Teaching is no longer the simple straightforward profession it used to be (Odina & Kuzmane 2011). Educators must acknowledge that teacher is a global profession; recognize they are educating teachers for their future, not for the past; and therefore think and act globally in designing and implementing pre-service and in-service professional development programs.

As teacher educators we do not act on the need to prepare our graduates for the globally interdependent world in which they will work and their students will live. It is time that we heed the extensive literature calling on us to internationalize our teacher education programs and bring a global perspective to education decision making in order to prepare globally minded professionals who can effectively teach any child from, or living in, any part of the world (Kissock & Richardson 2009).

Cooperation among universities and the presence of the European dimension as part of the study process is expected. Improving the quality of teaching is vital and the Member States of the European Union increasingly acknowledge the advantages and benefits of cooperation in the field of education (Odina & Kuzmane 2011). Teachers should have the “knowledge and experience of European cooperation to enable them to value and respect cultural diversity and to educate learners to become EU citizens and globally responsible” (European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture 2010: 5). To reach this aim, internationalisation activities should be promoted, also developing trust and transparency of teacher qualifications in the European context. Internationalisation gives European citizens the opportunities to develop a sense of European identity as well as their abilities, to gain new knowledge and become more self-confident and aware of the trends of a geographical scope larger than only one’s own country.

The aim of the study is to explore the experience obtained from the students and professors who have participated in internationalization activities in Austria, Finland, Latvia, UK and Belgium.

The main research question deals with examining the aspect of internationalisation of teacher education study programs, international meetings with the benefit for students and teachers and the impact it has on students and professors. The focus of this study is internationalisation activities carried out at teacher education institutions.

The exact study questions are:

a)    What is the result of internationalisation concerning individual learning-increase after participation in internationalisation activities of teacher education institutions?

b)    Which ideas acquired during internationalisation activities have been implemented in practice?

c)    How and in which form participants "live" this internationalisation?

d)    Which challenges have been experienced working on internationalisation activities and with international audience?

e)    What have been the changes in educational institutions due to internationalisation activities carried out?

f)      How the professors describe what changes they have observed concerning students’ learning-increase during internationalisation events?

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