Affiliation Increases Global Virtual Exchange Opportunities for Faculty and Students

Boca Raton, FL.

https://www.ahealliance.org/conahec/

American Higher Education Alliance (AHEA), a non-profit organization focused on promoting and facilitating internationalization and equity in higher education, today announced a strategic alliance relationship with the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC). Together the organizations will expand the ability for college and university faculty to network and partner in the creation of international courses delivered through virtual exchanges. Faculty from CONAHEC member institutions will be able to design and deliver courses by using the InspirED™ platform, which is free to individuals and institutions that join AHEA.

Since launching its membership program in June 2021, AHEA has gained over 200 institutions, departments, and individual members from 30 countries. The strategic alliance with CONAHEC supports faculty and students at its180 member institutions by providing professional development services and best practices for building engaging collaborative online international learning (COIL) experiences and virtual exchange courses. Additionally, the InspirED platform provides an institution-neutral technology space in which faculty can collaborate during the design phase and then teach their classes to students.

“For many years, CONAHEC has championed having faculty collaborate with one another to develop globally knowledgeable professionals, students and graduates,” said Sean Manley-Casimir, Executive Director of CONAHEC. “AHEA’s offerings support CONAHEC’s newest initiative, the Virtual International Partnerships (VIP) program, and enable us to provide our mutual members with the technology for faculty to create and deliver content and courses to students all over the world. This enhances access and inclusion for everyone involved.”

“AHEA is impressed with the level of engagement CONAHEC has with its member institutions, particularly in the areas of faculty collaboration,” said Karli Grant, President of AHEA. “Our strategic alliance reflects our alignment in the growing opportunities we see in virtual education. To be an enabler of diversifying and internationalizing classrooms at little to no cost to the institution is part of AHEA’s ethos. The resulting intercultural learning and understanding furthers our vision to develop global citizens with a passion for lifelong learning.”  

The VIP program is designed to match faculty with one another and provide structured mentoring and professional development resources to create and deliver virtual, international courses. CONAHEC and AHEA members participating in the VIP program will utilize the InspirED platform, including CollaboratED™, the international networking, academic development and engagement solution; BlendED™ a modern learning management system (LMS); and ConnectED™, the mobile technology suite that supports virtual classrooms, meetings, calendars, and communications for students, faculty, and staff around the globe.

Individual and institution level memberships to AHEA remain free for 2022. To apply for membership to AHEA, go to https://www.ahealliance.org/join-ahea/.

About AHEA
American Higher Education Alliance (AHEA) is founded with the mission to drive equity in higher education by connecting the global community through international collaboration and learning experiences. Through its partnerships with colleges and universities around the world, the non-profit organization contributes to the development of future leaders worldwide through internationalized education, lifelong learning, and universal credentialing.

Learn more about AHEA at https://www.ahealliance.org or on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.

About CONAHEC

The Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC) is a not-for-profit membership-based network of approximately 180 institutions of higher education in Canada, the United States and Mexico, as well as a select group of institutions from other parts of the world. The organization was established shortly after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect and was initially designed to support the resulting increase in economic integration by helping institutions of higher education collaborate to develop programs and educational opportunities to prepare globally knowledgeable professionals able to contribute to the region’s continued success. CONAHEC seeks to advance the consolidation of the North American higher education community and its relationship with international partners by promoting collaboration and cooperation among its members and affiliates and providing a variety of fora in which member representatives can meet, interact and develop their collaborative and cooperative projects.

Connect with CONAHEC at https://conahec.org/ or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube.