Speakers
Marina Casals Sala
Fiona Hunter
Craig Whitsed
Session
⭐ Thematic Committee Session
✅ Included for all participants
💡 Leadership, strategy and policy
This session will examine a critical but often overlooked barrier to comprehensive internationalisation: gaps in staff competence, readiness and institutional support. We will take a candid look at where internationalisation strategies fail in practice and what these failures reveal about institutional capacity, and about the true and potential role of staff in internationalisation. You will leave with practical approaches to assess competence gaps within your own institutional strategies.
Marina is the Director of Member Relations for Europe at ISEP Study Abroad and holds a PhD in International Higher Education. With over 25 years of experience in internationalization, she serves in the EAIE Leadership and is the creator of SUCTI, an award-winning professional development program for university staff. She is currently leading its evolution through SCOPE, and is a frequent speaker and trainer at international conferences.
Dr. Fiona Hunter is Associate Director at the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy where she manages the PhD Programme. She is Faculty and Scientific Council Member for the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Higher Education Leadership and Management Programme at LUISS Business School, Rome, Italy and Visiting Tutor on the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Higher Education Management at the University of Bath, United Kingdom.
She is also a higher education consultant working with private, public and faith-based institutions around the world on strategic change projects and Scientific Council member of AVEPRO, the Holy See’s Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties. She has led multiple professional development projects, and published and presented extensively on higher education management and internationalisation.
Craig Whitsed is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Murdoch University. His research focuses on higher education internationalisation, internationalisation of the curriculum, and the changing nature of academic work. He has published widely in these fields in international journals and edited collections.
Achim Förster is Vice President for International & Academic Affairs and Professor of Copyright Law, Media Law and Media Policy at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wuerzburg-Schweinfurt (Germany). Prior to his academic appointment he was Public Prosecutor at the Schweinfurt Prosecution Authority (focusing on Internet and Computer Crime) and Judge at the District Courts of Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale and Schweinfurt, Germany. His current academic work focuses on Copyright Law, Data Protection, and AI Regulation, in particular with respect to educational use in a digital academic environment.