The proposed research project "Developing Action Competence for Insect Preservation" (DACIP) approaches the current problem of insect decline from an educational perspective using methods of Educational Design Research (EDR). The research project aims to (i) improve theoretical understanding of citizens’ readiness to take action against insect decline and (ii) to design and investigate options to raise citizens' abilities to preserve insects. To achieve these aims, a novel theoretical framework - Action Competence for Insect Preservation (ACIP) - will be developed in a first step. In a second step, this framework is used for developing novel quantitative and qualitative research instruments to investigate citizens' abilities to preserve insects and for designing innovative educational interventions to raise citizens’ ACIP. These interventions will include wildlife gardening and citizen science as core elements. In a third step, the effectiveness of these interventions will be assessed: For this assessment, the designed interventions will be implemented at compulsory schools in Karlstad (grade 7). The change of ACIP will be assessed in a pre-post-design with 500 students, comparing the intervention group with a control group using the new quantitative and qualitative instruments. Consequently, the proposed research project provides three important benefits: a) The new framework (ACIP) builds a foundation for the development of conservation initiatives addressing citizens effectively b) The new instruments make it possible to investigate citizens' abilities in preserving insects: This can be used to assess the effectiveness of initiatives focusing on insect preservation, which can boost the effectiveness of such iniatives by enabling targeted improvements. c) The designed interventions to foster citizens' ACIP will be made available on a large scale. Therefore, the project can contribute significantly to achieve global biodiversity and sustainability goals.

Karlstad, Rangsit & Wollongong Universities collectively attach great importance to operating in an international context and with high levels of mobility. Karlstad University’s strategic plan describes and prioritises the mission & goals and efforts are continuous to achieve them in the form of planned action, analysis & evaluation. Karlstad’s strategy can be summarised as aiming to increase internationalisation of both staff & students and with this increased internationalisation to enhance systematically quality & global understanding in all courses of study & research. Karlstad University cooperates in a number of carefully selected international networks, such as Erasmus+ and with carefully selected bilateral partners such as Wollongong & Rangsit to develop both cooperation & exchange programmes. The three universities in this project have well-developed administrative support for international work. At Karlstad, the International Office (IO) operates within the central university and performs operational internationalization, coordination of international exchange agreements; staff exchanges; handling of incoming & outgoing exchange students and grant allocation etc. Internationalization issues of a strategic nature are the responsibility of the university leadership together with faculties and these are coordinated, planned & evaluated by the university thematic board. The board includes representatives from the faculties, leadership, IO & student body. At Rangsit, the International Service Centre carries out this work and at Wollongong, the Office of Global Student Mobility. Erasmus+ is the most important network in which Karlstad operates. It provides Karlstad with the opportunity to work actively with partner universities to create successful and mutual mobilities within a well -established and recognised quality framework. Without a doubt, it contributes to our goal of greater international mobility for students & staff. We can in a positive way, preserve the experience of outgoing students and staff as well as visiting international guests and create favorable conditions at Karlstad to be an attractive partner in international cooperation. The Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (ICM) project supports Karlstad in extending and supporting this strategic work, within a quality framework from Europe, to the rest of the world. The partners were able to fulfil all the planned activities for the project, demand for student exchanges outstripped supply. Whilst we did not achieve one of the teaching activities, we were able to transfer this, with approval, into a positive administrative mobility. As set out in the institutional agreements, students & teaching staff exchanges were between the Business Schools & Informatics Departments. Administrative staff exchanges were mainly between central university departments with one from the Informatics Department. The gender of the students was almost balanced however, the staff exchanges were dominated by male staff. Teaching staff were all male, whilst 75% of the administrative staff were female. Karlstad has valuable and well-established partnerships with Rangsit & Wollongong, where student & staff exchanges took place, and discussions are ongoing constantly to identity opportunities and develop partnerships further. The impact of the student & staff exchanges made during the project period has led to deeper, closer & more sustainable collaboration with all of the partners. Specifically, the ICM project supported students from Wollongong to study at Karlstad achieving Wollongong’s goal of increased outgoing mobilities and Karlstad’s goal of increased international mobilities. By cementing the balance of student flow between Karlstad & Wollongong the ICM project has directly improved the sustainability of our partnership for the future. Without this security and outgoing flow of students from Wollongong, the future of the partnership had been in question. The ICM project has also directly resulted in an increased number of students between Rangsit & Karlstad, this has increased the diversity and number of students in both institutions and supported Rangsit’s goal of increasing internationalisation and building solid relationships in a European context.The ICM project has also resulted in the starting of exchange opportunities for teaching staff and administrative staff between Karlstad & Rangsit / Wollongong. Exchanges between these partners would not have been possibile without ICM. The visits have resulted in closer cooperation, development of teaching and pedagogy and new research opportunities. Administrative staff have shared good practice, exchanged work experiences and brought home new ideas to implement. Closer cooperation has also led to clearer understanding of how education institutions function in different cultures and countries.

