Brussels, 13 October 2017
ACA European Policy Seminar Quality in international university partnerships - newlyweds, happily married, in marital counselling or on the verge of divorce
Theme
In a “the more, the merrier” paradigm, the sheer number of international partnerships of a university has been regarded for (too) long as a key indicator of internationality. Nowadays, it is clear that the European higher education sector as a whole has moved forward, shifting the focus to the quality of collaborations rather than their number. However, it is not as clear-cut how to distinguish, in practice and at the institutional level, between the truly strategic and efficient partnerships and ‘the rest’. In the pursuit of “comprehensive”, “strategic”, “encompassing”, “ethical” internationalisation, European higher education institutions are faced with some opportunities, but also with some tough decisions, including those that pertain to international collaborations.
This one-day Brussels seminar of ACA will provide a platform to reflect on and critically discuss the main trends in international partnership development within European higher education, with a particular focus on the role of quality-related considerations in these developments. Prompted by knowledgeable, captivating and engaging speakers, the programme will address the following key questions:
• What kind of partnerships are European universities currently pursuing and (how) have the patterns of collaboration evolved over time?
• What are the drivers of change in international partnership approaches?
• How is quality pursued in international collaboration and is quality enhancement a main objective in collaborations?
• What does quality look like in practice, and whose "job" is it?
• How to strategise partnerships?
• Which evaluation models to utilise and how reliable are these models for strategic decisions?
• What can we learn from practice? What are the key ingredients for successful cooperation and what should be learnt from "failures"?
as well as any other important queries that you may have.
The programme features a mix of plenary and parallel sessions. The latter offer an excellent opportunity to showcase inspiring institutional and/or programme examples, via a Call for proposals.
Programme
Thursday, 12 October 2017
17:30 An out of the ordinary guided tour with Derek Blyth
19:00 Seminar dinner
Friday, 13 October 2017
8:30 |
Registrations and coffee |
9:00 |
Welcome and introduction Irina Ferencz, Deputy Director ACA |
9:15 |
KEY trends in… Markus Laitinen, President, EAIE Quality assurance vs. quality enhancement in international collaborations – recent developments Mark Frederiks, Coordinator international policy, NVAO |
10.45 |
Coffee break |
11.15 |
Roundtable discussion- Strategic partnerships in Erasmus+: recent trends, quality, the future… Elena Tegovska, Policy Officer-Higher Education Erasmus + Directorate-General for Education and Culture (DG EAC), European Commission Vidar Pedersen, Head of Department Higher Education, SIU Alenka Flander, Director, CMEPIUS Kees Kouwenaar, Senior advisor international strategy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
12.00 |
Partnerships impact: reflections on institutional management Fiona Hunter, Associate Director, Centre for Higher Education |
12.30 |
Lunch Break |
13.30 |
Parallel tracks- Innovative practices in… Enhancing quality in joint study programmes – Track 1 Hasan Sinemillioglu, Program Coordinator Iraq Programme at School of Planning at Tu Dotmund University, (Dortmund, Germany) & Gruehn Dietwald, Professor of Ecology & Landscape Planning at the School of Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund Wicher Schreuders, EM Assistant Coordinator, EMLE, Erasmus University Rotterdam Evaluating collaborations– Track 2 Nataliya Butych, Regional Coordinator, for central & Eastern Europe, Coordination Strategic Partnership St Petersburg, Leibniz Universität |
14.45 |
Coffee Break |
15.00 |
Parallel tracks- Innovative practises in… Research Collaborations – Track 3 Riva Nepomuk, Coordinator Graduate School “Performing Sustainability”, University of Hildesheim Tijani Abba Isa, Ag. Director, Centre for the Study and Promotion of Cultural Sustainability, University of Maiduguri & Eyram Fiagbedzi, Project Coordinator, University of Cape Coast Caspar de Bok, Head of International Affairs, Utrecht University – Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance Aäron Plovie, Coordinator of the international office at Ho Ghent Multidimensional partnerships – Track 4 Baiba Pētersone, Director International Department, Rīga Stradiņš University Anne-Sophie Lohmeier, Managing Director of AWARE, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt; THI & Fabio Reway, Research Assistant, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt THI / University of Paranà |
16.15 |
Evaluating partnerships- today’s imperative? From a Belgian to a European model Neil Kemp, Director, NK Education |
16.45 |
Conclusions and farewell Bernd Wächter, Director, ACA |
CALL FOR PROPOSALS – parallel tracks
What are we looking for?
