Staff exchange – Karolinska Institutet

Sixteen staff from Karolinska Institutet (KI) attended the European Association for International Education (EAIE) Annual conference that took place in Barcelona 12-16 September 2022.

A conference on internationalisation of higher education

Every year in mid-September EAIE hosts a conference in a European city for higher education institutions (HEI) staff and people engaged in internationalisation of higher education. The 5-day programme includes workshops, study visits, sessions, networking events, posters and a huge fair where HEI can meet and network with companies, organisations and partners.

Barcelona 2022  – the future in full color

The latest conference in person took place in Helsinki 2019. Due to the pandemic the last two conferences have been online with a somewhat limited “conference experience”. 2022 finally EAIE welcomed participants again on site and this time to Barcelona. The theme for the conference was “The future in full color”, and more than 6000 participants attended this year’s hybrid event. Sixteen out of those 6000+ were from the KI administration. KI-staff from admissions, student exchange administration, international relations, teaching and learning and student recruitment and communications attended. Colleagues from Teaching and Learning contributed with two sessions “Global health: everyone’s business!” and “Teaching medical sciences in English: how to work effectively in a multilingual classroom”.

Erasmus funding for staff mobility

Erasmus staff stipends helped fund part of the participation for many attendees. The stipends cover travel and living costs according to a set table based on European destination. Some KI-staff also applied for TA-funding to cover the conference fee.

Take-home messages from KI-staff

Meeting our colleagues from our European University! Great to get to know each other both on a professional and personal level! (Maria Olsson, project manager NeurotechEU)

So much fun to meet people IRL again! Impressed with the huge EAIE conference, but the highlight was our Neurotech gathering with partners from all over Europe, many of us meeting for the first time despite having worked together for almost two years! (Ylva Olsson, project manager NeurotechEU)

EAIE 2022 in Barcelona has been a great experience. We finally got to meet our partners and colleagues from all over the world IRL. Fantastic also that 16 delegates from Karolinska Institutet participated in the conference. This has really been an amazing way to strengthen our collaboration with our partners but also to build new ones. Moreover it has also given us the possibility to enrich our collaboration and networking within Karolinska Institutet.
(Giulia Mikrut Grill, International student coordinator)

As admissions officers, what happens in the world ends up on our desks fast. Therefore, it is important to constantly get better at predicting future changes so we can be one step ahead (Dejana & Lwam, officers at the Admissions office)

EAIE has given me a better understanding of the full cycle of working with international students and inspiration on how KI can become a more international and inclusive campus at home.
(Amanda Nelzén, Education communication, guidance and alumni relations)