Event Will Gather Higher Education Institutions and Professionals from All Over the World

Wittenborg will participate in the 33rd European Association for International Education (EAIE) Conference and Exhibition, one of the world's most significant higher education events, held at the Ahoy venue in Rotterdam from 26 to 29 September.

This year’s conference theme is ‘Connecting currents’, and in keeping up with tradition the programme features a great variety of activities including workshops, presentations, networking events, panels and guided visits to the campuses of higher education institutions. So far, more than 6,000 people have already registered for the event.

Wittenborg will be represented by its CEO Maggie Feng, president Peter Birdsall, head of the School of Business Rauf Abdul, associate professor and programme coordinator Dadi Chen, Assurance of Learning manager Kriszta Kaspers-Rostás and Process & Quality manager Myra Qiu. Also participating will be senior Communications Manager Sinem Dosdogru, senior lecturer Zijian Wang and assistant professor Fahad Shakeel.

The school will have its own stand (booth D35) among other Dutch institutions featured in the Exhibition Area, with the goal of increasing Wittenborg’s visibility and further building brand awareness in the Netherlands, Europe and around the world. In addition to recent social media posts aimed at raising awareness of the event, the institution has created a new email address to facilitate interaction with professionals attending EAIE. Attendees who have registered for the event are welcome to contact us at eaie@wittenborg.eu.

CEO Maggie Feng expressed excitement about representing the institution, highlighting Wittenborg's significant growth as the most internationally-oriented business school in the Netherlands in recent years.

“The EAIE conference is a great stage where we want to shine and this time it is in the Netherlands, so it is a home game. We are looking forward to meeting as many people as possible out of the nearly 7,000 visitors, especially among the 700 Dutch colleagues that will be representing the country’s higher education institutions. We want to let them get to know us and vice-versa, because Wittenborg has a very interesting and positive position in terms of internationalisation in higher education in the Netherlands,” she stressed.

Feng added that the EAIE conference is one of the best moments to get to know what is being offered by other schools and detect the trends from the market. “Although we don’t really have competitors in the Netherlands, this is an opportunity to see how our competitors in Europe and other parts of the world are doing. Higher education has become globalised, and we live in a world where everyone is next door to each other. So, we will observe and see what our role is in this context, as well as what we can learn from and how we can be inspired by the others.”

An event filled with opportunities

By attending the event, the Wittenborg team will be benefited in various ways, having multiple opportunities for networking and seeking potential partnerships with other institutions. Moreover, participants will gain valuable insights into the latest trends and research in higher international education as well as topics related to technology, sustainability and marketing. Finally, attendees will have the chance to invest in their professional development and personal growth by taking part in lectures and workshops.

According to Assurance of Learning manager Kriszta Kaspers-Rostás, Wittenborg’s preparation for the EAIE conference has involved multiple colleagues from the school’s Marketing & Communications team, Research Centre, News group and Education Development & Quality Management Department.

“We have developed specific strategies to promote our educational products and services to different target audiences, including a flyer that will be used when interacting with possible future academic partners. On top of that, we have internally distributed informative materials so that anyone in the team can be up to date with the latest developments and expectations regarding the possible outcomes of these discussions. Overall, I think our team is fully equipped to make the most out of this conference and we are all very enthusiastic about attending it,” she stressed.

WUP 14/9/2023
by Ulisses Sawczuk
©WUAS Press