The IEASA – AIEA partnership
Orla Quinlan
Developing partnerships with African institutions workshop
The Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) Conference, specifically for those leading international education at higher education institutions, was held from February 18 -21, 2024, at the Marriot Marquis in Washington DC.
IEASA continued its strategic partnership activities with the AIEA and facilitated a four-hour workshop on Developing partnerships with African institutions, on February 18th, 2024.
The workshop included an introduction to IEASA by Orla Quinlan, Director of Global Engagement, Rhodes University; President of IEASA (2019-2020). A theoretical overview of types of partnerships was presented by Dr Nico Jooste, Senior Director, AfriC; President of IEASA (2015-2016).
Examples of successful African-US partnerships from South Africa institutions and the University of Botswana were shared, during the four-hour workshop, which also included exploratory group work and discussion about potential funding opportunities.
The South African IEASA institutional members who shared examples of successful partnerships from their respective contexts included: Refilwe Moleyane, Central University Technology, Carlien Jooste, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (online) and Orla Quinlan, Rhodes University. Dawid Katzke, Deputy Vice Chancellor: Finance and Administration, University of Botswana concluded the African specific input. Shahzad Ahmad, St Cloud State University, USA, followed and shared his extensive experience of working with partnerships in Africa and all over the world.
Strategic engagement between AIEA and IEASA in the future
At an open session with the AIEA leadership on future strategy, IEASA was invited to share their view of ways in which the two organisations could continue to work together in the future. Representing IEASA in the session, Orla Quinlan, Rhodes University, suggested that the two organisations could continue to organise joint events such as the Global Leadership Summit, which was held just before the IEASA jubilee conference in Durban in August 2023, organise joint workshops and webinars, on contemporary and relevant topics, and continue participation in each other’s conferences.
Congratulations to Amit Reza, President AIEA 2004-2005
IEASA congratulates Amit Reza, Dean of Babson Academy for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurial and Dean of Global Education at Babson College, who was recently elected as the President of AIEA, 2024-2025. This marks a moment in time when the current President, the Past President (2024-2025), Jeet Joshee, California State University-Long Beach; President-Elect (2024-2025), Paulo Zagalo-Melo, Western Michigan University, are all former international students in the US.
A fond Farewell to the Executive Director of AIEA
Darla Deardorff, the AIEA, Executive Director, a long- time supporter of IEASA, who was instrumental in developing the partnership between IEASA and AIEA, announced her intention to step down as the AIEA Executive Director at the recent AIEA conference. Darla plans to devote more time to peace building which is her passion through other projects including her UNESCO Chair on intercultural competency, hosted by Stellenbosch University. We thank Darla for her consistent engagement with IEASA, bringing the working relationship of the AIEA and IEASA closer together and look forward to continuing to work with her in different ways in the future.
