11-14 September, Porto, Portugal
Porto is Portugal's second city and was nominated as the European Capital of Culture in 2001. This historic and culturally significant city was the perfect location to hold the 14th Annual EAIE Conference 2002. The conference was a definite success, and very well attended with more than 1730 participants. The extensive programme incorporated 75 sessions on international higher education. The day before the conference was reserved for some extra activities, including 22 workshops, an EAIE newcomers' welcome session, a joint EAIE/ACA seminar, and excursions to local higher education institutions. At the General Meeting, Jeroen Torenbeek was inducted as the new EAIE President, and Antoinette Charon was elected EAIE Vice President.
The Keynote Plenary was held in a beautiful old marketplace named Mercado Ferreira Borges. The first speaker to address the audience was His Royal Highness Carlos-Hugo de Borbón Parma, who spoke about education and the transmission of knowledge and acceleration of history from under-development to globalisation. Then an address was given by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of Portugal, Professor Pedro Lynce, who said: "Hence the importance of this conference in bringing together people with different specialist backgrounds from all over the world to exchange experience, culture and knowledge in many fields. For this I would like to congratulate the organisation." For further views on political and business aspects of internationalisation, the Keynote Plenary also featured Professor Doutor Veiga Simão, Minister of Education 1970-1974, Minister of Industry and Energy 1983-1985 and Minister of National Defence 1997-1999 and Engº Belmiro de Azevedo, President of SONAE SGPS, SA, one of the biggest business groups in Portugal, which also operates in Spain, Greece, Germany, Italy and Brazil. Professor Veiga Semao stressed the importance of internationally accepted performance indicators, the development of benchmarking techniques, and credible competitiveness charts of development. Engº Belmiro de Azevedo spoke on the internationalisation of higher education and employment. He enforced the need to ensure ease of mobility and the standardisation that the bologna declaration demands. Tim Birtwistle gave the presidential address, and spoke about the changing paradigm of education; how the word 'education' now encompasses a different set of notions from those traditionally associated with it.
Besides the discussions of significant topics, the conference also allowed ample opportunity to relax and network. A special folk performance was held in the auditorium of the library Almeida Garrett. "The sun and the moon" was performed by the Ethnography and Folk Culture Group NEFAP, founded in 1982 by a group of students from the University of Porto. The annual EAIE Dance was held in the Hard Club where the participants enjoyed a wonderful performance of a Latin American band until the early hours in the morning.
We now look forward to celebrating the 15th Annual Conference of the EAIE next year in Vienna, Austria. See you there!