Higher Education Globalisation Final International Conference

The FRIENDS project’s Final International Conference was held in a hybrid mode on 20-21 October 2022. The online streaming of this major dissemination event made it possible for the conference to reach more people across Asia and Europe. Nearly 120 participants joined the event in Bhutan and at the FRIENDS HEIs in Europe and in the ASEAN region.

Through keynote speeches and networking opportunities, the Conference raised awareness on the importance of higher education internationalisation and globalisation in Bhutan. Prominent keynote speakers were Dasho Nidup Dorji (Vice Chancellor of Bhutan, Executive Head of the Royal University of Bhutan), Adrian Veale, Project Officer (European Commission, DG EAC, Unit C3 – International Cooperation), and Jos Beelen (Professor of Global Learning: The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands). In addition to the 3 keynote speeches, the agenda on Day 1 covered 2 parallel sessions with presentations and workshops delivered by the project consortium members. FRIENDS partners’ contributions focused on the one hand on the general framework and policies of higher education internationalisation and globalisation, and on the other hand on various aspects of the FRIENDS project’s implementation, results and impact.

The 2-day event was attended by higher education policy makers and practitioners in Bhutan, senior university managers and officers in charge of internationalisation outside the FRIENDS consortium, representatives of the Ministry of Education in Bhutan, Paro College of Education, Jigme Namgyel Engineering College, and College of Natural Resource, to name a few. Networking was in the heart of the second day of the conference and attendees were able to partake in interactive and engaging experiences. FRIENDS consortium members had to chance to engage in a series of brokerage and networking sessions with senior managers and International Relations Officers from 13 HEIs in Bhutan as well as representatives of the Department of Adult and Higher Education at the Ministry of Education under the Royal Government in Bhutan. The 25 breakout sessions aimed to establish new links and to pave the way for future academic partnerships between HEIs in Bhutan and FRIENDS HEIs from Europe and the ASEAN region.

The agenda of the conference can be found here.

Brokerage session participants’ info cards can be found here.