As part of the DUAL-SUP project (2023-1-FR01-KA220-HED-000161332), an academic collaboration has been established through a pilot test, aiming to facilitate academic exchange between students from two universities: the Universitat de Girona and the Università degli Studi di Milano. This collaboration focuses on a joint program of technical visits to the city, aimed at providing students with a practical and enriching experience in the fields of cultural tourism and museology.

This program, called the Tourism and Museology Immersion Program in Milan, has been especially beneficial for students from the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Girona. These students, enrolled in the master's program in Cultural Tourism, will undertake a four-day stay in Milan, during which they will have the opportunity to visit some of the city's most important museums. However, the focus of these visits goes beyond a simple tourist experience. Instead of merely touring the museums as conventional tourists, students will actively participate in understanding how these cultural spaces are managed, planned, and organized, providing them with deeper insights into museology and its management in a local context.

What is innovative about this program is the combination of technical explanations about museum planning and management, provided by local experts, with the perspectives of local students from Milan. The latter have been able to offer a unique view of how residents perceive the museums and the role they play in the cultural and social life of the city. In this way, the students from the Universitat de Girona have not only learned in a theoretical and technical manner but have also had the opportunity to contextualize this information in the local setting, thereby gaining a broader understanding of the challenges and opportunities in cultural management.

Also, one of the highlights of this program has been the chance for students to be guides during some visits. At certain moments, students have had to step in front of the group and assume responsibility for conveying the knowledge they have gained about the visited museums. This experience has been fundamental in developing key communication skills, as they have had to organize and present the information clearly, structured, and engagingly for their peers.

The program has created an international cooperation network where students from both universities and professors and cultural and tourism managers from Milan have been able to share ideas, experiences, and perspectives.

Keywords: International collaboration, Cultural Tourism, Museology, management.