Now that we have learned how to live with COVID and to reconnect again in person, international education professionals and faculty engaged in global learning are back on the road. DePaul’s Global Engagement team has been engaged in traveling to events and to visit partners as well as in hosting visits of many of our global partners who are eager to come see us in Chicago. We recently connected with Nottingham Trent University on their urban campus in Nottingham, UK, where productive sessions took place around our collaboration in virtual exchange activities. Both Global Learning Experience (GLE) and Global Conversations were part of the discussion.
During the Fall quarter we also hosted productive visits of several delegations of partner schools: The University of Calabar, Nigeria; ESNE, Spain; Sangmyung University in Seoul Korea; Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland; and University of Westminster in London, UK.
DePaul’s Global Learning Experience (GLE) team was excited to welcome international faculty partners working with DePaul faculty in the design and implementation of virtual exchange (global learning experience, GLE) projects within their courses. We welcomed a few partners from different institutions in Brazil (Unichristus University, Centro Universitário Barão de Mauá, São Paulo State University), Croatia (University of Dubrovnik), as well as from South Africa (Durban University of Technology). During their GLE-related visits, international partner faculty engage in planning of virtual exchange projects with their DePaul faculty counterparts, as well as meetings with various university stakeholders, visiting campus facilities, and discussing potential future international collaborations and projects, among others.
The International Virtual Exchange Conference (IVEC), the premier annual event in virtual exchange (VE), took place in Valencia, Spain, October 26-28. DePaul University’s delegation to this year’s conference consisted of 5 faculty and 1 student presenters, as well as 4 staff members from DePaul’s Global Engagement/Global Learning Experience team and the Center for Teaching and Learning - all of which closely support DePaul’s award-winning virtual exchange program, branded as Global Learning Experience (GLE). The conference provided opportunities for showcasing DePaul faculty’s exciting work in virtual exchange and their many international collaborations, including cross-cultural VE research, for highlighting student experiences in the VE field, for networking and expanding DePaul’s international connections, as well as sharing the university’s experience in VE with existing and potential new partners from around the world.
DePaul also participated in the 32nd Annual European Association of International Education (EAIE) Conference in Barcelona, Spain. More than 6300 participants from 90 countries attended the conference, to discuss trends in international higher education, reconnect with partners from around the world, and participate in professional development and networking events.