On September 27th, Dutch and Chinese university representatives attended the second Holland Science Lecture in Beijing. The event was organised by NOST in Beijing and the Sino-Dutch Researchers Network. Kees Kouwenaar, a Dutch expert in international cooperation in Higher Education was invited to speak about his experiences in this field.
The event attracted researchers, with close links with the Netherlands,mainly from the Chinese academic community and many university administrators from the international cooperation departments.
After a warm welcome by Mr. Andre Driessen, Deputy Ambassador to China, Xiong Xiangjun, coordinator of the Holland PhD alumni chapter and the Sino-Dutch network, gave a brief introduction of the Sino-Dutch Researchers Network and review of the past activities. Kees Kouwenaar, the International Strategy Advisor of the VU University, gave an extensive overview of current trends in internationalisation of Higher Education and Research in Europe as a global region and in Amsterdam as a metropolitan region. In his presentation, three key statements were addressed for discussion:
- Mutual embedding internationalisation of research and education within the institutionis a key challenge for Europe’s universities of tomorrow;
- Amsterdam Higher Education has major unfulfilled potential for further internationalisation as a global Metropole;
- The issue of international higher education as a commercial service or a public good.
The event concluded with lively discussions on such topics and Sino-Dutch research which was continued during the networking reception.
For more details, please see this article about the presentation by Kees Kouwenaar, and the following report from the Netherlands on the Internationalisation of Higher Education.