The first edition of the Higher Education Open Space (HEOS) was held at the University of Luxembourg on the 3-5 November, bringing together academics, administrative staff and students interested in the challenges and opportunities brought about by reaching the European goal of 20% mobile students in 2020.
The participants learnt about a range of projects and solutions that are being developed and that are expected to have an enormous impact on European student mobility. This was followed by group debates on issues such as decreasing the social selectivity of exchange students and the role of higher education in the refugee crisis.
Many participants emphasised the political importance of reaching 20% of student mobility at a time where walls are being rebuilt in Europe, as pointed out by Prof. Éric Froment, former EUA President. Prof. Georg Winckler, President of the ERSTE Foundation, challenged EU institutions to consider promoting strategies that ensure future teachers have the skills required to work in multilingual and multicultural classrooms while Geraldine Hassler, from KPMG Luxembourg, documented the impact student mobility has on the development of transversal key competences from a HR recruitment perspective.
The conference was followed by two days of workshops focused on outlining new project ideas, training staff members and sharing best practices. If you were not able to attend the HEOS you will be able to join the 2016 edition, which will be held at the University of Aveiro next summer. For photographs of the event, visit our Facebook page.