Foreword Across

200 million citizens-30% of the Europe’s population-live, work, and study in Europe’s border regions. Their existence is enriched by linguistic cand cultural diversity, by labour market -and educational opportunities.Thousands of companies benefit from their location in the border regions serving nearby export markets. Citizens and companies also experience cross-border challenges, caused by legal and practical obstacles e.g., difference in social security systems, diploma recognition issues, or lack of direct railway connections. Innovation gain is substantially less in border regions due to these cross-border challenges. Overcoming barriers requires subject-specific knowledge and a deep understanding of the specificities of cross-border regions.

10 universities in 4 cross-border regions have therefore decided to set up an alliance of universities and pool their knowledge and experience to help improve chances for students, staff, and regional stakeholders including the businesses, local authorities, and the European citizen: Across – The European University for Cross-Border Knowledge sharing has been born.

The International Summer Schools are a matter close to the heart of Across. They represent central concerns of our university alliance: They strengthen the international exchange between teachers and students across the borders of physical space and new formats of knowledge transfer, joint learning and networking can be experienced. Across has been supporting the Seasonal Schools since summer 2021 by awarding scholarships to students from Across partner countries and by providing logistical preparation, implementation and follow-up for the events. This activity is only possible thanks to the support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

As Across, we experiment, learn and grow together with our partners and look forward to future cooperation and constructive exchange.We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Greta Mazzagio (University of Nova Gorica) and Dr. Paolo Lorusso (University of Udine) for their excellent cooperation in the realization of the international summer school on bilingualism and multilingualism and the publication of the proceedings. Further thanks go to the Technical University of Chemnitz (Germany) for the logistical support and the generous provision of their resources.

Ariane Korn has been coordinating the DAAD project Across since May 2021. Prior to this position, she worked at a research centre for biodiversity research in Leipzig (Germany). She holds a Master’s degree in Spanish literature and intercultural communication, as well as an MBA from the Leipzig Graduate School of Management with a focus on organizational development.