OPEN consortium gathered to agree upon a concrete workplan to deliver the key outputs of the Needs Analysis conducted among Lao PDR Higher Education system to assess strengths and weaknesses of their internationalisation framework. OPEN partners also set up a timeframe to finalise the institutional policy paper aimed at formulating a Guideline for the Management International Relationships Offices.

OPEN partners also decide upon the organization of the 1^st National Round Table in Lao PDR to disseminate the previous documents as a direct product of their work during the first year of the OPEN project. This 1^st national Round Table will be celebrated in Vientiane on 4^th March 2021.

The virtual event was attended by representatives of 5 Higher Education Institutions of Lao PDR present in the OPEN Consortium together with the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) from the same country. EU universities were also represented in order to ensure smooth coordination among project partners.

OPEN is an Erasmus+ / Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices: Capacity-building in higher education, co-funded by the European Commission. Its 2^nd year of project implementation is currently starting and OPEN partners will continue striving to increase the academic quality and research activities of universities in Laos PDR through the development of internationalisation capacities with a specific focus in the South-East Asia region.

As such, OPEN during the upcoming months will work upon consolidating the Internationalisation structure, & build the human capacities of HEIs by means of acquiring the adequate IT infrastructure to operate International Relationships Offices in Lao PDR. Additionally, OPEN will also accompany the governance reforms of MoES and enhance international networking through strategic actions in key areas of the Laotian higher education system by publishing the groundbreaking needs analysis and IROs Management Guidelines rooted in the Lao PDR context.