EAIE Glasgow 2026

🎟️ Registration required (paid)
🤝 Workshop (collaborative)
💡 Strategic partnerships | Diversity, equity and inclusion

Despite the widely recognised need for transformative collaborations such as the European university alliances, many higher education institutions struggle to monitor and assess the impact of strategic partnerships. In these transformative change processes, the critical role of diversity is often overlooked. This workshop will address two essential questions for strategic partnerships: how to work effectively with institutional diversity; and how to create, monitor and assess impact. It has been designed as an impact clinic grounded in change methodology to provide a structured, highly interactive and inclusive environment. You will bring in your specific challenges to receive a tailor-made diagnosis and treatment plan.

Learning outcomes

• Develop a better understanding of challenges and underlying tensions within strategic partners;
• Learn how to develop a tailor-made diagnosis and impact process plan to work with institutional diversity and create, monitor and assess impact;
• Take away peer feedback, new trusted networks, actionable guidelines, multiple resources and a first draft of an impact process plan.

Target audience
This workshop is targeted at staff working within strategic partnerships, such as European Universities or global alliances, who have at least five years of experience in higher education and an interest in impact assessment and diversity matters. It is relevant for academic and non-academic staff in a range of roles. The workshop will benefit from a diverse mix of stakeholder roles and levels.

🎟️ Registration required (paid)
🤝 Workshop (collaborative)
💡 Diversity, equity and inclusion | Advocacy and stakeholder engagement

In today's global education landscape, not everyone experiences opportunity in the same way. This workshop will explore how identity and privilege shape who gets to travel, lead and feel safe abroad. Through short presentations, case studies and open discussion, we will address the challenges faced by practitioners who identify as women, LGBTQ+, persons with disabilities or people of colour, including those with intersectional identities. We will share experiences, reflect on risks and explore ways to build safer, more inclusive environments. You’ll leave with practical tools and strategies to promote equity, belonging and well-being within your institution and beyond, helping to shape a field where everyone can thrive.

Learning outcomes

• Learn how identity and privilege shape experiences in international education;
• Identify the challenges faced by diverse practitioners;
• Apply practical tools to promote inclusivity and safety abroad;
• Develop one concrete action to enhance the power of diverse teams and engage and support all practitioners effectively.

Target audience
This workshop is designed for higher education professionals engaged in global mobility, diversity, and staff development. It offers practical insights for creating inclusive and safe environments abroad and is relevant for experienced practitioners as well as those newer to international education

The CANIE Accord offers a bold framework for climate accountability in international education, but its true impact lies in how institutions bring it to life. This session will highlight how the accord has catalysed deep transformation across diverse organisations, from strategic planning to student engagement. Through global, institutional and local perspectives, panellists will demonstrate how international education can turn climate pledges into systemic, measurable change.

How can higher education institutions turn cultural diversity into a strength? At Artevelde University of Applied Sciences, diversity is not only a reality – it's a powerful asset. Yet it also presents challenges in the classroom and the workplace. To support staff in addressing these complexities, we developed an intercultural compass: an engaging intranet webpage and online learning pathway designed to foster intercultural awareness and inclusive practices across our institution.

This poster presents a living lab connecting Belgium and Benin, where students and teachers co-create solutions for sustainable agriculture, international trade, education and the concept of one health. Through project-based learning and intercultural collaboration, the initiative bridges classrooms and local communities, turning research and teaching into real-world impact and empowering future global changemakers.

Deciding the criteria for the selection of exchange students is always difficult. What is considered fair? And once that decision is taken, how do you make it happen? The University of Helsinki and ETH Zurich have decided to adopt a draw-based method, but what did it take to convince management, how do you communicate it to students and what do you need to consider internally to make it happen? We will share key challenges and insights from all aspects of the transition.

While there may be no perfect recipe for academic solidarity, this session will offer an in-depth discussion about the main considerations when setting up support actions for researchers at risk, the inevitable questions of how to define and assess risk and inclusiveness, and whether these run in opposition to excellence. We will also cover concrete prospects for EU and national support in the coming years and what to expect or hope for in the next EU budget.

Peer mentorship can be a powerful support mechanism for early-career professionals and female leaders in international higher education. This session will explore how mentorship circles foster a sense of belonging, shared problem solving and collaborative leadership development. Join our circle as we draw on personal experiences and collective insights to share inspiring practices to create, cultivate and nurture these communities.