ACA is searching for practical examples of innovative partnerships to be presented in one of the 4 parallel sessions (tracks), which refer to 4 specific dimensions or areas of international collaboration.
By practical examples and innovative partnerships, we mean, in particular:
• Partnerships functioning in a specific area (joint study programmes, research collaborations or multidimensional partnerships) that can be at university, faculty or study programme level;
• Concrete, hands-on, real-life examples of collaboration, showing the actual way of ‘doing things’;
• Success stories that could serve as an inspiration, or a good practice example, for other universities;
• Successful partnerships, despite having encountered some challenges that are worth talking about with the audience; and
• Cooperation accounts that could be (ideally) presented in a duo, i.e. by two partners jointly.
If you think that your university/faculty/programme has an experience worth sharing in one of these 4 areas of collaboration, i.e. that ‘the world should know about it’, do respond to this call for proposals!
Which track?
The partnership example(s) must be in one of the 4 areas, as follows:
Track 1 – enhancing quality in joint study programmes
Key words: atypical, out of the box, joint programme
Here we are looking for non-standard type(s) of collaboration in implementing joint programmes, either in form or in essence, especially with a view to maximising the quality of education. Examples proposed could equally be of joint programmes that managed to overcome some of the typical challenges of such cooperation through unusual solutions. Speakers could also address the key ingredients for successful collaborations.
Track 2 – monitoring & assessing collaborations
Key words: evaluation, monitoring, strategic choices
Here we are interested in university-level example(s) of how to monitor existing collaborations, and how to evaluate the quality of international partnerships in order to cooperate with partners more strategically, and to support leadership decisions. We are also interested in what makes partnerships strategic or not, and in which type of indicators, data and qualitative information are used to assess the success of partnerships.
Track 3 – research collaborations
Key words: research, out of the ordinary, success factors
Here we are zooming on out-of-the-ordinary example(s) on how to approach university, faculty and programme-level research collaborations, as well as in the factors (tips) that make such collaborations successful, long-term.
Track 4 – multidimensional partnerships
Key words: multidimensional, university missions, sustainability
Here we want to identify interesting examples of multi-faceted international partnerships, e.g. combining teaching, joint research and joint community work. We aim to address the strategic choices behind and the dynamics of such collaborations, as well as the sustainability of cooperation.
How to submit a proposal?
There are two ways to submit a proposal:
- The ‘traditional’ way – by preparing a one-pager outlining your presentation idea, explaining how you would see the session develop and by specifying what makes your partnership example an ideal fit to the chosen track (parallel session). Please remember to specify under which track you are applying, and who the speaker(s) would be.
- The ‘alternative’ way – by filming a short video (max. 2 min.) in which you do the same as above, i.e. outline your presentation idea, explain how you would see the session develop and by specify what makes your partnership example an ideal fit to the chosen track (parallel session). Please remember to specify under which track you are applying, and who the speaker(s) would be. The video can be filmed with a smart phone or with any technology that is easily-available (e.g. Skype, etc.); it does not require professional support.
Applications should be sent to Irina Ferencz at the ACA Secretariat (irina.ferencz@aca-secretariat.be).
Deadlines
Application deadline: 25 August 2017 inclusive
Selection deadline: 30 August 2017
Conditions for participation
The selected applicants get a full fee-waiver for the event. All others submitting a proposal are offered a 25% discount on the full fee level.
For any related questions, please write to irina.ferencz@aca-secretariat.be.
Speakers
Irina Ferencz
Markus Laitinen
Mark Frederiks
Elena Tegovska
Vidar Pedersen
Alenka Flander
Kees Kouwenaar
Fiona Hunter
Hasan Sinemillioglu
Gruehn Dietwald
Wicher Schreuders
Nataliya Butych
Paul Leys
Riva Nepomuk
Tijani Abba Isa
Eyram Fiagbedzi
Caspar de Bok
Aäron Plovie
Baiba Pētersone
Anne-Sophie Lohmeier
Fabio Reway
Neil Kemp
Bernd Wächter
Venue
Universitaire Stichting – Fondation Universitaire
Egmontstraat, 11 – 1000 Brussels
E-mail: FU.US@universityfoundation.be