The 28th Annual EAIE Conference gathered in Liverpool to 5.200 professionals in the higher education scope from all over the world. The event ended last Friday, September 16th with great success. During the four intensive days of the conference were held networking events, workshops, sessions and exhibitions of different fields related with higher education: admission processes, Erasmus+ funding, accommodation and mobility of students, recruitment and marketing strategies, clerical processes, summer schools among many others.
The first day of the conference, Tuesday 13th, several workshops were held with some of the best higher education experts. On Wednesday, the opening ceremony took place in the Exhibition Center where universities and institutions exposed their ideas and projects in their stands. Along Wednesday and Thursday, lectures and sessions were given such as the one done by Valère Meus, Stefan Jahnke, Gaffar Rampage y Elena Tegovska, about the Erasmus Without Papers project and the need of Erasmus digitalization, a project where SIGMA participates. Case studies and experiences were shared on these sessions. This meeting was also an opportunity to bring up a completely different topic, the European migrant crisis, matter that was addressed on the four days of the conference.
At the closing ceremony, Melissa Fleming, Chief Spokesperson of UNHCR (United Nations High Comission for Refugees), appealed for all of the higher education institutions worldwide to work together with central Governments, looking for a solution to the refugees crisis. Melissa revealed that only 22% of the young refugees make it to Secondary School and just 1% of them reach higher education, putting at risk the future of this young people. Finally, Laura Howard, finished her mandate as EAIE Chairwoman (2014- 2016) and officially presented her successor, Mark Latinen of University of Helsinki. The new Executive Committee was also formed with Sara López of Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Inez Meurz (Ziggurat) and Arnold Persoon (StudyGroup).
On SIGMA’s part, Raúl Biescas, Judith Toronjo and Marcel Ninot assisted to the event. SIGMA wants to thank the organization for its warm welcome and great event management and also wishes good luck to the new President Markus Latinen and the new executive committee member, Sara López.
