It’s all about the people

Author: Yvonne Klerks was a lecturer and International Coordinator at Academy for Leisure & Events from 2005 to 2020 and she is now working as Education and Science Attaché for the Ministry at the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta.

I think it is fair to say that internationalisation in higher education has always been an important aspect in my work. My love for international affairs started in Switzerland, where I was on an Erasmus+ exchange at the University of Bern during my studies. All these different nationalities together, all these different perspectives, I thought were fascinating and inspiring. I still have this fascination after all these years of working in an international environment. 

My time at BUas
During my time at BUas as a lecturer and international coordinator at Academy for Leisure & Events I tried to inspire our students through international experiences, both via internationalisation@home and mobility. For example, together with colleagues we arranged an assignment from an organisation abroad, run a project for about eight weeks and at the end travelled with the students to the destination to present the results to the client. Examples of clients are Tropical Islands in Berlin, the Trafford Centre in Manchester and the Manchester City Football Stadium, which are all impressive organisations that contributed greatly to the students’ international perspectives. 

At BUas I also came into contact with the World Leisure Organization. I was the driving force behind the application to become a World Leisure Center of Excellence of the World Leisure Organization, providing interesting opportunities for academic staff and students to get engaged with other academics and students around the world engaged in leisure studies. Later I joined the Board of Directors of the World Leisure Organization and became Treasurer. This gave me the opportunity to organise many interesting opportunities for colleagues and students. For example, taking part in the World Leisure Congress and taking part in student projects in the US, South Africa, Hungary, Brazil and China. I am extremely proud that during my time as a board member we won the bid for the 2025 World Leisure Congress for the Netherlands and the expansion of the World Leisure Center of Excellence network. I am sure this will bring even more exciting opportunities for BUas academics and students.       

Working in this international environment together with board members from all over the world gives me a wonderful learning opportunity on how to deal with different perspectives and make it work. It also brought me friendships for life, which I find truly amazing.

Work as a policy advisor
In 2020 I started working for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science as Senior Policy Advisor and also in this role internationalisation in higher education was an important topic in my work, this time from a macro perspective. Projects and policies I have been involved in are, for example, the impact of Brexit on academics and students from the UK, the Netherlands, and the EU. Another interesting project I have been involved in was setting up a subsidy for Virtual International Collaboration projects. The majority of Dutch students do not have the possibility to go abroad during their studies for various reasons. Through virtual projects it is possible for them to engage with students from other countries and learn about different perspectives.

Moving to Indonesia
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science started an attaché network a few years ago and I am extremely grateful to have been the first Education and Science Attaché for the Ministry at the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia since 2023. My role is to further develop the bilateral relationship between the Netherlands and Indonesia in higher education and science. Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world in terms of number of residents and the country is rapidly developing. 

My main lesson learned after working in internationalisation in higher education for almost 20 years is that it is all about the people. No matter how different people are, no matter how much they disagree with one another, we need to make it work together. It starts with sharing perspectives and having respect for the differences. Education is a wonderful platform to create mutual understanding and respect. In the world we live in today with so many challenges and tensions I believe internationalisation in higher education can have a positive impact. 

This article was published in Uncover Magazine - Internationalisation. You can read the complete magazine via this link.