CONNECTING WITH SOCIETY

International policy
Global Engagement

Internationalisation at UAntwerp is not in its infancy. We are internationally active and visible, have international staff and attract international students. Several administrative departments support internationalisation (education, research, marketing, staff, university & society, student facilities), through their own course content. The creation of the International Student Office and the International Staff Office have been great steps forward. But what we still lack is a coherent integrated International Policy with a clear vision of what we actually want to achieve and how to get there. Our goal is to create an international campus where internationalisation is evident and inclusive.

We do not see internationalisation of our education as an end in itself, but as an important means to improve the quality of teaching and research and strengthen our social impact. We see internationalisation as a planned, goal-oriented process, which should be inclusive and an integral part of the curriculum for all students. We therefore go for a transversal international policy explicitly assigned to one of the Vice-Chancellors with a coordinating role that can cut across the usual vertical structures. We develop an institutional strategy with points such as

• Internationalisation of Dutch-language courses:
• Deliberately build internationalisation initiatives into all programmes in an inclusive way, not just for the minority of students who want to and can study abroad.
• International mobility must be facilitated in the structure of training, but questions of environmental sustainability must also be addressed in relation to the added value of this mobility. We collect best practices on "virtual mobility" that ensure real international interactions.
• Attention to international, transnational and decolonisation perspectives in the structure and content of courses.
• International courses
• We focus on targeted student recruitment among the international target groups of potential students most relevant to our programmes (e.g. through more active participation in fairs and conferences, targeted promotional materials, quality accompanying information about studying in Antwerp). In this sense, we are also working on guidelines or roadmaps for best practices to implement selections in that group of potential students (if necessary) and increase the proportion of effective enrolments among selected students. We are also considering how to simplify processes (e.g. through automation).
• We reassess the portfolio of strategic partnerships using clear criteria or frameworks and build our reputation which should translate into better international rankings.
• We are committed to international fundraising and central support for international programmes and education projects (e.g. Erasmus+), with a focus on long-term viability.
• Strategic networking at the institutional level
• We have gone a long way in committing to YUFE but for now the added value for UAntwerpen seems limited. We will monitor in a timely manner whether the investments made are delivering concrete results. YUFE offers an opportunity to explore with other universities how we can build programmes (bachelor, master, predoc and postdoc level) that respond to the demand for internationalisation (including @home) and interdisciplinarity. YUFE can also help position us as an attractive partner for partners outside Europe interested in YUFE. But the current top-down approach is insufficiently transparent and therefore lacks support in many faculties.
• Further explore joining existing networks that have the right profile for us.
• Provide incentives to encourage collaboration with strategic partners at individual level (e.g. central funding for double doctorates).
• We are also building an international alumni network.
• We increase the attractiveness of vacancies for international candidates by providing even stronger and targeted recruitment and integration support (e.g. also via MONDO). Within the University of Antwerp, we apply maximum flexibility to the restrictive language policy.
• We will leverage Academic Diplomacy (participation in state visits and economic missions) for valorisation or collaborations through even more proactive consultation with faculties and departments to identify priority themes and areas and engage stakeholders to strengthen missions.

Global Engagement

Collaboration with Africa, Asia and Latin America has a solid tradition in our university. We continue to encourage and facilitate this further, including with VLIR-UOS resources, but also through engaging Global South partners in other research and education collaborations. We want the Global Minds programme of VLIR-UOS to permeate the various core tasks, fitting into the Strategic Framework for Global Engagement that UAntwerpen recently launched. We see an important role for the Global Engagement working group in the practical elaboration of this framework. This framework implies a shift "from a development cooperation approach to a global engagement approach with updated perspectives on international partnerships, decolonisation and critical global citizenship". This includes, for example, offering broader knowledge perspectives in the courses.  The decolonisation aspect of science and education in particular regularly provokes misunderstanding and even resistance in this regard. We want to continue to build unabatedly on a strong support base for global engagement, without being distracted by an overly harsh or accusatory approach.