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Webinar | Climate Action and International Education: Part Two
Target audience: PSI, K-12 and Language.
Please note participating in the first webinar is not required, however it is suggested.
The current climate emergency sheds light on many of the activities that we engage in as international educators. Carbon emissions from student and staff mobility, marketing and recruitment activities and partnership ventures in the international education field are not insignificant. From flight emissions to the swag, souvenirs and collateral we bring and take back with us on these trips, the impact we have on the climate is substantial.
With many of us “grounded” we have been forced to find alternate ways of connecting, recruiting, teaching and learning. Now is the time to reflect on what role we can play in combating climate change as a sector now and into the future.
Join us in this two-part series where we will discuss what climate action is as it relates to the 17 UN Sustainability Development Goals, what role we can have as international educators in the ongoing conversation around climate action and begin to ask challenging questions about how we can do our part in combatting climate change individually and collectively as a sector.
Part 2: Discussion Forum: Problem-solving in International Education and Leveraging Green Initiatives
Date: December 9, 2020
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PST (1 hour presentation followed by 30-minutes of Q&A)
British Columbian institutions are in a great position to be global leaders on green initiatives. In the most recent Times Higher Ed Impact Ranking, four Canadian institutions ranked in the top 9 for Climate Action, three of them in BC!
In this discussion forum, a follow-up to the Learning Forum, we will begin to ask some of the hard questions and focus on problem-solving. We will discuss some tangible solutions, along with the barriers many action-takers face at an institution where an international department is expected to deliver revenues and diversification without accountability for building more sustainable and climate action-oriented partnerships and plans.
We hope to, as a community, discuss solutions by sharing what has and has not worked in the face of COVID and how we can work together to build climate action into the core of internationalization efforts in the future.
Key takeaways:
- Share key learnings from attendees from the Learning Forum.
- Understand the conflicting KPI’s of international education and reducing emissions leading to barriers to change.
- Explore various paths for overcoming some barriers to change within international departments and institutions as a whole.
- Identify opportunities for collaboration to spearhead emissions reduction in your office and in our sector as a whole.
To register for this event, please click here.
Registration deadline: 10:00 a.m PST, December 9, 2020.
For more information, please contact events@bccie.bc.ca.
Panellists:
CJ Tremblay, Manager of Marketing and IPP, Paragon Testing Enterprises
CJ is a founding members and current Vice-President of the board of the Climate Action Network for International Educators (CANIE). She has seven years of marketing, strategy, and stakeholder relations experience in international education and language-testing. During her career she has worked for University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies, IDP Education, owner of IELTS, and most recently is leading the global marketing and instructional products teams at Paragon Testing Enterprises owner of the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) test.
Mathew Lyle, Global Engagement Advisor, University of British Columbia
Mat has worked in international education for over 12 years managing programs for inbound and outbound exchanges, research and internships, as well as institutional partnerships and safety abroad. Mat believes that within our work there is an urgent need to ask and respond to difficult questions about issues facing the world such as: how can higher education contribute to global equality and resist neoliberal trends of privatization and resource extraction? How should higher education institutions respond boldly to the climate crisis? And how do we prepare ourselves and our students to navigate an increasingly complex, interconnected, unequal and unpredictable world?
Shaheen Nanji, Executive Director, International, Simon Fraser University
Shaheen is acting Executive Director, SFU International and is responsible for the collaborative development and implementation of the University’s international engagement. As a convener of projects and dialogue on global issues, she is committed to collaboration between diverse disciplines, sectors, cultures, perspectives and interests for deeper impact. She has worked on development projects in the areas of the Sustainable Development Goals; refugees and immigration; equity, diversity and inclusion; education; diaspora; public health; and environment policy. Her international work has been focused in Africa and Asia.
Moderator:
EJ Brin, Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Stakeholder Engagement, BC Council for International Education
EJ has nearly 15 years of experience in project management, research, and program development in the field of international education at institutions and organizations in BC and abroad. She holds a master’s degree in Higher Education from University of British Columbia, is a certified IDI Administrator, and recently finished her posting as an elected Chair member of NAFSA Region I. Elizabeth (EJ) Brin oversees the strategic direction for initiatives and stakeholder engagement activities. She is passionate about embedding equity and inclusion in all areas of her work including BCCIE’s ongoing professional development programming and intercultural, international, and indigenous initiatives.