This past Wednesday, the MIIC team presented at the 2025 STAR Scholars Network Conference, along with our colleague Dr. Katherine Wimpenny from Coventry University, on building inclusive collaborations through Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Our presentation focused on the key parts of PLCs, how we use them in our Horizon project, YOUROPE, and using the appreciative inquiry method in PLCs.
At this year’s European Association for International Education (EAIE) conference in Gothenburg, , MIIC Director Dr. Eva Janebova and Dr. Jos Beelen from The Hague University of Applied Science delivered a pre-conference workshop on Professional Learning Communities (PLC) as a way to advance Internationalization at Home.
They have developed expertise in PLC together with Eveke De Louw, Claudia Bulnes, Leona Stašová, Renata Tomaskova, Christopher J. Johnstone, Barbara Kappler Mikk, Jana Ter-Akopow Čemusová, and Ida Andersson-Norrie, who have designed and delivered numerous PLCs. The workshop also drew on experience from our current Horizon project, YOUROPE, which aims to get youth more involved with European democracy. The Mestenhauser Institute, along with Coventry University, runs a partner learning community as a part of this project to support the aim of involving youth and changing higher education.
Our 2025 Summer Program: Cross-Cultural Pathways for Young Leaders was recently featured on the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York’s website. You can find the article here.
We would like to invite you to a networking session organized by the Mestenhauser Institute for International Collaboration (MIIC) at the EAIE Gothenburg conferences supported in part by EAIE with the theme:
Interconnecting Central and Eastern Europe with the World: Advancing International Education Together
Aim of the Session:
Brainstorming and networking session designed to forge meaningful connections between international education leaders in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and global experts. Guided by the visionary legacy of Joe Mestenhauser—who was committed to advancing the field by interconnecting scholars across continents —this session invites thought partners to co-create strategies for collaborative research, capacity building, educational practices and systemic change across the CEE region.
We’ll explore how to move from fragmented efforts to an interlinked MIIC community of practice that not only advances scholarship but also strengthens institutions and empowers educators through joint collaborations.
To join, please RSVP through this link.
We are looking forward to connecting with you and seeing you in Gothenburg!
We are more than halfway through our 2025 Summer Program: Cross-Cultural Pathways for Young Leaders. Here are some highlights of the program so far.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Here’s what we have to look forward to for the rest of the program:
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Watch our Learning Community at Charles University share their experiences working together to improve learning and teaching below:
Last week, we were pleased to host a workshop at Slezká University in Opavá with Dr. Jos Beelen as part of our 2025 World Expert Series. The workshop focused on supporting the university and their international partners in internationalizing their curriculum. Many thanks to Jana Šimáková, the Vice Dean for Internationalization, and everyone who attended for all they do to provide all their students with an outstanding international experience!
We are pleased to announce our upcoming Train-the-Trainers Workshop: Advancing Intercultural Work in Business. The workshop will be held on June 17th, 2025, at Langhan’s Gallery in Prague, and will be led one of the leading experts on intercultural competence, Dr. Darla K. Deardorff.
The training is aimed at professionals working in diverse, international environments, HR and marketing teams engaged with foreign nationals, and managers leading international teams. In this interactive session, we will explore various frameworks and tools designed to enhance intercultural competence. As a trainer, you’ll learn to facilitate the renowned UNESCO Story Circles methodology, a proven approach to fostering intercultural understanding. You will collaborate with fellow experts to exchange effective tools and activities that help navigate intercultural interactions, build stronger international teams, and cultivate deeper, more meaningful relationships. You will also leave with a personalized action plan and practical intercultural tools that you can immediately apply in your own professional and personal contexts.
Dr. Darla K. Deardorff, the leader of the workshop, is the UNESCO Chair on Intercultural Competence at Stellenbosch University, a research scholar at Duke University and teaches through Harvard University. She holds faculty appointments around the world, including in Japan, China, and Canada. Deardorff is the founding president of the World Council on Intercultural and Global Competence, a global nonprofit, and has authored/edited 14 books and over 80 articles/chapters.
We are excited to share this opportunity with you and hope you will join us for the event. The link to register can be found here. For additional information about the workshop, click here.
Last week, we joined the JAM Meeting of EAIE: European Association for International Education leadership and volunteers in Amsterdam. This was an opportunity to talk about the challenges our field is undergoing at the moment. We put our heads together on how to help our US colleagues, how to overcome challenges in Europe, and how to stay global. Most of all, it was refreshing to once again be around like-minded passionate professionals who care about students, the field, and each other.
As part of our 2025 World Expert Series, we were proud to host a workshop on Practical Approaches for International Student Success at VUT Brno, led by intercultural communication expert Barbara Kappler Mikk. The workshop highlighted different frameworks that can be used to enhance intercultural communication skills, giving participants new tools to take with them and use in their work with International students.