In the annual conference held in Boston and organised by NAFSA – the world’s largest non-profit association dedicated to international education and exchange – Vice-Rector for International Relations and Development of Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) prof. Sigitas Stanys met the KTU partner universities, and started cooperation with the US and South Korean universities.
Prof. Stanys together with the Manager of International Exchange and Networks Ms. Živilė Paužaitė took part in the annual NAFSA (National Association of Foreign Student Advisers) conference in Boston last week.
NAFSA’s 10 000 members from more than 3 500 institutions in over 150 countries are administrators, advisors, instructors, students, advocates, volunteers, and all those committed to the growth of international education.
A Platform to Share Experiences and Contacts
The theme of the meeting this year was “New Horizons in International Education”, while the conference itself served as a platform to meet KTU’s current and future partners from around the world.
Prof. Stanys and Ž. Paužaitė met with current KTU partners from Northumbria University (UK), BINUS University (Indonesia), National Tsing Hua University and National Taiwan University (Taiwan), Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), Chung-Ang University and Yonsei University (South Korea).
During the conference, KTU got a new offer from another South Korean university – Hannam University, regarding possible future partnership. Both parties have discussed possible students’ exchange for part-time studies and summer schools.
Cooperation Prospects With the US
In the framework of “Erasmus+” programme, Kaunas University of Technology expands academic mobility options beyond the European Union borders this year. The United States is a strategic region for the future partnership and exchange between universities.
At the aforementioned NAFSA conference Paužaitė took part in one of preconference workshops where participants shared their experience in establishing university-wide strategic and sustainable linkages with the US institutions. One of the key speakers of the workshop Ms. Joanna Regulska, the Vice President for International and Global Affairs at the Rutgers University of New Jersey emphasised that: “A new start of partnership with US institutions leads to a long lasting experience of trust between partners, match of universities’ programmes and common interests”.
Kaunas University of Technology has already had some linkages with Berkeley College of the University of California. During the conference Vice-Rector prof. Stanys had a meeting with one of the representatives of this university – Ms. Leslie R. Harlson. It is hoped-for that an ongoing cooperation and further contacts will create a promising basis for more stable partnership between KTU and Berkeley in the very near future.
