Earlier this month the ACA Secretariat participated in the annual EAIE conference on international education in Toulouse, where they connected with colleagues of ACA member and other organisations. ACA members, associate members and the ACA secretariat delivered together presentations at over 30 different sessions (for more details see ACA Newsletter Education Europe - August 2024), while the members were represented in the exhibition fair in more than 20 booths. The Secretariat also welcomed colleagues from member organisations at the ACA networking luncheon on 19 September, warmly opened by Gro Tjore, President of ACA, joined by ACA director, Irina Ferencz.  

Some of the highlights from sessions the Secretariat was involved in: 

• In the session Erasmus Mundus: Strategic management of large-scale cooperation, moderated by Irina Ferencz, ACA Director, Bruno Castro Benito presented results of the recently published impact study 20 years of Erasmus Mundus for more details see ACA Newsletter Education Europe – May 2024) and Francesco Girotti reflected on  the longstanding experience of the University of Bologna regarding managing Erasmus Mundus joint degrees, and on mainstreaming impact beyond the respective programmes. 
• Angeliki Psychogyiou, Policy and Project Coordinator in ACA, introduced and moderated a panel on Digitalising Erasmus+: Streamlining admin processes in the era of interoperability for an enhanced student experience together with Chantal Riccardi and Darwyn Bruelemans. The discussions focused on the significant challenges of digital transformation in terms of interoperability, fragmented landscapes, policy and practice gaps, as well as how to make these digital advancements more student-centred.  
• Martin Bogdan, Policy and Project Coordinator in ACA, Michaela Cobelli and Neli Kalinova-Schmieder co-led discussions in the session Learning by serving society on what types of service learning activities can be organised for international students. Participants of the session shared their own examples and concerns, and brainstormed ideas on scenarios for the future.  
• Raul Ranne Senior Advisor at ACA, Louise Watts and Hanna Isoranta focused on national promotion strategies in Europe and concrete tips for good strategy design and writing in their session.  
• Veronika Kupriyanova, ACA Deputy Director, Bert Willems and Majka Drewitz addressed the critical aspect of jointness in programme design in the session Is your joint programme really joint? A closer look at the challenges of Erasmus Mundus. The discussions focused on challenges of joint study programmes, from recruitment to diploma issuance, along with suggestions for moving forward. 

During the conference, three new representatives from the ACA Secretariat officially joined some of the EAIE Thematic Committees. Angeliki Psychogyiou has become a member of the Student and Staff Mobility Thematic Committee, Martin Bogdan has joined the Social Responsibility Thematic Committee and Veronika Kupriyanova is now part of the European-funded Programmes Committee. These new Thematic Committees will serve a two-year term starting in September 2024 and ending in 2026.