Reforming higher education in Laos Erasmus+ CBHE project

Since 1 February 2025, the University of Groningen works with the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports, the National University of Laos, the Souphanouvong University, the Savannakhet University, and the Champasack University, as well as three European partners - Asociación de Educadores y Expertos Tuning, Spain, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, and Université de Poitiers, France, on an Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education project called REAL - Reforming higher education in Laos: installing the culture of comprehensive internal quality assurance necessary for implementing outcomes-based approach.

The REAL project aims to promote structural reform for the effective implementation of the outcomes-based approach, creating strategies, mechanisms and resources essential to modernize the Lao Higher Education System (LHES).

The nine partners will work for four years in order to:

1. Develop strategies that can ensure the relevance of the higher education (HE) sector, allowing universities in Laos to meet the socio-economic needs of the country;

2. Implement mechanisms that can ensure feasibility of HE programmes, supporting sustainable structural improvement & innovation at the level of LHES;

3. Increase the capacities of individual academics, programme teams & universities in order to ensure the effectiveness of teaching required to implement & monitor the reform processes;

4. Engage competent authorities at national & institutional level in defining & fostering full adoption of comprehensive internal quality assurance efforts that can ensure coherent & sustainable structural changes.

The REAL project is the first structural/Strand 3 Erasmus+ CBHE project coordinated by the University of Groningen and UG's first large-scale cooperation initiative with Lao PDR.

To learn more about the project explore the project website (coming soon), join one of the project multiple dissemination events or contact project coordinator Dr. Maria Yarosh at m.yarosh@rug.nl