INTERNATIONALISATION ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
The University of Miskolc was represented at a higher education event in Spain last week.
The European Association for International Education (EAIE), an organisation dedicated to promoting the internationalisation of European higher education institutions and international relations, organised its 2022 conference in Barcelona. UM was represented by the Directorate for International Relations and members of the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Informatics and the Faculty of Materials and Chemical Engineering.
With more than 7,000 participants, the conference and exhibition was officially the largest EAIE conference to date. It was the first time in two years that the world's international higher education sector met face-to-face, exchanged experiences and learned from each other. There were 8 workshops, 13 campus tours, 16 networking events, and a wide range of sessions and posters from Tuesday to Friday, providing conference participants with a colourful professional programme on current topics in international higher education, such as virtual student exchange, the European University Alliance initiative, the consequences of the war between Ukraine and Russia, the evaluation of digital certificates, and the internationalisation of curricula.
In addition to this rich programme, the exhibition was attended by more than 200 exhibitors from all over the world. Hungarian higher education, including UM, exhibited their international education portfolio under the Study in Hungary logo.
Krisztina Sándor, Head of the Directorate for International Relations, said “the exhibition provided a great opportunity to increase the international visibility of UM, to increase the number of mobility, international students and international projects. Several existing contracts with international partner universities were renewed and new partnership agreements have been prepared, including mobility cooperation and double degree programmes. It also provided an opportunity to prepare for our participation in the Alliance of European Universities initiative, to build up contacts with international marketing companies and student recruitment portals, to have personal discussions with QS and THE Ranking representatives, and, of course, to become familiar with a number of international good practices”.
The students of the Faculty of Materials and Chemical Engineering have so far mainly studied abroad under the ERASMUS+ programme, but thanks to the experience and contacts gained at the conference, they will hopefully be able to participate in "double degree" courses in the future. Éva Stumpf, faculty representative, said that many of the presentations focused on the problems of international students, methods of integration, sensitisation of local communities and the sustainability of international scholarship programmes.
“For the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Informatics, participation was important to experience first-hand what it is like to build international relations at such a large-scale event. We had the opportunity to attend lectures and interactive programmes on ways to promote mobility, to raise awareness of the GREEN ERASMUS programme, which is a priority for the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Informatics, and to have personal discussions with representatives of different, mainly European, universities," summarised Dr. Katalin Voith.