2024 Conference of COST Action CA20115 ENIS

International Student Mobility (ISM) is a prominent aspect of the Internationalization in Higher Education. Scholarly research on ISM has particularly intensified over the last two decades, which led to a significant improvement of our scientific understanding of the determinants, experiences and outcomes of ISM. However, surprisingly little connection and exchange exists among researchers across different disciplines, as well as between researchers, practitioners, and policy makers, despite the relevance that scientific knowledge on ISM has for policy and daily practice. The ENIS-network, funded by the COST Association, aims to stimulate a more systematic interdisciplinary and international exchange of knowledge on theoretical frameworks, research methodologies, findings, and best practice examples, and for translating scientific findings into recommendations for ISM practice.

For our second Action conference, we invite contributions from scholars and practitioners from different fields and geographical contexts to contribute to our conference, aiming to stimulate comparative discussions and practical insights into ISM dynamics by bringing fragmented knowledge together, with the main aim of generating new interdisciplinary and innovative empirical perspectives on the phenomenon and translating these into tangible recommendations for stakeholders.

We invite individual presentation, posters as well as session proposals which tackle relevant ISM topics. Individual presentation and poster proposals should shortly describe what you aim to cover (max. 500 words). Session proposals (1.5 hours, max. 1,500 words) can be structured according to your own needs (e.g. a ‘classical’ session of 3 presentations, workshops, roundtables, etc.). Make sure to include the name and affiliation of all presenters, as well as a description of what each presenter will cover. Feel free also to create and distribute a specific call for contributions for your session ideas. We would explicitly like to encourage both researchers and practitioners to submit a proposal, as the conference focuses both on research-related and/or practical issues. All proposals will assessed based on (1) the quality and (2) relevance of the content, as well as (3) the connection between research and practice. If a proposal is based on research, it is important to specify the background, methods and main result. Conference participation is free of charge, and presenters are likely eligible for reimbursement of their travel expenses to attend the conference.

Please submit your proposals to Christof van Mol (c.vanmol@tilburguniversity.edu) and Ani Chelisvili (ani.chelishvili@btu.edu.ge) before 15 October 2023. We will inform all authors on whether their proposal is accepted at the latest before 26 November.

About the conference location:

Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia, is a strategically located vibrant city with excellent accessibility. It is situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and can be easily reached from different parts of the world. The city is well connected by air, road, and rail. Tbilisi International Airport is just 20 minutes away from the center. Additionally, the city has a well-developed transportation infrastructure, making it easy for conference attendees to move around. Moreover, the city is known for its affordable accommodation options, which would make the conference more accessible to participants from different parts of the world. In the last couple of years, Tbilisi has been seeing the emergence of a couple of hotels and restaurants that are attracting international attention. The vast majority of state and private HEIs of Georgia are situated in Tbilisi and it makes the capital of the country a hub of intellectuals and internationals.  It is also where the innovation and research ecosystem are concentrated, where most important events take place and where people come to work from all over the world.