Over 35.000 students are enrolled at 14 faculties (4.700 staff). As part of the former East Germany, TUD has several decades of experience of intensive co-operation with the Russian Federation and former USSR states. Within the faculty of economics (26 chairs; 176 staff; 2.700 students), the chair of marketing offers a program called “International Management” as an interdisciplinary approach of several chairs of the faculty. An essential part of this program is the lecture “Intercultural Marketing”. It gives an idea of what culture is, how it can be measured and in what way it reveals itself in everyday life (e.g., time perception, rituals, tastes) as well as in business life (e.g., consumer needs, negotiation and communication styles, product use). These competences are the bases for the development of a new retraining course in Russia. The Centre of Applied Languages and Culture is one of the largest structures at the university with over 8.900 students and 96 staff teaching 15 languages on a wide LSP basis. The centre has a Media Centre and an ECTS Specialisation Unit, having introduced its own ECTS modular system based on a communicative teaching approach and has assisted other universities in CEE states. TUD is involved as a consultant in the Leonardo QALSPELL Project with three Baltic States on examination standard norms. The Centre has developed a comprehensive Advanced Business English and Advanced Professional English series of both ESP and non-ESP specific module taught almost exclusively by British, Irish, American, Australian, Indian, Kenyan, Nigerian, Canadian and New Zealand trainers. Student and language training instructor exchanges and student placements have been taking place between Russian Federation universities on a continuous basis and this experience has clearly identified issues as per the needs analysis.

The Omsk State Transport University is one of the oldest universities in Russia. The foundation was closely connected with the construction of the transsiberian railway and the need for education in the railway sector. Nowadays, 8.000 students are matriculated at five departments. 1.067 students are enrolled at the Management and Economy department, where 93 researchers and teachers are employed. Furthermore, a large retraining department provides courses and programmes for more than 3.000 employees of railway companies. Omsk State Transport University will act as a grand coordinator during the project, support the analysis of already existing course content at the involved Russian universities and represent the interests of the Russian partners towards the European project partners. OSTU will have a leading role within the project and will coordinate and monitor the project progress together with the grant holder.

The priority of UoW in teaching is to enable and encourage individuals to realise their full potential and to achieve academic excellence through a flexible, innovative and vocationally focused curriculum. The university strongly supports cultural diversity and equality of opportunity in all their activities at home and abroad. Their ten Schools offer over 340 undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and further choice through the Joint Honours scheme. With the aim of preparing students for fulfilling careers, they are supported by the Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching and Graduate School. Supported by the International Office, over 1000 students from all round the world study at UoW each year. UoW Business School is an international Business School, with an acknowledged reputation for being a leading provider of vocationally relevant academic programmes and tailored business services. The university has wide experience in international project management and involvement, including within the Russian Federation and within TEMPUS TACIS projects. The field of intercultural communication is a particular research and pedagogical interest, facilitating the adaptation of the materials and drawing as it will on the expertise within all departments of the Business School.

Urals State University of Railway Transport (USURT) in Yekaterinburg became a university in 1999. Its foundation in 1956 is closely connected to the development of the Russian transport and railway structure. Nowadays more than 11.000 students study full or part time at USURT. Nine faculties provide a comprehensive education. The "Department of Economics and Management" offers four degrees full time study for about 1.100 students. 170 lecturers are employed, about 50% with a doctoral degree. A retraining faculty called "Institute of Further Training" offer marketing courses on a basic level for about 60-70 students annually. The mentioned faculty as well as the retraining department are involved in the project. All involved Russian universities have in common a close relation to railway and transport and are therefore already closely connected by various joint projects. The grant holder (Technische Universität Dresden) also has an own, formerly independent school of railway and transport.

Samara State University of Transport (SSUT) was founded in 1973 as an institute of railway engineers. Today the university covers three institutes and three faculties. In particular, the "Institute for Transport Economics and Management" as well as the "Faculty of Continuing Education Development" are involved in the project. More than 10.400 students are enrolled at SSAT, 1.337 study at the “Institute for Transport Economics and Management”. The project aims to transfer knowledge and qualify teaching staff of the named departments more properly. The already established retraining programme for higher and secondary education provides the infrastructure for creating new courses and modules reaching all potential respondents.

Technische Universität Ilmenau (TUI) was founded in 1894. Nowadays, it consists of five faculties educating more than 6000 students. Keeping the pace of a fast changing business world, the TUI was one of the first universities in Germany to react to the proliferation of media business. By now, it is the only university which provides courses in Media Economics and Media Technology. Within the economics faculty, the Department of Marketing offers a two-tiered course in International Marketing, namely Cross-Cultural Marketing (part 1) and International Marketing in Eastern Europe (part 2). Within the first part, the students learn how cultural differences influence consumer behaviour and business life. Based on this, implications for successful marketing activities on foreign markets are derived. The second part focuses on transition markets in Eastern Europe, especially Russia. Based on a long lasting partnership with the Saint-Petersburg State University (signed in 1992), the staff has gained a lot of experience in dealing with Russian academic and management partners. Since then, a successful relationship has been established including permanent student exchanges, seminars, lectures, exchange of experiences and research projects.