At the NAFSA (Association of International Educators) International Education Fair 2025, which took place in San Diego, USA, on 27-30, 2025 May, EUBA was represented by Jakub Kintler, Vice-Rector for Development, Culture and Sport and Miroslava Darnadiova, Head of the International Relations of EUBA.
The event was attended by more than 8000 delegates from all over the world. Slovakia was represented by 17 universities and a delegation from the Ministry of Education. EUBA was present at the event as part of the project from the Recovery and Resilience Plan - Promoting internationalisation in the academic environment. "It is at this university fair that the most important and largest partnerships are forged. Last year also bore fruit - many schools established mutual internships or research programmes. But most importantly, we are succeeding in raising awareness of our universities and are beginning to be more respected," said Tomas Drucker, Minister of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic. "Our potential in the international academic environment is growing year by year. This fact was recently presented to us by representatives of a major think-tank that compiles a globally recognised ranking of universities. I am pleased that in close cooperation with universities we are creating a representative place for presenting the achievements of our country in the American (NAFSA), European (EAIE) and Asia-Pacific (APAIE) regions," added Róbert Zsembera, State Secretary for Higher Education and Academic Research.
NAFSA is the world's largest association dedicated to international education and mobility programmes, and has therefore created the space to deepen institutional partnerships. It was the most diverse and comprehensive international education conference and education exhibition focused on the theme of purpose, place and partnership. "Participating in NAFSA 2025 produced tangible results - we deepened existing collaborations with our international partners while gaining inspiration for the development of virtual mobilities. These initiatives are a valuable contribution to the development of internationalisation in practice for the EU in Bratislava." Miroslava Darnadiová summarised.
EUBA delegates attended bilateral meetings to develop cooperation with universities from Switzerland, Colombia, Belgium, Portugal, Germany, Spain, France and other countries. They also visited the campus of San Diego State University, which hosted a workshop on the use of artificial intelligence in an international environment.
EUBA's participation in the NAFSA 2025 conference is made possible by the project entitled "Supporting Internationalization in the Academic Environment", which received financial support from the Slovak Recovery and Resilience Plan. This project has been included among the successful initiatives aimed at strengthening internationalization at our university.
