Asian countries are experiencing rapid educational, economical and social development and growth. However, they are facing enormous challenges due to the lack of qualified human resources, management practices and research activities/infrastructure in their education sectors. The ‘SmartLink: South-East-West Mobility for Advanced Research, Learning, Innovation, Network and Knowledge’ project is funded under Erasmus Mundus Action 2 (EMA2) – Strand I – Call for Proposals EACEA/18/13. The SmartLink consortium has 20 partners and 5 associates covering large geographical regions of EU and South Asia. The project has representations from 8 European (UK, Germany, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and Portugal) and 11 Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand). The project is coordinated by Professor Keshav Dahal of the Artificial intelligence, Visual Communication and Networks (AVCN) research centre at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). SmartLink focuses on fostering international cooperation between European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and HEIs in emerging Asian countries through the promotion of mobility at all level of studies for Undergraduate students, Masters students, PhD candidates, Post-doctoral researchers, academics and administrative staff. The aim is to strengthen the existing partnership and foster new partnerships by realizing 160 research staff and students mobility in both ways. The project will support 116 mobility from Asia to Europe (29 UG, 26 PG, 23 PhDs, 13 PostDocs and 25 staff), and 44 mobility from Europe to Asia (3 UG, 3 PG, 6 PhDs, 7 PostDocs and 25 staff).

The SmartLink cooperation will cover various disciplines with strong focus on research and training in the field of Smart technologies for a wide range of application areas as shown in Figure. Effective use of technologies in all academic activities and increased intercultural competence are included in the project activities. SmartLink aims to address the research and technological challenges in these areas by providing the research, education and professional training to talented Asian students and staff at European institutions with focus on regional needs. This will promote European Universities as ‘centres of excellence’ in teaching, research and professional practice and enhance the image, visibility, attractiveness and accessibility of European HE and research in the participating Asian countries.