1. IAU- General Conference, San Juan – Nov 2012
Hans-Georg van Liempd President EAIE – Tilburg University, the Netherlands
RE-THINKING
INTERNATIONALISATION -
Where are we?
The role of EAIE

2. Main questions
1. What is meant by Internationalisation of HE?
2. What are the benefits and the risks
3. Who benefits and is at risk?

3. Other questions
1. What is the EAIE?
2. What is the role of EAIE in shaping our
members? And bring this back to their
respective institution
3. Two examples specifically
the Leadership Study
the International Student Mobility charter

4. What is the EAIE: mission
The mission of the EAIE is:
• The EAIE’s mission is to professionalise our
members and to actively serve all those involved
in internationalization of higher education

5. Key facts
Professional
Development Founded
in 1989 Over 2500
members
Largest From over
international 100
higher education countries
conference worldwide
in Europe

6. Type of organisation
• Not for profit
• Membership based
• Members elect the leadership
• Membership influence
– Professional Sections
– Special Interest Groups – and more
• Dependent of membership expertise

7. What is the EAIE: membership
• Rectors and vice-rectors
• Directors and staff of international offices
• Exchange programme coordinators
• Credential evaluators
• Language specialists
• Academic staff and counsellors
• Educators and researchers
• Recruitment officers
• Etc

8. Main activities: four pillars
1. Annual conference
2. Professional Development Programme
3. Publications
4. Alliances and reaching out

9. Yearly conference
• Largest conference in Europe on International
Higher Education
• More than 130 quality sessions
• More than 40 workshops
• Dialogues, seminars and networking events
• Exhibition with over 130 organisations
• In 2012 4350 participants
• In 2013 in Istanbul - 25th conference

10. Role of the conference
• Networking & knowledge transfer
• Started in 1989 with basic idea of
internationalisation and very practical level
• Now offers practical and theoretical to in-depth
discusssions on the role and purpose of
internationalisation of HE
• All levels: practitioners – strategists - decision
makers

11. Professional Development
• EAIE Academy – 12 training courses each twice
per year - Valencia, Goteborg, Porto,
Birmingham
• Thematic seminar – Milan, 22-23 April 2012 –
Internationalisation at Home
• Online training – in the making
• In house training – various institutions and
locations

12. Role of professional development
• To meet the needs of professionals in the field
• To learn and develop
• To share and deliver
• To become critical and aware
• Cutting edge information – practical tools – learning
from peers
• Train the trainers
• Building skills, competencies and knowledge
• Awareness of the own role in the field and at the
institution

13. Publications
• Forum magazine: member magazine three times
a year
• Occasional papers: provide in-depth coverage of
collective theme – book length
• 15 articles in the Handbook for
Internationalisation
• Partner in the Journal of Studies for International
Education
• Conference Conversation Starter

14. Role of publications
• Background reading for policy and stategy-
making and for pracitioners
• Latest updates
• Possibility to actively contribute
• Build expertise and awareness

15. Alliances and reaching out
• Responsibility of EAIE –serve our members,
also partner with sister-organisations around the
world
– European Commission, ACA, EUA, ESMU, national
agencies etc.
– IAU, AIEA, IEAA, NAFSA, IEASA, ANIE, APAIE etc.
• Work together on projects to enhance
international cooperation and understanding

16. Alliances and reaching out
• EU-projects:
– Gulf/Med EM program: provide training and
workshops on Strategy in Internationalisation
– Israel institutions: provide training and workshops on
strategy in internationalisation
• Projects with partner organisations:
– Leadership Study – EAIE and IEAA
– International Student Mobility Charter
– IAU’s Call for Action affirming the academic values in
internationalisation of higher education

17. Leadership study EAIE and IEAA
• Leadership Needs in International Higher
Education in Europe and Australia
• Identify gaps between what leaders perceive as
the reality of their roles and what they ideally see
as the skills they need to have to be effective
leaders
• Answers to these questions could then inform
the design of appropriate leadership
development activities for EAIE and IEAA,
separately and jointly.

18. Leadership study: benefits
• Impact on societies
• Improved student outcomes
• Institutional benefits
• Program benefits
• Economic benefits
• Education for development

19. Leadership study: obstacles
• Resources (Europe and Australia)
• Government policies and regulations (especially
concerning student visas) and the politicization
of international education (Australia)
• Lack of leadership, vision and strategy (Europe)
• The mismatch of educational systems (Europe)
• Tying of internationalization to the financial
imperative (Australia)

20. Leadership study: obstacles (cont.)
• Lack of foreign language skills (Europe)
• Lack of institutional support for broad
internationalisation (Australia)
• Attitudes of academic staff (Europe and
Australia)
• Societal attitudes to internationalization -
“inward looking country climate”,
“ethnocentricity”, “nationalism”, “xenophobia”
(Europe and Australia)

21. Leadership study: key priorities
• Student and staff mobility
• Building institutional relationships
• Development of an internationalised curriculum
and curriculum innovation
• Priorities related to socio-cultural benefits

22. International Student Mobility
Charter
• Growth in mobility worldwide
• Investment from individuals, institutions and
countries
• Receiving countries – wealth of cultural and
intellectual diversity, revenue and labour force
• Responsibility of institutions – home and host to
secure the rights and welfare
• Therefore EAIE set up a International Student
mobility charter to safeguard the welfare

23. 10 items of the charter
1. Equity of treatment
2. Intercultural competences
3. Integration of international students
4. Opportunity to complete studies
5. Portability and continuity of funding

24. 10 items of the charter
6. Student status
7. Visas and formal requirements
8. Information
9. Student rights support
10.Quality assurance

25. Dissemination of the Charter
• Endorsing the charter:
– AIEA, IEAA, CONAHEC, ESN (International and
Netherlands), NUS (UK) etc.
• On EAIE website
• Next steps with NIEA
• www.eaie.org/home/in-the-field/policy-
advocacy/international-student-mobility-charter

26. Re-thinking
• International Higher Education
– constant change
– shifting focus and values
– individual interpretation
• Responsibility of International Associations
• Rethinking:
– from income and output
– to input and outcome

27. Conclusion
EAIE’s role
• in shaping and creating awareness amongst our
stakeholders of shared and varied values in
international higher education
• by various means
• on our own and with various partners worldwide