Arab unrest high on EAIE agenda

By Jan Petter Myklebust. The role of partnerships between universities in the Middle East-North Africa and Europe in tackling causes of unrest will be high on the agenda of Europe's biggest international education conference. The European Association of International Education (EAIE) event, to be held from 13-16 September in Copenhagen, is expected to attract up to 4,000 educators. Keynote speakers and details of the programme and panelists can be found here.
This is an agenda-setting event for international education programming. It is a also a channel for updated information from the European Union and a meeting place for professional staff both in Europe and beyond working on international cooperation in higher education.  University World News will be reporting on the gathering, as a media partner.
Maurits van Rooijen, Rector Magnificus of Nyenrode Business Universiteit and President of the Compostela Group of Universities, which includes more than 70 European universities and several non-European associate members, told University World News: "Internationalisation is no longer an add-on for universities. It is now an essential part of operations in higher and further education. The growth and success of the EAIE annual conference reflects that and clearly supports it." Gudrun Paulsdottir, President of the EAIE, said the association had gained global visibility and become known for quality conferences providing excellent networking opportunities. "Now the time has come to give voice to the challenges facing international higher education worldwide."
This year, for the first time, four 'dialogue' sessions will be held - interactive panel discussions for senior professionals on global issues and how higher education can address them. One dialogue deals with the impact of the unrest in Arab countries and the lack of meaningful job options for educated young people, and how this is contributing to student frustration at universities in the Middle East and North Africa. The discussion will focus on how collaboration with European institutions might contribute to easing of societal tensions. As well as European experts, panelists will include ministers and specialists from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Jordan.
A second dialogue will explore how higher education could have a more decisive influence on the global environment, with interventions from the International Association of Universities and the World Bank. Two other dialogues will be devoted to ethical questions in international recruitment, given increased competition worldwide for good students, and important issues around the internationalisation of higher education. There will also be a range of workshops on familiar topics such as 'Branding: How to position your university', 'Intercultural development of exchange students' and 'Working with recruitment agents'. With significant numbers of participants expected from developing countries, there are also workshops on partnerships with developing countries.
Among the highlights of the interactive sessions is one asking how European partners can enhance nation-building processes in new states by strengthening universities. Speakers will include partners in a project set up by Norwegian educators to support a new national library in Juba, the capital of South Sudan - which achieved independence in July - with funding from the Norwegian government. Keynote speakers and details of the programme and panelists can be found here.
The EAIE says the growth in its membership, the diversification of its working groups, the professional development of training courses and a growing number of publications are landmarks of its success over a 23-year existence that has paralleled changes in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It has grown substantially, from an ad hoc initiative with 600 participants at its founding conference to an organisation with worldwide influence.
First EAIE President Axel Markert, of Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, recalled in 2009 how "an eminent French professor, glass in hand, exploded in my face and exclaimed: 'Vous êtes un grand naifs, vous!' when he heard that we had decided to include an Eastern European colleague on the executive board". The association has faced many organisational challenges, financial discussions, prioritisation questions and difficulties such as initial lack of interest from professionals at southern European universities and a struggle to engage higher education leaders. But the annual conferences have continued to grow, exceeding 2,000 delegates at the Stockholm conference in 1998 and 3,000 in Antwerp in 2008.
Gudrun Paulsdottir told University World News: "The EAIE has experienced tremendous growth over the past five years, putting new and heavy demands on the organisation, its operations and leadership. "One of the prominent challenges is to keep growing sensibly and not lose out on the quality of what EAIE offers to it members and international educators worldwide." A key aim remains to contribute to increased professionalisation of international education, she said. Laura Howard, former General Director for International Promotion at the University of Cadiz and a member of the EAIE general council and its editorial committee, said that if the EAIE did not exist it would now have to be invented. "The forum for networking, training, knowledge-sharing and benchmarking it provides to European international educators is unique and vital for the continuing professionalisation of the sector."
An indication of the agenda-setting character of the EAIE conferences could be the choice of this year's venue at Copenhagen Business School, one of Europe's top business institutions. While many keynote speakers in the past have been cultural personalities like Peter Ustinov in Vienna in 2003 and David Lodge in London in 1994, this year there is Christian Stadil, owner of Hummel, one of the world's largest and most trendy sports and fashion brands, and Stine Bosse, former CEO of Scandanavia's insurance giant TrygVesta and a member of the UN Secretary General's Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Group.
Stadil, known for his avant-garde marketing and sponsorship approaches, will speak about his leadership philosophy of giving in order to receive. He is concerned with distributing good energy and self-esteem in an organisation, a philosophy he calls 'company karma'. This underscores the conference theme: "Cooperate, Innovate, Participate". Bosse is 33rd on the Financial Times list of the world's most powerful businesswomen. She will share her initiative involving taking young immigrants on a 120 kilometre pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to demonstrate what can be achieved by showing young people respect and concern, while challenging them physically and mentally.
Maurits van Rooijen told University World News: "It has been suggested that the success of university leadership consists in essence of an ability to network effectively, internally and externally. It certainly is true for international officers." The conference will be opened by Princess Marie of Denmark, and Danish Minister of Science and Technology Charlotte Sahl-Madsen will take part in the opening ceremony.