Karlstad University (KAU) and our partners within international credit mobility (ICM) collectively attach great importance to operating in an international context, with high degrees of international mobility. KAU’s strategic plan describes and prioritizes the internationalization goals. Efforts are continuous to ensure that they are achieved in the form of planned actions, analysis, monitoring & evaluation. KAU’s strategy is summarised as increasing the internationalisation of both staff & students and with increased internationalisation to systematically enhance quality & global understanding in education & research. KAU cooperated with carefully selected partners Wollongong (UoW), Victoria (VU), Charles Darwin (CDU), CETYS, Universidad del Norte (UdN) and Rangsit (RU) to develop meaningful collaboration activities & exchanges. KAU and its partners have well-developed administrative systems to support international work at their own universities and also between institutions in ICM. Student and staff exchanges are at the core of collaboration activities and Erasmus+ is the most important network in which KAU operates. It provides us with the opportunity to work actively with partners to create successful and mutual mobilities within a well -established and recognised quality framework. Without a doubt, it contributes to the goal of greater international mobility for students & staff. We can, positively, preserve the experience of outgoing students & staff as well as visiting guests and create favourable conditions to be an attractive partner in international cooperation. ICM supports KAU in extending and supporting this strategic work, within a quality framework, from Europe to selected partners in the rest of the world.We carried out 44/45 of the activities for which we received funding. One student stayed for two semesters, which we have counted as two activities. All but one student exchange places were used. The demand for administrative places outstripped supply. Whilst we did not achieve all of the teaching activities, we were able to transfer them, with approval, into positive administrative mobilities. 74% of the students were from Arts & Social Science faculties, the remainder from Health, Nature and Technology faculties. The largest sending and receiving school was Business. 57% of the teachers were from business subjects, the remainder from Sports Science, Politics & Engineering. 71% of the administrative staff exchanges were between central university departments, e.g. Library; the remainder from faculties. The gender balance of the participants was mainly female, 70% of students and 79% of the administrative staff however, the teaching staff exchanges were dominated by male staff. KAU had existing partnerships with the UoW, VU, CDU, CETYS, RU and commenced a new partnership with UdN. Discussions are ongoing to identity opportunities and develop partnerships further. The impact of the student & staff exchanges made during the project period has led to deeper, closer & more sustainable collaborations with all partners. Specifically, ICM allowed us to protect our agreements with Australia by fostering and securing student exchange from Australia. Thereby meeting UoW’s goal of increased outgoing mobilities. By cementing the balance of student flow from there, ICM has directly improved the sustainability of our partnerships in this region for the future. Without this security, the future of the partnerships had been in question. ICM has directly resulted in an increased number of student exchanges between RU, CETYS & KAU in turn this has increased the diversity of students in the institutions. RU have achieved their goal of increasing internationalisation and building solid relationships in Europe and CETYS have achieved their goal of promoting strategic alliances with international organizations that promote high-quality education & strengthen the ties of Baja California with the world. With UdN, we now have exchange mobilities in a new geographical area, Colombia was a target market for student exchanges, which has increased the diversification of the student body at KAU. At UdN, only 4% of its student population have a study exchange every year, to both increase the international students at home and send students to KAU was a priority.Increasing the participation of staff, particularly teachers was a goal for all partners. These exchanges would not have been possible without ICM, e.g. a teacher exchange between Sports Science at KAU & VU was a first step towards opening up a new subject area for exchanges. The visits have resulted in closer cooperation, development of teaching & pedagogy and new research opportunities. Administrative staff have shared good practice, exchanged work experiences & brought home new ideas to implement. Closer cooperation has also led to clearer understanding of how education institutions function in different countries.

Karlstads universitet fäster stor vikt vid att vara ett universitet i ett internationellt sammanhang och med en hög internationell rörlighet. Internationaliseringsarbetet beskrivs och prioriteras i lärosätets strategiska plan med specificerade delmål. Ett kontinuerligt arbete bedrivs för att universitetet ska nå målen, både i form av handlingsplan, analys och utvärdering. Strategin är inriktad på att öka lärosätets internationella deltagande. Universitetet samarbetar inom diverse internationella nätverk för att utveckla både samarbetsavtal och utbytesprogram. Inom Compostela Group of Universities har universitetet en mängd goda samarbetspartners både inom och utom Europa. Nätverket erbjuder ett väletablerat program för administrativt utbyte, STELLA samt en rad andra initiativ som vi ser som komplement till Erasmus+programmet. Vid universitetet finns ett väl utvecklat administrativt stöd för support till internationellt arbete. International Office är organiserat under Studentcentrum och utför operativt internationaliseringsarbete: samordning av internationella utbytesavtal; utbytesprogram; personalutbyte; hantering av in- och utresande utbytesstudenter; stipendiefördelning etc. Internationaliseringsfrågor av strategisk karaktär ansvarar universitetets ledning tillsammans med fakulteterna för. Europeiskt samarbete är och förblir mycket angeläget för Karlstads universitet. Erasmus+ programmet är ett viktigt program för Karlstads universitet, som ger universitetet möjlighet att arbeta aktivt inom befintliga nätverk och skapa en god och ömsesidig aktivitet med samarbetsuniversitet. Det bidrar till ökad internationell rörlighet bland studenter och personal. Vi kan på ett positivt