Highlights from ENIC NORTH 2025
It has been a month since ENIC NORTH 2025 – our one-day conference in Glasgow.
Held at the University of Strathclyde, Technology and Innovation Centre, our overall theme was: ‘Innovation and the human connection: harmonising the future of education’.
The aim of the event was to explore the relationship between technological innovations and the impact these have on personal experiences.
We wanted to move the conversation beyond the fear of the unknown, exploring how technology can help, and remembering the human experience that is at the heart of what we do.
Highlights from the day
Catherine Winter, CEO of Ecctis which manages UK ENIC on behalf of the UK Government, and Shelley Vink, from our conference partner Password, were first up in the morning plenary.
Then, Professor Simon Thomson, Director of Flexible Learning at the University of Manchester, delivered an informative opening plenary session. He spoke about finding that ‘sweet spot’ for technology and people.
The practical and applied elements of the talk included how we could better use AI in our lives and in the workplace, including AI generated application responses, as just one of many examples.
We held another popular fraud insights panel, where delegates heard a variety of interesting perspectives including fraud:
- motivated by students looking to join prestigious institutions
- generated for people to get into the country
- as part of organised crime, students as unintentional victims of fraud activity
The ‘Shared vision, shared success’ panel was the first time we presented both the student and institution perspectives in the same session. There were many threads discussed including the sense of belonging, how important that is for international students, and the concept of different identities.
In ‘Responsible internationalisation’, panel members explored themes including building equitable partnerships, universal access to education, sustainability, choice and two-way, mutually beneficial partnerships. Nancy Cooke (University of Salford), Robbie Willis (University of Edinburgh), Stuart Rennie (AfaraEd) and Harish Lokhun (British Council Scotland) led the discussions.
Our ‘Beyond buzzwords’ session, hosted by Cato Rolea (UK ENIC) and Professor Vangelis Tsilikgiris (Nottingham Business School), looked at the future of AI in education and the human-centred value the technology can bring in international admissions. There were discussions around levels of automation, ethical approaches and an AI task evaluator.
UK ENIC experts led a number of popular sessions including microcredentials, benefits of membership, quality assurance and accreditation, grades, fraud and verification, qualifications and country-specific information on education in India and the Philippines.
Special thanks
Chris Lyons, UK ENIC’s Head of Policy and Engagement, said: “Following the trends from the last annual conference, the programme continued to be diverse, engaging and practical.
“A huge thanks to everyone involved with organising, supporting, facilitating or presenting at the conference, as well as to UK ENIC members and other delegates for attending.
“We would also like to thank our ENIC NORTH Advisory Group, which helped shape the theme and flavour of the day.”
ENIC NORTH 2025 was is in association with Password English Language Testing, supported by Qualification Check, Gecko, Oxford International Digital Institute, British Council IELTS, Dialexy, AfaraEd and Tribal Group.