Twenty-six school partnerships will connect students, teachers and communities across the Western Balkans through a new cycle of regional exchanges.
The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) is pleased to announce the 52 secondary schools selected to participate in the 5th Open Call of the RYCO Superschools Western Balkans School Exchange Scheme.
The selected schools form 26 partnerships connecting school communities across the Western Balkans. The partnerships bring together 8 schools from Albania, 11 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 7 from Kosovo*, 2 from Montenegro, 10 from North Macedonia and 14 from Serbia.
The 5th Open Call is part of Superschools 3.0, which aims to support 165 bilateral school partnerships involving 330 secondary schools and 660 teachers. These partnerships will implement 330 exchanges, engaging approximately 3,960 young people across four open calls.
Partnerships built to grow
This cycle places particular emphasis on long-term cooperation. The selected schools will build on relationships, trust and experience developed through earlier Superschools exchanges, while creating new opportunities for students and teachers to learn together and strengthen connections between their communities.
The selected projects cover a wide range of themes, including intercultural dialogue, peacebuilding, inclusion, youth leadership, active citizenship, media literacy, volunteering, environmental responsibility, arts and music, cultural heritage, tourism, vocational learning and sport. Across these themes, the partnerships share a common purpose: enabling young people to challenge stereotypes, learn from different perspectives and turn regional cooperation into direct personal experience.
Almost all projects will use homestays to deepen intercultural learning by allowing students to experience everyday life in the host community. The partnerships will also involve teachers, families, local institutions and community organizations, helping the impact of the exchanges reach beyond the participating students.
During the new cycle, participating students will take part in non-formal education activities, collaborative workshops, reflection sessions, cultural visits and community-based learning. Many partnerships will conclude with outreach activities through which students share their experiences and learning with peers and local communities.
The selected schools will benefit from capacity-building support, mentorship from RYCO Local Program Officers and the finance team, as well as financial and visibility support. The exchange activities are planned from mid November 2026 to April 2027.
RYCO congratulates all selected schools and thanks every school team that invested time, creativity and commitment in the application process. The experiences and results of the partnerships will be shared throughout the new Superschools cycle.
THE FULL LIST OF SELECTED SCHOOLS AND PARTNERSHIPS IS AVAILABLE HERE:
List of Selected Schools
Background
“Superschools” is a program for school exchanges in the Western Balkans. Its objectives are to support peacebuilding, reconciliation, and intercultural learning and dialogue among schools, students, and their communities. The program is part of the multi-donor project “Western Balkans School Exchange Scheme,” co-financed by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) together with the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO).
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.