14-17 September, Kraków, Poland
Kraków conference biggest EAIE gathering ever
The 17th Annual EAIE Conference, which was held from 14 to 17 September 2005 in Krákow, Poland, was the EAIE’s biggest gathering since its foundation in 1989. The event attracted 2032 participants from all over the world to the charming Polish city of Kraków. The conference was hosted by Jagiellonian University and the main conference venue was the newly opened Auditorium Maximum.
Extensive programme
With 87 sessions, 26 workshops, 19 poster sessions and 3 seminars the conference programme offered all participants the opportunity to update themselves on innovations and developments in the internationalisation of higher education. With networking being one of the main reasons for people to attend the conference, ample opportunity was provided for networking at a variety of social events, during the information day on Polish higher education and by means of a special networking challenge. The EAIE Exhibition gave participants the chance to meet with representatives of 76 education-related organisations. For the large group of newcomers to the conference a welcome session and reception were organised that were both well attended.
Keynote speaker
This year’s keynote speaker was Professor Bronislaw Geremek. A former foreign minister of Poland and key intellectual adviser to the Solidarity trade union, a survivor of the Warsaw ghetto, and one of the world’s most eminent scholars of medieval European history, Prof Geremek is currently a member of the European Parliament and Professor at the Natolin Campus of the College of Europe, where he holds the chair of European Civilisation. In his keynote address he stressed the importance of education for the integration of Europe: “It is education that by harmonising history textbooks allows for reconciliation between nations that had previously been enemies. It is education that allows for forming a sense of European identity based on the idea of one’s own originality, and not on opposition to others. It is education that is the fundament of the spirit of Europe”. However, in order to make progress, Prof Geremek emphasised that higher education in Europe needs “organisational reform, a radical increase of financing and rationalisation of expenditures, further increase of its innovativeness and flexibility”.
EAIE awards
During the conference three international educators were honoured for their contribution to the internationalisation of European higher education. A Constance Meldrum Award for Vision and Leadership in International Education was presented to Axel Markert of the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen in Germany and Ulf Lie of the Norwegian Center for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU) in Bergen, Norway. The EAIE Best Practice Award was given to Bo Gregersen of the Aarhus School of Business in Denmark