2008 Annual Conference

The 2008 AIEA Annual Conference was held on Feb 17-21 in Washington DC. Preconference workshops were held on Feb 17-18. The conference started at 2 pm in Mon Feb 18 and ran through Wed Feb 20. Advocacy Day will be Feb 21. The 2008 AIEA Conference Hotel was the JW Marriott Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington DC. 

The conference theme was "Globalization: Implications for International Education." As part of this theme, sessions addressed the following:

Globalization, Identity, Ethics, and Citizenship
As globalization leads to an internationally integrated production and consumption of goods, cultural products, and services, local and national identities are challenged.  More individuals are transnationally mobile and even larger numbers of people are globally-linked even without leaving their own localities.  How are local, national, and global identities integrated?  What ethical questions are posed by the problematization of identity in a globalized environment?  How can students be prepared to be citizens of a globalized world?

Globalization and the University
Colleges and universities face new and growing challenges in a globalized environment.   Educational institutions must compete for faculty and students who are internationally mobile.  Accreditations and rankings are becoming increasingly internationalized.  Curricula must be revised reflect the demand for international competence.  International partnerships and alliances pose both risks and opportunities.  Universities are drawn increasingly into the public policy arena when state actions hinder mobility or reduce the competitiveness of university systems.

Globalization, Mobility, and Articulation
Globalization leads to new patterns of student and faculty mobility and new challenges for articulation .  Students not only move between institutions within one country, but also between countries and across continents.  Multinational agreements, such as the Bologna process, may increase some dimensions of mobility but reduce others.  Local strategies in response to increased mobility and articulation vary widely.

 Globalization, Experience, and Learning
Globalization heightens the demand for international competence, and to achieve that competence, international experience.  Traditional experiences such as study abroad, are growing rapidly, and at the same time they are being re-evaluated and reconceived.  Other forms of experience, such as internships and service learning, are attracting increased attention.  Metrics for assessing the value of these learning experiences are in demand.

Globalization and the Disciplines
The academic disciplines are challenged in many ways by globalization.  The rise of IPE (international political economy) in political science is an example.  Comparative law, comparative politics, comparative sociology, comparative history, and comparative cultural studies are other examples.  English literature is now a transnational rather than Anglo-American discipline.  Management, Public Administration, Medicine, and the other professions have become increasingly internationalized.  The internationalization of faculty, as well of subject matter, helps drive these changes.

CALL FOR CONFERENCE SESSION PROPOSALS


Globalization:
Implications for International Education

NOTE: Proposal Deadline - September 17, 2007

As the President-Elect of AIEA and the 2008 AIEA Conference Chair, I am issuing this call for conference session proposals. Reserve the dates of February 17-20, 2008 for the Annual Conference of the Association for International Education Administrators. We will be meeting at the JW Marriott in downtown Washington, DC.

The theme for the 2008 program will be Globalization:  Implications for International Education.  We are planning a provocative, wide-ranging, and rewarding annual conference and we look forward to your participation.

The conference theme speaks to issues facing us as Chief International Education Administrators (CIEAs) as we address globalization within higher education.  The theme of the conference serves as the basis for proposals on the following sub-themes:

Globalization, Identity, Ethics, and Citizenship
As globalization leads to an internationally integrated production and consumption of goods, cultural products, and services, local and national identities are challenged.  More individuals are transnationally mobile and even larger numbers of people are globally-linked even without leaving their own localities.  How are local, national, and global identities integrated?  What ethical questions are posed by the problematization of identity in a globalized environment?  How can students be prepared to be citizens of a globalized world?

Globalization and the University
Colleges and universities face new and growing challenges in a globalized environment.   Educational institutions must compete for faculty and students who are internationally mobile.  Accreditations and rankings are becoming increasingly internationalized.  Curricula must be revised reflect the demand for international competence.  International partnerships and alliances pose both risks and opportunities.  Universities are drawn increasingly into the public policy arena when state actions hinder mobility or reduce the competitiveness of university systems.

Globalization, Mobility, and Articulation
Globalization leads to new patterns of student and faculty mobility and new challenges for articulation .  Students not only move between institutions within one country, but also between countries and across continents.  Multinational agreements, such as the Bologna process, may increase some dimensions of mobility but reduce others.  Local strategies in response to increased mobility and articulation vary widely.

 Globalization, Experience, and Learning
Globalization heightens the demand for international competence, and to achieve that competence, international experience.  Traditional experiences such as study abroad, are growing rapidly, and at the same time they are being re-evaluated and reconceived.  Other forms of experience, such as internships and service learning, are attracting increased attention.  Metrics for assessing the value of these learning experiences are in demand.

Globalization and the Disciplines
The academic disciplines are challenged in many ways by globalization.  The rise of IPE (international political economy) in political science is an example.  Comparative law, comparative politics, comparative sociology, comparative history, and comparative cultural studies are other examples.  English literature is now a transnational rather than Anglo-American discipline.  Management, Public Administration, Medicine, and the other professions have become increasingly internationalized.  The internationalization of faculty, as well of subject matter, helps drive these changes.

Globalization and Technology
Globalization has been driven in large part by information technology, and information technology itself poses challenges to higher education.  At the same time, information technology offers tools that can make institutions more international by facilitating the international exchange of information, creating international access to conferences and courses, and improving the quality of instruction in foreign language and area studies.  Issues of design, cost, content, and compatibility pose significant challenges for users.

We want to encourage smaller group interactions and hope to receive proposals for roundtable discussions among members on issues important to CIEA positions. These small group interactions could be at different tables at lunch or during the regular program session times. We will also try to develop breakout sessions following specific plenary presentations. We also invite you to submit proposals for more substantive half and full day pre-conference workshops.  

Please provide proposals for sessions as outlined above.  These can take the format of a pre-conference workshop, panel discussion, research presentation, roundtable discussion, or poster session.

As Vice President/President Elect of AIEA and the 2008 conference chair, I encourage you to organize presentations and/or sessions on the topics listed above or on any other innovative topics and issues related to international learning, leadership, and public engagement.

For full consideration of your workshop or session proposal, please complete the proposal form and submit no later than September 17, 2007 , earlier if possible (by July 15 is strongly encouraged), using the submission format which appears as a link on the conference website. We will then review all submissions and respond regarding acceptance status. We will also ask for detailed information on final session plans including persons presenting or responding, as well as a final abstract. 

To help guide your thinking and written submission, please review the information below.

Criteria for Selection:

--Quality of the proposed session (content, design, expertise of presenters)
--Relevance to the conference theme
--Significance of the topic to the general audience

Session Format:

Sessions are generally 75 minutes long so please limit panel proposals to three presenters to allow time for discussion. Participants are encouraged to be innovative and thought-provoking in their design of the session and should consider alternatives to the traditional reading of papers and panel discussions as appropriate.

Submission Format:

If you wish to submit a workshop or session proposal, please provide all of the information requested in the submission form.  Email submissions of proposals or other email correspondence should be sent to aiea@duke.edu .

We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Sincerely,


Gilbert Merkx, 2008 Conference Chair
President-elect, AIEA
Vice Provost for International Affairs and Development
Duke University

AIEA 2008 Conference Washington DC