The theme for Going Global 2013 is Global education: knowledge-based economies for 21st century nations our call for session proposals has now closed, however there is still an opportunity to contribute to the conference by presenting a poster presentation. Our call for posters deadline is Friday 23 November 2012.
Going Global 2013 will attract leaders of international education from more than 80 countries. The conference will consist of a series of:

• Panel debates involve panellists with contrasting or complementary points of view. 
• Multi-presentations sessions involve up to three short presentations followed by a question and answer session.
• World café sessions offer the opportunity to interact with presenters in smaller groups. Each table explores a different perspective of the session topic. 
• Poster presentations combine text and graphics to highlight unique ideas and case studies from the world of international education. 
  

Once finalised, details of next year's sessions will be available here.

Global education: knowledge-based economies for 21st century nations
In the twenty first century, knowledge based economies will create the wealth, prosperity and well-being of nations. Research and tertiary education systems are primary drivers of these, playing three key roles. They produce cutting edge knowledge; they transfer, exchange and apply that to drive innovation; and they educate and skill knowledge workers. For these three roles to build knowledge and innovation in a globalised world, they must themselves be globally connected. Cutting edge research requires world-class research partners from across the globe; major innovation requires not only researchers but also businesses and investors to collaborate across national boundaries; knowledge workers need to develop international competences and skills to be effective in the future world.
Going Global 2013 will examine the extent to which these roles and systems are internationalised and what impact they have on the wealth, prosperity and well-being of nations, communities and cultures. The conference reviews and debates current practices, systems and delivery mechanisms. We identify future trends, and explore the challenges and opportunities these present for research and tertiary systems in creating knowledge-based economies for 21st century nations .

1. Research and innovation: the role of international collaboration:

• Research and innovation: what are the challenging questions (intellectual property, national funding systems etc) and what are the innovative answers?
• The value and impact of multilateral research: are the outcomes of conducting multilateral research worth the challenges?
• How are research hubs being established; how are they working and what do they contribute to nations, communities and cultures?
• Investing in research networks for the future: what should we invest in and what should we expect as the return on investment?

2. Developing skilled knowledge workers: the role of international collaboration:

• What does ‘employability’ mean in the context of a wealth of nations; how are these skills being developed?
• How are governments, employers, universities and colleges responding to the challenges of creating workforce skills for economic diversification?
• What systems underpin the development of global skills and competences; how internationalised are those systems?

3. Internationalising tertiary education structures and systems:

• Education cities and hubs: what is their contribution to global, national and local community agendas?
• How does transnational education impact on local and national culture, identity and gender issues - and are there inherent tensions between the provider and the local cultural setting?
• How is transnational education contributing to the economy, prosperity and well-being of host and source nations?
• What structures and systems ensure high quality education provision together with high quality student experience?

By Thierry Luescher-Mamashela. Research universities from across the globe met from 8-10 October at the University of California, Berkeley, to discuss a first round of survey data on their students’ undergraduate experience. Institutions from Brazil, Britain, China, The Netherlands, Russia and South Africa have joined the new SERU International Consortium.
SERU, which stands for Student Experience in the Research University, is a survey tool designed to collect data on the academic and civic engagement of undergraduate students at research universities in the United States. The survey has gone global and the Berkeley meeting was attended by members of the SERU International Consortium including the University of Campinas in São Paolo, Brazil; University of Cape Town, South Africa; University of Bristol, UK; Amsterdam University College in The Netherlands; National Research University – Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia; and China’s universities of Hunan, Nanjing and Xi'an JiaoTong.
Observers were also present from Oxford University, the universities of Rhodes, the Western Cape and Johannesburg in South Africa, the University of New South Wales in Australia and member institutions of the American Association of Universities.

By Nicholas B. Dirks. No one doubts that globalization is one of the most important trends of our day. Nor does anyone question that it affects what we study, how we teach, and whom we seek to reach. Beyond that, however, there is little consensus.
As American universities expand their global footprint with branch campuses in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and elsewhere, many faculty are concerned about oppressive governance, human-rights violations, and lack of academic freedom abroad. Meanwhile administrators grapple with how these new ventures—and globalization in general—will change teaching and research in the United States. As higher education seeks new audiences, will it be able to maintain the significance and character of the liberal arts, which have played such a crucial role in the educational mission of the American university?
Similarly educators increasingly agree that all undergraduates ought to pursue some study abroad. But should it involve language study and full cultural immersion? Or short-term travel and networking through internships and other kinds of programs?

When global learning first emerged, the price of technology was considered prohibitive – now ignoring it could be more costly.
When the concept of 'global learning' began to emerge in the 1990s, it was an expensive endeavour that required specialized classroom equipment, dedicated telecommunication lines or satellite links, and specialized technical support. In 1995, a typical one-hour global learning class, involving six different universities around the globe, cost upwards of $10,000 (£6,450) just for the connections. The classroom technologywas not only expensive but also difficult to operate.
Often each professor would need an on-site technician present to operate the system. Most mid-level university administrators saw such initiatives as expensive and risky, and perceived no benefit, monetary or otherwise, for the institution. As long as benefits were measured in terms of net revenue, global learning was perceived to be too expensive to justify its use.