Two of the project team members, Yusuke and Ryoko, participated in APAIE 2021 (The Asia-Pacific Association for International Education 2021) held on the 23rd and 24th March. The event gathered many international delegates from Asia, Oceania, and North America to discuss the current issues of international education. In particular, due to the current spread of corona virus, all the sessions were carried out online and focused on information sharing on the situations of international education affected by the pandemic at the different regions of the world.
The delegates presented their effort and challenges in offering online learning opportunities for students at higher education. According to their presentations, most institutions have well adopted to the difficult situation and explored new educational opportunities although there are some limitations. The emerging academic opportunities include not only the delivery of online formal education, but also new online internships, international dual degree partnerships, and transnational virtual scholarly collaborations. Many delegates considered that the development of new educational opportunities would continue and would not disappear even after reopening national borders. Challenges that the delegates often commented on included, for example, the sustainable practices of different educational formats, the development of new transnational partnerships which suit to the educational new normal and need for pedagogical development opportunities for faculty members.
The event brought the most important issues of current higher education. It provided us with many updates from different regions for the better understanding of the dynamics of international education.
APAIE 2021
