Session
✅ Included for all participants
How can higher education institutions translate inclusion and social responsibility policies into concrete practice? This session will explore how Erasmus+ national agencies in Finland, Germany and Austria support institutions in developing inclusive internationalisation through networks, training and peer learning, inspired by and building on the joint Inclusion ACAdemy.
Sami Niemelä has over 25 years of experience in international higher education. For more than six years, he has worked as a Senior Adviser at the Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI), specialising in Erasmus+ for higher education, international mobility and inclusion in mobility. He is also the education and training sectors' Inclusion Officer contact point for the Erasmus+ National Agency of Finland. Before joining EDUFI, he spent 20 years working in the international office(s) of a Finnish higher education institution out of which some five years managing the office. He holds a Bachelor of Health Care and a Master of Business Administration degrees.
Andrea von Kopp is Head of Central Student Advisory Service and Psychological Counseling and Deputy Representative for Students with Disabilities at Berlin Technical University of Applied Science in Germany. She is member of the national Erasmus+ expert group "Diversity and Inclusion".
The Erasmus+ experts inform and advise German universities on the implementation of the European Education Programme with the support of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).
Karina holds a Master’s degree in International Management from FH JOANNEUM and spent a semester abroad at Universidad Andrés Bello in Viña del Mar, Chile.
In 2015, Karina entered the field of internationalisation in higher education at the Medical University of Graz. Since September 2017, she has been part of the International Relations Office at FH JOANNEUM. In her current role, she focuses on outgoing student mobility and the digitalisation of mobility processes.
Over the years, Karina has developed extensive expertise in the Erasmus+ programme. For her, however, international mobility is about much more than processes and technical knowledge. She is particularly passionate about promoting inclusive mobility and encouraging students from underrepresented groups to embrace international opportunities.
Karina also participated in the TCA Inclusion ACAdemy, an experience that led to the creation of the Inclusion Academy Network Austria. Through this network and her professional work, she is committed to making international mobility more accessible and to showing students that an international experience can be possible for everyone.
