Earlier this month the ACA secretariat participated in the EAIE 2022 annual conference in Barcelona, where they met many colleagues from ACA member organisations and connected with old and new peers. The ACA members and the ACA Secretariat delivered a total of 12 sessions on a wide variety of relevant aspects of international education, hosted multiple social events and were represented in the exhibition fair with 15 booths.

In the session "Spotlight on: Researchers and academics," speakers Irina Ferencz, Josephine Page and Svava Berglind Finsen, along with chair Fiona Hunter, reflected on the importance of raising awareness of internationalisation projects, programmes and research by translating messages to reach diverse stakeholders. An on-demand session on "International student mobility: connecting research to practice" by Irina Ferencz and Christof Van Mol is available in the conference platform until the end of the month.

On Thursday’s  session, "Innovative inclusion approaches: tools and methods for national funding agencies and higher education institutions," speakers Martin Bogdan and Ieva Serapinaite, and chair John Delap, discussed different approaches to data collection and achieving inclusion and diversity goals.

Questions such as "How did marketing approaches change during the pandemic?" or "What were innovations that arose?" were discussed at the session “Spotlight on: Marketing and value proposition" with speakers Raul Ranne, Kirstin Louise Edgar and Gerrit Bruno Blöss, chaired by Dr. Diederich Bakker. Participants reflected on changes in the languages featured on websites, authenticity in value propositions, considering marketing as a service for students to better understand options and more. The related on-demand session "Universities’ evolving value proposition in a post-COVID world" by Raul Ranne, Eero Loonurm and Louise Staunton is also available until the end of the month in the conference platform.

On Friday’s session, "International support services: how to put the puzzle together," speakers Veronika Kupriyanova and Silvia kotulicova, chaired by Karla Zimanova, discussed how university staff can better support international academics, based on best practices and other findings from the the UniWeLiS project.

ACA also welcomed colleagues from member organisations at the ACA - SEPIE Networking Lunch on 15 September, warmly opened by Alfonso Gentil Álvarez-Ossorio, director of SEPIE, and Laura Rumbley, Associate Director of EAIE.

Below follow some moments captured on camera where colleagues came together, including a meeting among project partners for the first time in-person, and the Secretariat team catching up with members at their respective receptions.