ACE Represents U.S. Higher Education at Europe’s Largest International Education Conference

Attracting around 5,700 participants, the European Association of International Education (EAIE) conference is one of the world most important meetings of international higher education professionals. The Geneva-based event, which took place Sept. 11 to 14, celebrated its 30th anniversary this year.

Robin Helms, director of ACE’s Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement, considers the conference to be an excellent opportunity to network with colleagues from around the world and to discuss potential collaborations around shared issues and challenges in internationalization.

“The higher education enterprise is increasingly global, and in that context, it is critical for us in the United States to understand how U.S. higher education fits in on the world higher education stage,” she said. “We need to understand each other in order to collaborate, serve our students effectively, and ensure that our graduates have the skills they need to succeed.”

Globalization is continuously posing new ethical, cultural, and political dilemmas on universities around the globe. ACE collaborated with the Dutch Organisation for Internationalisation in Education (Nuffic) and the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) in a presentation on internationalization ethics. Participants addressed questions such as, how are stakeholders impacted by internationalization efforts? Whose voices are being privileged within internationalization? What does it mean to ethically adapt to others? How can international education leaders better navigate dilemmas? This session prompted a lively discussion, based on recent research and case studies, on what it means to implement ethical internationalization.

Click here to watch video clips from the conference.

—Nico Evers