Quality assurance conference in Sri Lanka 2019

En route to Sri Lanka for a conference on quality assurance? 

Quality assurance is an important issue in higher education and is becoming even more so in the technology-enhanced society that we are living in. Therefore it is good to attend a conference on this topic. The International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) will host the 2019 conference on Quality assurance, qualifications and recognition: Fostering trust in a globalised world in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 25 to 28 March. The conference venue is the Bandaranaike memorial international conference hall (BMICH).

Online registration for early bird discount will open soon, but the call of papers is already open. Presenters are invited to present in an interactive manner that would guarantee a high level of participant engagement. The due date for proposals is 30 October 2018. Proposals must be aligned with one of the following sub-themes that will also from the four tracks of the conference: 

  

New technologies, innovation and quality assurance: how to consider QA and its key principles in a world of disruptive technology and change in the Academy.

Thinking and acting globally: the role of QA in qualifications frameworks and student and talent mobility: challenges and opportunities.

Ensuring and promoting trust in a globalized context.

Challenges and solutions to recognition Issues: new opportunities for a QA contribution to recognition within the frame of global developments.

On 25 March pre-conference workshops will take place and on 28 March a conference excursion will allow conference attendees to visit the so-called “Sigiriya eighth wonder of the world”, the ancient palace and fortress complex built by King Kassapa I (477–95). It lies on steep slopes and the summit of a granite peak stands 180m high. The fortress complex includes the remnants of a ruined palace, surrounded by an extensive network of fortifications, vast gardens, ponds, canals, alleys and fountains. A series of galleries and staircases emerging from the mouth of a gigantic lion constructed of bricks and plaster provide access to the site.

Exploring more options for 2019 conferences

Beautiful Dubai, one place we normally book a stayover on our way to or back from a conference, but the IAFOR also uses Dubai as a conference venue.

The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a Japan based organisation, established in 2009. The IAFOR do much more than just conferencing and it is worthwhile to visit the web page. The web page states the mission of the organisation as to promote international exchange, to facilitate intercultural awareness, to encourage interdisciplinary discussion and to generate and share new knowledge; all of which are important to academics in general.

 To me, the different locations where conferences take place and the variety of topics, are of importance. Conferences are linked to the following categories: Education and language, Social Sciences and sustainability, Arts, Humanities, Media and Culture.

The conferences take place in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America which means that academics have a huge choice about where they want to go and what they can afford. The Asia conferences are held in Hong Kong and Japan. Within Japan, there are three conference locations: Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe. In Europe, the conference venues are Brighton in England and Barcelona in Spain. The Middle East conferences take place in Dubai and in North America there are also more than one conference venue to choose from: New York, Honolulu in Hawaii and Roanoke in Virginia.

Good news for PHD students and early career academics (who completed their PHDs in the past five years), is that there are also travel and accommodation grants and scholarships available to attend and present at these conferences.

Personally, as yet, I did not attend one of these conferences, but I am looking for new and exciting conferences and conference venues for 2019 (when the IAFOR will be celebrating ten years of providing these and other services to academics worldwide) and the options provided by the IAFOR are inviting. But the question remains: Where do you want to go in 2019 and at what forum do you want to present?

Time to plan for 2019 conference attendance

To me, conferencing means flying and that is half of the fun - going to interesting and beautiful places.

September means it is time to start planning for next year's conference attendance. Important to all of us teaching to first year students, is the First Year Experience (FYE) as we all have to take responsibility to assist students to adapt to higher education systems and to become successful life-long, self-directed students.

  

The South African National resource centre's (SANRC) First-year experience and students in transition conference will take place from 22 tot 24 May 2019. The venue is not yet confirmed, but due dates for the three rounds of abstract submissions are 14 October 2018, 11 February 2019 and 1 April 2019.  Early bird registration will be R4000.00. Abstracts can be submitted in the following sub-themes:

Case studies in good FYE practice

First year transitions in the higher education system

staff as support systems for first year students

engaging the student voice: critical perspectives from students

FYE in the classroom

FYE theory. 

