchange

The UCAM-DIU relationship stands out for something very specific: it is sustained by people who travel, share methodologies and generate impact. In January 2023, Dr Patricia Coloma Peñate, lecturer in the area of Languages at UCAM, carried out a teaching stay at Daffodil University as part of the Erasmus+ programme, where she gave seminars and classes in the Department of English, reinforcing academic cooperation and the exchange of teaching approaches.

This work continued in January 2024 with the visit of Giovanni Urru, from the UCAM Marketing and International Admissions team, who travelled to Bangladesh for promotional seminars and technical coordination meetings at the Daffodil University campus. This stay allowed for closer collaboration with the local internationalisation team, led by Syed Raihan-Ul-Islam, and to align lines of work for the region.

The academic dimension of the partnership was extended to new areas in February 2025, with the visit of Professor Manuel Hernández from the field of Gastronomy. Such placements not only consolidate the teaching collaboration, but also open the door to valuable materials and content to communicate the partnership and make its impact visible.

Incoming mobility: DIU students at UCAM with scholarships of over €6,000

The collaboration not only promotes UCAM team stays in Bangladesh. It also brings international talent to Murcia. In the second semester of the academic year 2025/2026, three students from Daffodil International University will carry out an Erasmus exchange at UCAM, with scholarships funded by the EU and assumed by UCAM for an amount of more than €6,000 per student.

UCAM International Staff Week: Bangladesh also on campus

Mobility works in both directions. During International Staff Week (April 2025), UCAM hosted two DIU lecturers from Murcia, also on EU-funded Erasmus scholarships. These visits are particularly valuable because:

• They create links between teams,
• accelerate joint projects,
• and enrich university life through international perspectives.

A partnership with impact on teams and projects

The collaboration between UCAM and Daffodil University translates into staff mobility, transfer of methodologies and coordination between university structures. This joint work is also facilitating the identification of common interests to promote new lines of academic and research collaboration.

A relationship aligned with the UCAM DNA: training with an international outlook

UCAM promotes a university connected to the world, and agreements such as the one with DIU reinforce this positioning. This alliance is particularly suited to areas in high demand among young professionals:

• Languages and international communication
• Marketing and global strategy
• Gastronomy and experiences
• International relations and multicultural environments

University management and educational innovation