Held for the first time in Brussels, ACA’s Annual Conference 2015 was a great success. Those who arrived in time for an urban tour the evening prior may attest to the splendour of some of Brussels gems, including the Royal Palace and the charming Hotel Belvue, where the first reception was held. Champagne or not, everyone convened at the Flemish Parliament the very next morning, where unforeseen delays due to tightened security measures were quickly forgotten as we delved into our topic of the day: Internationalisation strategies. With opening keynote speaker Eric Corijn leading the way, speakers and participants spent a full day exploring internationalisation strategies from across the globe, examining case studies and discussing funding, branding and mainstreaming in dynamic parallel sessions. The day, dotted with networking opportunities, concluded with a lively dinner. 

Next day began with Laura Rumbley’s American perspective on implementation challenges, and continued down the plentiful topic of implementing internationalisation. Presentations and ensuing conversations focused on the recruitment and integration of international students, on English-taught-programmes and on incentives for student and staff mobility, to mention a few. Ulrich Teichler provided a nice wrap-up of the two intense days with his conclusions on the conference, which we hope gave everyone much to think about, and plenty to act upon. 

As always, we would like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to all of our speakers and participants, whose knowledge, passion and enthusiasm kept us all engaged throughout the Conference. We hope you will all join us on 15 October for our next European Policy Seminar, on the theme of rankings. Stay tuned and stay inspired!