Also important for South African scholars (who pay less registration for this conference), is the Transatlantic Roundtable on religion and race (TRRR) that will take place at the Hekima Institute of Peace studies and International Relations (HIPSIR) at the Hekima University College in Nairobi, Kenya from 1 to 5 July 2019. The theme for 2019 is: Old divisions, new social formations: Africa and the diaspora. Abstracts must be submitted by 30 November 2018. Themes that will be discussed include

Political and Religious Authoritarianism: Past, Present and Future

Deconstructing Conflict, Violence and Sovereignty in Africa and Across the Diaspora

Assets, Cooperatives and the Culture of Cooperation 

Patriarchy, Sexism and the Role of Culture in Africa and the Diaspora

Faith-based Responses to the Immigration Crisis

New Formations of African Identity on the Continent and Across the Diaspora

Old Media New Media, Social Media and the Production of Knowledge-based Development

Religion, Race and Morality in the Age of New Social Movements

Global Conference on education, Los Angeles

The pond next to the conference facility at the University of Riverside in southern California

It is dangerous to write about conferences that I did not attend myself, as one can easily promote a conference which is a scam (yes I read about some terrible experiences) or which is not worth the trouble. And trouble it is to get all the forms done, funding arranged and then spending hours on the internet for accommodation and transport and flight arrangements if you are pressed for time. If I do have time to do searches, I love to get lost in the internet however. 

The conference facility of the university of Riverside is situated next to a beautiful pond with awesome wildlife such as tortoises and lots of water birds. Riverside is about two hours’ drive from Los Angeles. The university host international conferences on a regular basis in management, nursing and education. We attended an education conference as an add on to a weekend in Los Angeles and another conference in Seattle. It was a small conference with less than 50 people presenting and attending, which means that there were no concurrent sessions and all get to participate and interact with each other in one conference venue. 

The Global conference on education is less than a month away but for those who will be in the vicinity, there is still time to attend and present at this conference. It will be held on 27 and 28 September. The registration fee for presenters is $500 and for attendees $350. 

And for those of you who are not planning to go to California soon, please remember the upcoming HELTASA conference in Port Elizabeth in November and planning ahead, remember the ICDE in November 2019 in Dublin. Both of these conferences are really worth the effort.   

Postgraduate supervision conference 2019

Spier estate is where the 2019 Postgraduate supervision conference will take place. One of the olive trees on the farm 

The call for abstracts on postgraduate supervision 2019 is open and closes on 3 September 2018. Early registration is open until 25 January 2019 and the final registration date is 4 March 2019. This is one of the conferences that I can only attend every second year when it is hosted by Spier in South Africa. All equal years, the conference is held in Australia. Every unequal year, it is time to pack your bags and make an early booking at Spier to attend this conference. You need to book your accommodation now already as this venue tends to be fully booked months before the event. And Spier is one of the most beautiful places in the Western Cape. But, if you cannot book accommodation at Spier, there are awesome hotels and wineries in the vicinity and in Stellenbosch that is only a few kilometers from the Spier Estate.

In 2019, the seventh Postgraduate Supervision conference will take place from 26 to 29 March and the theme for the conference will be: The global scholar: Implications for postgraduate studies and supervision. Sub-themes include the following topics, but other, relevant issues can also be addressed:

Researcher and supervisor connections, exchanges and joint scholarly work.

The mobility of research candidates and research supervisors.

Supervising / examining across geographical borders, cultures and disciplines.

The relation of local contexts, cultures and knowledge to the global arena.

The implications of global scholarship for language and writing.

The implications for the careers of research candidates and research supervisors.

The implications for fees, fee-structures and the costs of globalised postgraduate research and supervision.

The implications for distance and electronic supervision.

Both theoretical and empirical contributions in any of the following three tracks are welcomed:

Postgraduate supervision theories and policies

Postgraduate supervision practices

Postgraduate supervision trends and trajectories.

Hope to see you all there!