Researching Erasmus+ virtual exchange: opportunities and challenges [Keynote contributions]

This short paper begins with a brief overview of the expansion of the field of virtual exchange. It then focuses on a recent European policy experiment which sought to expand the scope of the well known Erasmus+ mobility programme through the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange pilot project. Both the challenges and the opportunities that this project provided from a research perspective are highlighted as well as some of the relevant findings, in particular those related to the themes of the conference such as the preparation of future graduates for multicultural work and study environments.