EAIE Podcast

The fight for a sustainable future is a matter of generational equity. Although we are all experiencing the effects of climate change and environmental degradation, it is the younger generations who will bear the burden of the decisions made now and before their time. No wonder, then, that they want to play a key role in the struggle to set things right.   Students at higher education institutions...

In the EAIE’s recent 01 April 2022 Community Moment webcast, we had the opportunity to learn about how Ukrainian higher education institutions, their students and staff are being impacted by the Russian invasion at a general level.  Today, we turn our attention to the specifics of how the war in Ukraine is being experienced by one student, who happened to be studying abroad when it all began. Kari...

Projected to become the most populous country in the world, and with more than 200 officially recognised languages, India is home to an extraordinarily large and diverse student population. Its size and variety make providing higher education a significant challenge, but a crucial issue to address in order to achieve further social and economic development.  How can internationalisation support th...

If there is one word that captures the essence of the Asia-Pacific region, that is “diversity.” Spanning multiple continents from one pole to the other, and connected by the largest ocean in the world, the region encompasses countless languages and cultures, as well as profoundly diverse demographics, levels of wealth, and different educational systems. For international higher education, the chal...

In honor of Zero Discrimination Day, 01 March, we take this opportune moment to reflect on the urgent and compelling issue of discrimination in international higher education. To help us further these important discussions, we’re joined in this episode by two professionals with deep expertise in this area. Malaika Marable Serrano is Vice-President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Guild Educ...

On 21 February, UNESCO celebrates International Mother Language Day , part of a wider set of initiatives to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world.  Language diversity is a signal of multiculturalism and makes the world colorful and richer. But now that globalisation and technological innovation have increased the volume and speed of communications, w...

As the largest source of international students in the world, and among the three most popular study destinations, China is a powerhouse to be reckoned with on the international education global stage. To make sense of the many intersecting phenomena that are reshaping international higher education in China today – including student mobility, geopolitics and key research agendas – EAIE’s Laura Ru...

Every year, university leaders around the world anxiously await the publication of the latest university rankings. Whether their institutions improved their performance and gained positions, will determine their success (or failure) as administrators.  In principle, the element of competition can be a powerful driver of  improvement and innovation. And yet, there is hardly a more fiercely conteste...

Traditionally, major international student receiver countries like the US have enrolled international students by the tens of thousands. Many of these mobile students have opted to stay on in their host countries, contributing to national stocks of highly skilled professionals, driving innovation and sustaining economic growth. The general arc of this phenomenon, and its scale in numbers, has been...

In order to realise their full potential, higher education and research should be in constant dialogue. Connecting curricula to research, can maintain its relevance amidst the rapid advancements of knowledge, and can educate students about the scientific method and critical thought.    While everyone agrees that education and research must co-exist, how to combine them is a tricky question. Synerg...

When it comes to student mobility, train travel doesn’t seem to be very popular. According to a 2020 survey by the Erasmus Student Network, three out of four Erasmus students are still flying to their exchange location.   Transport accounts for almost one quarter of Europe's greenhouse gas emissions. In order to reduce this worrying amount, the European Commission is promoting initiatives to...

As the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) prepares for its annual conference in November, we sit down with its Chief Executive Officer, Larissa Bezo, to catch up on how Canada’s international higher education has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and is gearing up to navigate the complex dynamics of today’s international scenario.   Drawing on her 15-year long experience in the in...

No university is an island. Every higher education institution sits within a dense network of local actors, such as public administrations, industry, media, cultural institutions, NGOs and civil society. To each of them, universities have a lot to offer – support, knowledge, expertise, and even inspiration – to help them create sustainable, equitable and inclusive economies and democracies. Proact...

A summer of scorching fires and devastating floods has made it all too apparent that immediate action must be taken against climate change. However we envision the transition to lower carbon emissions, it will take no less than a revolution of the global economy – including the higher education sector – to achieve this goal.   Under the aegis of the European Universities Initiative, the CHARM-EU a...

Mobility is a key feature of higher education in Lebanon. Its universities have traditionally been extremely popular among international students from all over the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and Asia, whilst every year Lebanese youths flock to Europe and North America to participate in exchange programmes or pursue full degrees. Lebanon also caters to many students who belong to th...

In order to drive societal change, higher education institutions must first address internally those same problems they want to solve in the outside world. In order to enable all individuals to realise their full potential regardless of their physical, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds, universities must first of all ensure that all students can thrive.   Despite the progress made, access and...

As students prepare to return to their dormitories and apartments for the beginning of the new academic year, we examine the long and sometimes complex processes they have to follow to secure lodgings suitable to their needs and expectations.   Reckoning with budgets and priorities, coming to grips with university bureaucracies and navigating intricate housing markets can present serious challenge...

Over the past few years, over 41 alliances of European Universities have been established under the European Universities Initiative, the ambition of which is to create and amplify opportunities for physical, virtual and blended mobility, as well as to share curricula and award joint degrees. Although proposals are ultimately approved by the European Commission, all decisions, planning and prepara...

The 2020 Summer Olympic Games recently kicked off exactly 364 days after their originally scheduled start in Tokyo, but most other international sporting events continue to face severe restrictions. According to Matjaž Pečovnik, the importance of sport in society is being demonstrated now more than ever in the midst of the pandemic. In this episode of the EAIE podcast, we sit down with the Preside...

When lockdowns and restrictions to movement were introduced across Europe and around the world in March 2020, it was hard to imagine how universities would manage these unprecedented circumstances. Some eighteen months later, we’re still juggling shifting conditions, but much has been done by our higher education institutions in an effort to rise to the challenges imposed by the pandemic.    A maj...

Australia has a unique global profile in the world of international education, featuring strong connections across Asia and the Indo-Pacific region and a notably robust international student community. Yet, Australia’s borders have been shut for more than a year now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving international students in limbo and presenting Australian higher education institutions with un...

Every June, Pride Month celebrates the visibility, self-worth and dignity of the LGBTQI community across the world. Europe has come a long way toward becoming a place “where you can be who you are and love who you want – without fear of recrimination or discrimination” (State of the Union Address 2020 by President von der Leyen). And yet much work remains. Legal protections are incomplete, discrim...

The displacement of people as a consequence of war and persecution has sadly become a regular fixture in the daily news, making us accustomed to such humanitarian crises and perhaps less alert to the urgency of immediate response. For international higher education professionals, taking action means facilitating refugees’ access to higher education. Despite the tremendous efforts made in the past...

Just imagine an educational system that is student-centred, flexible, virtual, quality assured, and that increases the employability of students and adult learners alike. This is what micro-credentials promise to be, and what policymakers are pushing for.  Although micro-credentials have been around for some time now, their large-scale adoption is still in an early phase. At least on paper, their...

This year’s World Press Freedom Day (03 May) marked the 30th anniversary of the UNESCO Declaration for the Development of a Free, Independent and Pluralistic Press. As our guest Sinead O’Gorman reminds us, freedom of expression is intertwined with freedom of movement.   Over the past 20 years, Scholars at Risk has worked at the intersection of these two fundamental rights, steering scholars who ha...