"A student would like to take part in a mobility experience but is unable to complete the process independently due to high anxiety." "My colleagues don't know how to work with inclusion and diversity, and the institutional practices are not yet there." "We want to send our students on exchanges, but our partners don't have the appropriate support and information." This session will look at what international relations officers can do about these and similar issues.

✅ Included for all participants
ℹ️ Panel (informative)
💡 Social responsibility

From carbon conscious travel and reduced waste to inclusive mobility, student belonging and shifting immigration landscapes, this Ignite© session tackles some of the big sustainability questions shaping international education today. Together, these conversations explore how institutions can connect the local and global, rethink mobility with care, and build systems that are more sustainable, supportive, and fit for the future. Join this fast-paced session where six presenters will have only five minutes and 20 slides each to share practical insights, fresh perspectives, and some thoughtful ideas to encourage new ways of thinking and working!

This poster outlines and reflects on key aspects of an action research project emerging from Trinity Global's first-in-Ireland achievement of a professional services unit holding an Athena Swan award. We will share insights to benefit other international offices in engaging with Athena Swan to enhance awareness and embedding of equality, diversity, integration and belonging values in their practice and operations.

To solve global challenges, we need more exchange and internationalisation. The Arqus Alliance has also set itself this goal for its students and staff. But how can we make internationalisation more climate-friendly at the same time? We will provide information on green mobility, collected in an online kit, specifically for travel to Arqus locations, and we will share examples and ideas for green mobility, helping you to keep your carbon footprint small despite frequent business travel.

⭐ Thematic Committee Session

✅ Included for all participants
💡 Social responsibility

This spotlight session, led by speakers from affected regions, will look at how opportunities to support and learn from universities in conflict areas have been neglected in the international higher education field. Consequently, their struggles are not well known and requests for support and sustained efforts to recover and rebuild have been silenced. We will highlight that crisis and conflict do not diminish international higher education but rather lead to the reinvention of educational spaces.

Equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives have been called into question in many countries, yet universities are still running programmes to support their LGBTQIA+ students who are participating in international education. This session will give a brief overview of national LGBTQIA+ policies and then describe best practices in supporting these students at institutions in Japan, Poland, the US and Germany. New ideas will be shared and cultivated, also in relation to internationalisation.

⭐ Thematic Committee networking

📝 Registration required
💡 Marketing and admissions | Social responsibility

Step into this networking activity to meet conference participants who share your interest in marketing and admissions, and social responsibility. Open to anyone interested in these topic areas, it is a chance to discover new perspectives, start valuable conversations and build connections with people who may inspire your next idea, partnership or opportunity.

This session will examine how internationalisation can be pursued responsibly to have a meaningful societal impact, and how to measure it. We will share European and Latin American perspectives, supported by the framework of responsible internationalisation's basic pillars.

This session will address forced internationalisation through the case of students in exile, exploring how higher education institutions can respond to these students' academic, social and administrative needs despite limited resources. We will present practical ways to strengthen inclusion and we will call on EU policymakers to recognise and support institutions' specific efforts towards these socially and economically disadvantaged students.

After fleeing Afghanistan, Najiba now works on developing life-saving anti-cancer drugs at a cluster of excellence. Inspired by her example, we will explore how to reimagine academic solidarity in terms of empowerment, internationalisation and global engagement. This can be done by establishing powerful fellowship and hosting schemes that leverage the full potential and benefits of hosting at-risk researchers – for the researcher, the university and society more broadly.

Health challenges can deeply affect professional identity, relationships and expectations at work. This peer reflection session will create a supportive space to explore how to navigate such moments. Through guided questions, you will reflect on disclosure versus privacy, changing workplace dynamics and how to move forward without losing your sense of self. We will highlight how peer support and professional networks can provide strength, perspective and hope.

Across Europe, universities and Erasmus+ actors face a profound challenge: How can we ensure graduates leave higher education not only with broad competencies and skills but with the courage and critical awareness to shape their societies? Are alumni of training and mobility programmes supported and empowered to become true changemakers? What is needed to make young people actors of change? And how do we support and protect students and alumni in an increasingly polarised world?