Last week, the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange NAWA – at the invitation of British Council Poland – attended the Going Global conference in Berlin as its official partner. Going Global has been one of the chief events which gather together leaders in higher education ever since 2004. The 2019 edition was held from 13 to 15 May at bcc Berlin Congress Center.
Held annually by the British Council, the conference touches upon subjects related to the future of tertiary education and research and provides a unique platform for sharing knowledge, experience and opinion. It is attended by among others university vice-chancellors, ministers and representatives of government agencies, representatives of the media, education strategy makers, academics, professionals working in the field of international education as well as representatives of universities responsible for internationalisation. NAWA had the opportunity to present its offer at a stand that was set up specifically for this purpose. It provided information on its programmes for institutions, academics and students, thus presenting the possibilities of cooperation with the Polish academia, i.a. through the programmes International Academic Partnerships and KATAMARAN. The Agency was represented by its Deputy Director Dr. Zofia Sawicka, staff of the Department of Programmes for Institutions and of the Department of Communication and Promotion as well as – as a guest – Dr. Izabela Zawiska from the Jagiellonian University, who represented IROs Forum.
This year’s event focused on matters related to the role of the sector of tertiary education in the context of challenges such as knowledge diplomacy and the digital world. Historically, it was universities and research institutions that played the role of a global knowledge producer and developer of advanced solutions. In today’s world of rapidly developing technologies and the digitisation of research, the key question is: what should be the role of tertiary education in the nearest future and what challenges do the leaders in international education have to face?
NAWA participated in the discussion on the above challenges by actively representing Poland at the following conference events:
- Dr. Zofia Sawicka was a panellist in the session The changing shape of global higher education, whose aim was to discuss the British Council’s latest study. Running since 2016, the research presents a comparison of the national higher education policies across more than 40 countries. The session participants together tried to find an answer to questions on the development of higher education and mobility as well as the challenges faced by individual countries and regions, as a result outlining the colourful image of university education worldwide. The full session podcast is available here. It is also worthwhile to read the report The Shape of Global Higher Education.
- Speaking on current phenomena that affect the universities’ institutional ability to take up the challenges of the 21st century: brain drain, concentration of knowledge and strivings for a more smooth circulation of knowledge, Dr. Sawicka presented her poster Rethinking future global challenges: let’s start from brain-circulation.
- Together with Dr. Izabela Zawiska from IROs Forum, Dr. Sawicka presented the challenges faced by the Polish tertiary education in the course of the breakfast session What’s on the higher education menu in Europe? prepared by Bianka Stege, Director Education & Society, EU Region at British Council. The session of questions concerning Poland was attended among others by representatives of Hungary, the UK and Germany.
We encourage everyone interested in Going Global 2019 to take a look at the conference materials available on the organiser’s website.
