On 4 and 5 May 2023, the Czech University of Life Sciences (CZU) will host the next IBSEN meeting. The last IBSEN meeting was held in November in beautiful Florida, where the Indian River State College hosted for the first time as the youngest member (see photo), but it felt like the university had always been in the network.

The Prague partner university CZU has organised a full programme for the members. Two special programme items should be highlighted:

First, the first IBSEN Summer School is coming up. It will take place in July 2023 for a fortnight at the Bielefeld and Prague locations. It will be organised jointly by the CZU and Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and Arts. A total of 26 students from seven of the ten universities will participate.

The second important point is the application of a new candidate for the network. The University of Split is interested in joining the network. We are looking forward to the two days… 🙂

The November Meeting took place virtually again on November 15th and 16th. The Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences hosted it. After the welcome speeches by the IBSEN president Alessandro Spano, Vice President Armand van Oostrom, and the Dean of the BUAS Business Faculty Riza Öztürk, the meeting started by presenting IBSEN member universities current status and discussing the to-dos from the last May 2021 meeting. The Head of the BUAS Department of International Affairs, Judith Peltz, gave an excellent overview of the E+ Generation (2021-2027). She pointed out that one Erasmus program for the entire IBSEN network would be very complicated. Her suggestion was to work on a bilateral/ trilateral/ four// five lateral basis and include other members through workshops and publications. Furthermore, she signalized that ERASMUS projects need “high maintenance projects”, reports and bureaucracy and are usually not fully funded, so additional resources are required. She also introduced us to the new features regarding the “Next Generation E+”.

Finally, Judith Peltz announced the International Week that her department is organizing from 2-6 May next year.

Riza Öztürk presented the International Conference of the Business Faculty of BUAS called “Bielefeld International Conference on Applied Business (BIcab)“, which will take place on the last day of International Week 6 May 2022. Both events can therefore be combined very well.

Intensive work was done in two workshops over two days. In the IBSEN Summer Schools Workshop, the individual points that belong to a Summer School were discussed, and the basics were determined, such as the name, period, format and credits. The IBSEN Summer School is to be called “Go IBSEN School”. The IBSEN Summer School is to be held in rotation by all member universities. The minimum number of participants should be 12 students.

In the other workshop, joint projects and teaching were debated. It was determined that before developing a double degree, shared history is needed. You have to get to know each other and already have a common student and staff exchange. “Before we get married, we need to be engaged”, president Alessandro Spano said. The focus was, therefore, on what we could offer for the students. The core theme should be on international business and intercultural aspects. When students from different nations work together, they develop these skills. Possible attractive topics for students could be: Data analytics and Big data, Blockchain. Both workshops concluded that the combination of face-to-face and online activities is the best way to proceed.

At the next meeting in The Hague in May 2022, both groups will make concrete proposals on how to proceed.

IBSEN Meeting: 15th to 16 November 2021

The first conference of 2021 for the International Business Studies Exchange Network (IBSEN) was held on May 20-21. Due to the covid pandemic, the event was hosted virtually again, by Valenciennes with the help of Indian River State College for the virtual platform. 29 people attended virtually.

On day one of the conference, after the welcome words, each participant gave information about recent developments in their universities. There were a few specific presentations. Jessica Dinstel (UPHF) presented the european project Peer-IR-View, where Ibsen is an expert advisor. Bernard Wach (Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences) presented “Ibsen Entrepreneurship Workshop in February 2021 – Results and Collaboration”. Then there was a discussion about the new Ibsen agreement document, which needs to be signed by all members. At last, there was a plenary discussion on Ibsen current working topics : internationalization@home, summer schools, international internships, staff and student exchanges.

On day two of the conference, Önder Filiz (Izmir University) presented “Conquer the market by marcade: an online marketing simulation for undergraduate / postgraduate students”. Then all Ibsen members went to breakout rooms to carry on exchanging ideas on Ibsen current working topics. After the break, all groups explained what they had come up to, and participants could ask questions and propose a few ideas. There were quite a lot of proposals about Internships (virtual internships, hybrid internships) and how each university could contribute for the sake of all Ibsen members. The consensus was that each group would carry on working together on their subject until next Ibsen meeting in order to make a practical proposal which should be “test-able” by the whole group.

