Simulation of Sustainable International Business

The Erasmus+ higher education cooperation project Simulation of Sustainable International Business (SOS IB) was implemented by 3 higher education institutions and the institute for corporate sustainability from Western Balcan. The project was the respond to the identified needs of partners’ institutions to enhance access to higher education internationalisation through the integration of digital solutions into teaching practices. Concretely, 2 partner HEIs faced challenges in internationalisation through physical mobility due to employed, family-oriented students and business-engaged lecturers. Their focus on accounting and finance further limited curriculum internationalisation due to national regulations. The third, a highly internationalised management-focused HEI, leveraged the project to enhance digital support for internationalization at home. Based on above needs assesments, SOS IB project aimed to, and successfully established e-learning practices by employing innovative pedagogy and digital simulation in the field of sustainabile international business. The topic of sustainable international business was chosen based on its relevance for partner institutions and broader society.

Pursuing its core aim, the SOS IB project successfully achieved all 10 objectives. The consortium: (1) Designed, developed, and tested the SOS IB digital platform, enabling sustainable international business simulations and fostering collaboration among lecturers and students. (2) Trained lecturers in digital simulations and innovative e-learning methods for international business. (3) Trained teaching staff to integrate sustainability into the international business curriculum. (4) Developed and tested simulation cases on sustainable international business for HE teaching. (5) Created a methodological guide for integrating digital simulations, used in student training. (6) Developed content for a mobile game on sustainable international business for distance learners. (7) Designed and implemented the technological solution for the mobile game. (8) Created and delivered daily training modules for lecturers using the digital simulation. (9) Monitored, analyzed, and interpreted synergies, challenges, and best practices in digitalizing learning for internationalization in smaller HEIs. (10) Disseminated project information, program details, and results per the dissemination strategy.

THE SOS IB project produced 4 key RESULTS with the following outputs: RESULT 1: DIGITAL PLATFORM FOR SIMULATION OF SUSTAINABLE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS with Privacy policy, Terms & conditions, Data Protection Impact Assessment, lecturers’ & students’ surveys. RESULT 2: 11 SIMULATED CASES OF SUSTAINABLE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS with summaries of all cases, international training programme & materials (PPTs, videos, photos) on e-learning, innovative pedagogy & simulations in HE, storytelling, European Green Deal, needs analysis about state of addressing sustainability in consortium HEIs, 10 inter-/national trainings & knowledge transfers with recordings, PPTs & photos, 2 content variantions for 2 of final simulation cases & 1 preliminary case, assessment rubric, students certificates, list of films on sustainability, guides (videos, PPTs) with navigation maps for lecturers & students (on simulations, sustainability, technical instructions, grading, intercultural communication, storytelling) in English and (partially) Slovenian (see also Annex 1) RESULT 3: MOBILE GAME ABOUT SUSTAINABLE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS with 5 content variations & around 300 ballance sheets & income statements, 11 final outcomes table, sustainability & profitability index calculations at each level of the decission tree, survey for players (see also Annex 2) RESULT 4: CASE STUDY ON E-LEARNING AS A DRIVER OF INTERNATIONALISATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS with datasets (2 bibliometrical, 1 baseline measurement & 1 student survey dataset), qualitative data from interviews & focus group (18 interviews recordings, transcriptions, translations & 18 anonymised versions for coding, 4 coding tables with instructions & 24 filled in coding tables, focus group recording), to all data connected (partial) analyses with graphs, etc., literature review spreadsheet, leaflet with summary of key findings with dedicated infographics in English, Slovenian, Bolgarian. The SOS IB project has moreover contributed to other outputs (promotional brouchures & leaflet, images & videos for social media campaigns, project websites in English & Slovenian, photos, video recordings, agendas, PPT presenations, etc.) through its dissemination and monitoring activites, as well as at transnational project meetings.