vis tillvarata de erfarenheter som utresande studenter och personal samt besökande internationella gäster för med sig samt att skapa goda förutsättningar vid universitetet att vara en attraktiv partner i internationella samarbeten. Universitetet har inte skickat riktigt så många Erasmus+ studenter på utbyte som uppskattat inom projektet, däremot har studenterna varit på utbyte fler studentmånader än uppskattat och därmed har mer än den planerade budgeten för studentutbyte ändå förbrukats. Det är även detta år flest studenter inom fakulteten för humaniora- och samhällsvetenskap som utför utbytesstudier. Flest utresande studenter har vi inom Handelshögsskolan och turismprogrammet. Majoriteten av utbytesstudenterna är kvinnliga studenter. Manliga studenter kommer knappt upp i hälften av antalet kvinnliga. Generellt avspeglar detta hur det i sin helhet ser ut vid Karlstads universitet. Även för undervisande personal är det fakulteten för humaniora- och samhällsvetenskap som har något fler lärare som gör utbyten. Projektet har haft flera lärare inom musik som utfört undervisningsuppdrag inom Europa, och även inom exempelvis matematik, medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap och projektledning har undervisningsuppdrag ägt rum. Fler män än kvinnor har undervisat inom Erasmus+ under projekttiden. Bland den administrativa personal är det endast två manliga anställda som gjort utbyte av totalt tolv deltagare. Tio av tolv som gjort administrativa utbyten är anställda vid central förvaltning och två är administratörer vid fakultet. Universitetet har goda och väletablerade samarbeten med de lärosäten där student- och personalutbyten ägt rum och diskussioner pågår ständigt om att utveckla samarbeten. Resultatet av de student- och personalutbyten som gjorts under projektettiden har lett till fördjupade samarbeten för undervisning, att öppna möjligheter också för undervisande personal vid gästlärosätet att besöka Karlstads universitet samt samarbeten och utvecklingsarbete inom undervisning och pedagogik. Undervisande personal har en viktig roll också i kommunikationen till studenter. En lärare som undervisat vid ett Erasmus+lärosäte kan på ett bra vis förmedla upplevelsen till sin studentgrupp. Studentutbytet under projekttiden har erbjudit en mängd studenter erfarenheter av Erasmus+utbyte som är värdefullt i kommunikationen till presumtiva utbytesstudenter. Studenternas erfarenheter av utbytesstudier är centrala och vi motiverar dem att berätta om upplevelserna till sina studiekamrater för att på så sätt skapa en hållbar utveckling för internationell rörlighet.

"The university’s internationalisation efforts aim to make international perspectives the norm in our courses and programmes, to help students learn more foreign languages and to obtain a high level of intercultural competence and to make education and internationalisation accessible to everyone. Karlstad University´s strategy for internationalisation is described in the university´s strategic vision for 2030. Based on the university´s strategy, a number of success factors have been identified. These factors further promote quality, safeguard continued success and facilitate dynamic change in keeping with social challenges. In order to realise the strategic goal, a number of activities are conducted at the university, both at central as well as faculty/departmental level, in accordance with ""Karlstad University´s Action Plan for Internationalisation, 2020-2023"". The university’s participation in the Erasmus+programme contributes to students and staff enhancing the European identity not only through the sharing of experiences, professional development, collaborations and quality-enhancing efforts for the university, but also through the personal development of everyone involved and the creation of affinity between people. With the support of the Erasmus+ Programme, bridges can be built between universities, organisations and countries, which form important functions for communities both within and outside of Europe. The university plays a great role on this, which is particularly important to communicate to students and staff. The university’s participation in the Erasmus+ Programme contributes to a high level of quality in terms of education, professional development and increased participation in a number of various international networks and programmes. The university recruits internationally, works in a growing number of international environments and is becoming an increasingly globalised university. Developing the international competence of employees, offering international elements in study programs and promoting an expanded range of courses taught in English are priorities for Karlstad University. Within the framework of the Erasmus+ Programme, the university develops education and research together with valuable international partners, engages in collaborations for the future on environmentally sustainable initiatives. An intensification of international cooperation for the future is planned to achieve the objectives of the university’s governance documents, where participation in the Erasmus+ Programme is of utmost importance. Karlstad University aims to promote and broaden the recruitment to programmes and courses at both first and second cycle level as well as third cycle level. The university’s action plan for broader recruitment outlines which activities the university intends to work on to promote broader recruitment and broader participation. Under this specific Erasmus+ project Karlstad University has aimed for an increased involvement to support international mobility. In order to do so the university collaborate with a number of international networks, for example Compostela Group of Universities, including different initiatives like administrative international exchange which initially started under the STELLA administrative exchange programme and gradually developed and increase under the Erasmus+ programme. We have managed to inrease the the mobility for administrative exchange and we can see that the initiative for development in English competency has had a positive impact, which we hope in the future will lead to also an increase of the number of Teacher Assignments. Also the number of student exchanges increased since last year. The number of Erasmus+internships has increased severly since last year and is higher than the applied amount. We see this as a positive consequence of that more and more disciplines prepare their study programmes with elements of pracitcal studies and possibilities to offer students internship in other countries."