A team of teachers from four partner universities of applied sciences in Estonia, Finland and Latvia designed and implemented an e-learning course in five modules, by creating new co-operation platforms for SMEs and higher education institutions across national borders.

A real-life cross-border assignment (CBA) provides a genuine learning environment, where students and SMEs work closely together across national borders. The CBAs directly link SMEs with faculty and students abroad; i.e. with their target markets.

Around 180 students participated in the project during its implementation, and cross-border assignments provided a strong integration of classroom learning and real-life practice. The concrete cooperation with an SME in another country trained the students and gave new competencies in the field of internationalisation of small and medium-sized companies.

A large number of companies – more than 300 representing a variety of sectors - were reached during project implementation. They benefitted from direct support in their internationalisation processes.
The course "International Business Strategies of SMEs" sums up to 10 ECTS. It is web based, free of use. 

The EDU-SMEs Handbook provides guidance to teachers in designing materials for the e-course and assisting in implementing the real-life cross-border assignments (CBAs).

Good cooperation between the partners and the fact that the project was based on a real need have helped the project to reach all expected results and to ensure sustainability of the results. Other forms of cooperation have emerged as an additional result of the project. Among these are e.g. guest lecturing about growing market areas, such as Asia and Africa.