Several guests arrived a day early and enjoyed a guided city tour of Linköping, followed by a joint dinner – an appreciated start to the visit.
The Partner Day began with an official welcome by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Karin Axelsson. Afterwards, several international students shared their experiences of studying at LiU, followed by a presentation about the university’s activities and the support offered to incoming students. Each year, LiU welcomes around 800 exchange students, and over the summer, more than 200 students participated in the LiU Summer Academy.
After a campus tour and lunch at Universitetsklubben, participants were offered parallel afternoon sessions, organised by each faculty. These included introductions, subject-specific sessions, and laboratory visits. University-wide partners also had the opportunity to delve deeper into selected areas.
For the afternoon coffee break, both incoming and outgoing students were invited, leading to lively conversations and new contacts – one of the day’s most appreciated features. The entire day was a collaboration between the faculties and the International Office and was moderated by Director of International Affairs Maria Engelmark. The day concluded with dinner at ÖK Smak & Tak.
On the next morning, participants and LiU staff travelled together by bus to Gothenburg to attend the 35th edition of the EAIE conference, which this year gathered over 7,000 participants. EAIE (European Association for International Education) works to enable internationalisation in higher education. Part of its work is an annual conference where international coordinators from higher education institutions around the world have the opportunity to meet.
The response from participating partners was consistently very positive. The Partner Day proved to be a valuable opportunity to strengthen relationships, provide insight into LiU’s activities, and create new contacts for future collaborations.