President Alessandro Spano expressed everybody’s whishes that even if these online meeting are highly productive, next meeting could possibly be hosted physically again by a university.

Next Ibsen Meeting should take place at IRSC, on November 15-16.

The second conference of 2020 for the International Business Studies Exchange Network (IBSEN) was held on November 19 through the 20th. The event was hosted by one of the IBSEN Network’s newest members, Indian River State College (IRSC) in the United States. Though the restrictions of the Coronavirus Pandemic caused the international conference to once again be hosted entirely on the virtual platform, ZOOM, it did not however impede the goal of the IBSEN conference. Which has long been to increase intercultural competence and support professional growth on a multicultural level. Furthermore, the virtual conference enabled even more staff engagement and innovation of over 40 participants in 10 countries worldwide.

On day one of the conference attendees were welcomed by our IBSEN President Alessandro Spano of the University of Cagliari in Italy, and Vice-president Armand van Oostrom of The Hague University of Applied Science in the Netherlands. Greetings were also received from the Dean of the IRSC Business Division Dr. Prashanth Pilly; and IRSC’s Vice President of Applied Science & Technology Dr. Pamela Welmon.

Each participant gave a brief introduction about their respective colleges and universities, their various business programs, clubs, internships, and professional development opportunities. This segment of the conference provided a platform for the dissemination of information on the recent developments in the business community and any innovative approaches that have been made to combat the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic. As its impact on higher education and the economic climate has been felt worldwide.

During the next segment, a series of workshops launched to explore the following conference topics: Internationalization at Home, Planning for the Future, International Travel during a Pandemic, International Internship Opportunities, and Increasing Staff and Student Exchanges. The workshop sessions allowed for a guided two-day conversation and collaboration dedicated to the pursuit of tangible solutions that were both actionable and also sustainable as a joint venture by all IBSEN partners. At the close of day one of the IBSEN conference, the President of Indian River State College Dr. Timothy Moore, gave the final address for the day.

Day two of the IBSEN conference began with a series of special presentations. The first presenter was Tom Kindred, the director of the Small Business Development Center, and the Corporate and Community Training Institute at IRSC. He shared about his partnership with the local community and the college and how it has generated economic mobility for entrepreneurial development. The second speaker was Pete Tesch, the president of the Economic Development Council (EDC) of St. Lucie County, Florida of the United States. The EDC partners with local governments and the private sector to create a high skilled high-quality workforce and enrich the economic vitality of the community. The last presentation was made by Wach Bernhard of Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Germany. He spoke on the exciting developments of their Center for Entrepreneurship and the upcoming courses it will offer for new students.

After the presentations, the second portion of the previous day’s workshops began. Day two of the breakout sessions focused on generating and consolidating solutions to the obstacles faced in each topic of discussion. Upon reconvening, each workshop speaker gave a brief synopsis of their proposal to the group, intending to actualize the proposals agreed upon in the foreseeable future.

Lastly, an award was given to Dr. Carol Steinhaus of Northern Michigan University, in the United States. She was awarded the title of “Honorary President of IBSEN”.

The IBSEN president Alessandro Spano then concluded the conference with closing remarks and propositions for moving forward. Major topics of consensus were that of proposals on virtual internships that would be hosted by participating IBSEN members. They would serve as a means to circumvent some of the restrictions placed on students finding professional internship opportunities during the pandemic. Another major proposal, to be decided in the near future, was that of the building of Joint-Venture Internships that would partner with large-scale international companies and the cooperation of its local college or university. The IBSEN conference closed, in agreement, that further and more frequent collaboration in the form of “micro-meetings” would be fruitful leading up to the next scheduled conference.  This event is set to take place in The Hague, Netherlands on May 20th and 21st of 2021.