From physical to virtual? Internationalising higher education in the digital age

Queenie, Project Manager of ACA, joined the ACA Secretariat in 2010. She is responsible for a mixed portfolio of project development, policy research and membership services. Within ACA, she is a specialist in international education marketing and branding, rankings, EU-China mobility and funding. She has consistently developed new projects, published and organised events related to these specific themes over the years. Her most recent projects are on data-driven comparative market analysis for national internationalisation strategies. Outside, but related to ACA, she has undertaken a number of expert roles in research and evaluation projects commissioned by the European Commission, the European Parliament, and other national agencies responsible for internationalisation.  

Dr. Dominic Orr has dual citizenship in Britain and Germany. He has a doctorate in comparative education from the Technical University of Dresden and is Adjunct Professor for Management in Education at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia, with a focus on open education and digital learning. 

Saskia Weißenbach is a Senior Desk Officer for digital internationalisation and European Higher Education policy at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). She is responsible for the Erasmus+ project "Online Pedagogical Resources for European Universities (OpenU)". The project aims at testing innovative policy measures to promote digital cooperation, mobility as well as teaching & learning on a transnational level between European universities. As one of six work package leaders in OpenU, DAAD coordinates the Policy Cluster comprised of six European Ministries of Education and the Erasmus Student Network. 

Stefan Jahnke is Senior Policy Officer at the European University Foundation (EUF) and is heading the Brussels office, where he is responsible to manage multiple projects on the digitisation of Erasmus+ and is part of the Erasmus Without Paper Steering Committee. His research and advocacy efforts for the betterment of student mobility in Europe have led to the appointment as Ambassador for the New Narrative for Europe by the European Commissioner for Education and Youth, Tibor Navracsics. His academic background is in information technology and he is nowadays leading different initiatives around international professional development for Higher Education staff.

Sarah Guth is the president of UNICollaboration, a Cross-Disciplinary Organisation for Telecollaboration and Virtual Exchange in Higher Education and teaches English as a foreign language at the University of Padova, Italy. She was the Program Coordinator at the SUNY COIL Center and designed their Professional Development Program. Her research focuses on intercultural communication and the normalization of Virtual Exchange in higher education. She is the project manager for UNICollaboration’s participation in the consortium that is leading the European Commission’s pilot project Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange.

I have become a “deep generalist”, or “T-shaped” professional in the areas of Innovation of didactics and Project management. This is because I had the opportunity to work in the last 15 years on several projects focusing on very different topics, with different target groups, needs and expectations, partnerships, management needs and styles, playing different roles also in the same project. I'm here today because i'm involved in the MicroHe project: https://microcredentials.eu/. More info about me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanomenon/

Emily Palmer studied European Studies and Languages, graduating in 2003 with an MA degree and the Jean Monnet Prize from the University of Sussex, UK. Since 2004 she has been in Brussels, working at the interface of universities and the EU policy and funding scene. After having worked for eight years on behalf of UK universities in the West Midlands and South West of England, Emily joined the EuroTech Universities Alliance Brussels Office as Advisor in 2012 and was Head of Office between 2014 and 2019. On 1 April 2019, she took up the position of Secretary-General of UNA Europa alliance, which aims to establish a European University of the Future. In June 2019, UNA Europa was selected among the first European University pilots under the Erasmus+ Programme.

Märt Aro's involvement in the field of education development dates back to his secondary school years which saw Märt organising educational events for peers on a national level. Märt has dedicated 15 years on developing internationalisation of education as he experienced first-hand that international learning experience is one of the greatest ways to widen learners horizons.

Due to passion for education, Märt has established several organisations and companies in the area of education development since 2004.

The latest solution, DreamApply.com Student Application Management Platform, Märt co-founded in 2011. Today DreamApply is used by 250 universities from 35 countries, serving millions of users a year.

The most recent NGO Nordic EdTech Forum - N8 brings together 140 founders of education innovation initiatives from eight Northern European countries with the aim of sharing experience and fostering cooperation.

Bernd Wächter is the Director of the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA). He studied at the universities of Hull (UK), Giessen and Marburg (Germany). His career has been focused on international higher education. He worked for the University of Kassel, the British Council, and the Fachhochschule Darmstadt, before joining The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as the head of their EU division.He subsequently became the director for Higher Education (Erasmus) in the Brussels Socrates Office. In 1998, he took up his present post as ACA Director.Bernd Wächter has published and lectured widely on international higher education. He is the editor of the ACA Papers on International Cooperation in Education. He has been the team leader of ACA’s research projects and speaks frequently at major governmental and stakeholder conferences, in Europe and beyond, on the issue of mobility and internationalisation. Bernd Wächter has two children. He is married to Thora Magnusdottir, a delightful lady from Iceland.

Marija Mitic is Policy Officer at ACA, where she has worked since 2014. Marija’s responsibilities at ACA include a wide variety of tasks – from membership services, project and event management, policy analysis to representation of ACA in Brussels and globally. Marija’s interest and expertise lie in intercultural learning and diversity studies, EU lifelong learning policies and international cooperation in higher education. Marija is a big fan of Brussels, where she initially came for music, but stayed for many additional reasons, including its international setting.