CIHE Biennial Conference

Biennial Conference logo

The international higher education field has grown exponentially since CIHE's founding 30 years ago. The CIHE Biennial Conference celebrates this expansion, by convening established thinkers and newer voices in the field. We aim for all participants and partners to leave inspired, energized and engaged with others about work they might do together in the years to come.

The format of the Biennial Conference relies on a depth of experience in higher education research. As such, we must ensure that all participants are researchers in higher education, so this is an invitational event. This does not, however, mean that the event is closed to researchers who have not worked with the Center in the past. Any researcher in higher education (including practitioners who maintain active research agendas) may request an invitation. Requests received before December 1, 2024, will be considered.

We are now at capacity for our 2025 conference. We hope to see you at a future CIHE event!

Conference Dates

June 27-28, 2025

Questions?

ciheconference@bc.edu

What to Expect

This in-person academic conference is a space for researchers in the field of international higher education to come together, interact, and chart new directions for research. You can expect:

  • multiregional perspectives, engaging with complex issues in the field;

  • multigenerational connections among scholars researching similar issues;

  • lectures, provocations, dialogue and space for exchange and relationship-building among internationally diverse participants; and

  • warm hospitality, good food and drink, and rich conversations in a beautiful setting.

Format

This in-person conference will feature sessions that promote active engagement and interaction among participants. Session types will include invited plenary lectures, multiregional and multigenerational panel discussions, World Café-style dialogues, and interactive collaborative sessions where participants explore intersections and new directions across lines of work. 

We aim to create a space that elevates participation of all of its members. In addition to the more formal program, there will be time to engage in informal conversations over meals and coffee and to network, meet new colleagues, and explore new collaborations around shared interests.

Program

Full program will be available in January 2025.

Keynote Speakers and Panelists

Speakers and panelists will be available in January 2025.

Registration

The CIHE Biennial Conference is not a traditional conference with individual paper presentations. There is, therefore, no paper submission as part of the registration process.

There is, however, a two-stage registration process.

  1. The format of the Biennial Conference relies on a depth of experience in higher education research. As such, we must ensure that all participants are researchers in higher education, so this is an invitational event. This does not, however, mean that the event is closed to researchers who have not worked with the Center in the past. Any researcher in higher education (including practitioners who maintain active research agendas) may request an invitation, via the link above. Invitations must be requested no later than December 1, 2024.
  2. Once invitations are issued, interested participants are asked to formally register for the conference. As space is limited, we ask that all participants register by February 15, 2025. Invited guests will be sent the link to register. 

The CIHE team is able to provide invitation letters for funding and/or visa purposes which clarifies the conference format. At our previous conference, it was possible for colleagues to use their invitation letters as proof of formal participation in the conference for institutional purposes, in lieu of presenting a formal paper.

Registration Fees

Conference registration is $80 per attendee, which is payable at the time of registration. Registration fees cover room rental, materials, and catering throughout the conference. Attendees can expect to be provided with lunch and coffee/tea on both days of the conference.

Please note that CIHE convenes a parallel event, the WES-CIHE Summer Institute (June 25-26, 2025), which is explicitly aimed at graduate students. Current graduate students are therefore asked to register for the Summer Institute, rather than the Biennial Conference. 

Venue

The CIHE Biennial Conference on International Higher Education is held on Boston College’s beautiful campus in Chestnut Hill, MA, just 20 minutes from Boston’s Logan Airport.

 

Accommodations

There are many hotel options near the Boston College campus in Chestnut Hill, MA. At many hotels close to campus, discounts are available if you mention that you are in town for an event at Boston College.

 

Our Commitment

Our commitment to you is that the conference will reflect the warmth and hospitality of the relationships we have developed over decades since our founding, inclusive of established thinkers and newer voices in the field from all regions of the world.

The conference will exemplify the center’s global reach, commitment to cutting-edge research and analysis, and international perspectives and reflect our commitment to:

  • Rigorous and ethical research and thoughtful, informed analysis
  • Conducting all of our activities in collaboration with others around the globe and to elevating local perspectives on all of the issues we analyze
  • Open access publication, translation into other languages and clear and accessible prose
  • Issues of social justice and, as such, we seek to acknowledge and—when possible—explicitly address global higher education inequalities through our work
  • Maintaining a strong focus on less-resourced and less-powerful global contexts and to promoting critical perspectives through our scholarship
  • Supporting the development of the next generation of international higher education scholars

This event is held entirely in person. However, video recordings of the conference keynotes will be posted online after the conference. 

Philip G. Altbach Lecture Series

In June 2023, as part of the CIHE Biennial conference, we kicked off a lecture series celebrating the influential legacy of our Founding Director Philip G Altbach, Ph.D., celebrating his work on international and comparative higher education, and his unwavering dedication to fostering networks and forging connections across borders and disciplines. The inaugural lecture was held on June 9th with Simon Marginson, Ph.D. as speaker. The Altbach Lecture is an annual event.

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