Symposium on Leadership 2021

Future-Proof International Education: Successful Leadership for the Next Decade

NAFSA welcomes you to join us at the Symposium on Leadership 2021, a special signature program included with registration for the NAFSA 2021 Annual Conference & Expo.

2020 posed a generational challenge for all aspects of higher education, but especially international education. While mobility – a traditional pillar of international education – has been curtailed, the past year has also opened up new opportunities for innovation and collaboration. Successful international education leadership in the next decade will require embracing and navigating change amidst a protracted post-pandemic vitiated by resource constraints, growing nationalisms, and changing demographic pressures.

At a time when global engagement is increasingly challenged by zero-sum approaches to internationalization, IE leaders will need to move from a reliance on traditional disciplinary or professional approaches to developing broad leadership competencies to allowing them to navigate geopolitical volatility successfully. The 2021 Symposium on Leadership will offer current and aspiring internationalization leaders a toolkit for the next decade, focusing on thought leadership, resilience, and nimbleness to enhance their individual and institutional effectiveness as senior international officers (SIOs). This dialogic Symposium represents a significant opportunity during the annual NAFSA conference to meet with other high-level IE Leaders and SIOs to network, engage in a deep exchange of ideas, network, and forecast effective approaches to short- and long-range challenges in international higher education.

A NAFSA Signature Program offered by the International Education Leadership Knowledge Community.