What happens when lecturers from across the world meet regularly over a good and solid stretch of time? They share a professional vision, but have very different perspectives, design being the common ground, touchable and virtual being points of departure.

The Linnaeus-Palme Grant opens windows for student- and teacher exchanges, between Sweden and countries in the developing world, but even more important, opportunities for development of ideas and learning. Ideas can be tested in class rooms and work shops, feeding into syllabi and curricula, education and research. What prints does a six year long cooperation leave in the participating institutions?

Questions like these prompted us to follow up the report by Bengt Nilsson 2006: Some experiences from Malmö University, The

Swedish Linnaeus-Palme Program. Results of six years and SEK 6 000 000 spent are reported in impressive statistic numbers (29 planning trips, 74 and teacher- and 86 student exchanges) and personal accounts of professional development and cultural experiences. But what happened to institutional development?

This report tries to reflect the substantial imprints from a long standing cooperation between two Institutions of Design. Industrial Design at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa, and School of Arts and Communication at Malmö University, Sweden, started to discuss a Linnaeus-Palme funded project in 2002. Two colleagues from complete different settings shared a glass of wine, and started to make plans. Now, six years later, many ideas dismissed, others born, lecturers and students look back at amazing achievements as a result of project leaders Bart Verveckken’s and Jörn Messeter’s visionary collaboration.

The institutions have become more internationalised and strengthened their international position in a regional and global context. This project shows very clearly, the importance of working with exchanges in a broader sense, together with Internationalisation at Home, in order to internationalise institutions (education and research). It also proves that benefits of mutual learning between North and South. The cooperation that Bart and Jörn started six years ago is much more than meets the eye in the project application. It is an interactive design process.