Youth Incorporated Magazine

The NAFSA’s 65^th Annual Conference & Expo was held in May 2013 at St.Louis, Missouri. The premier event was attended by over 9000 education professionals. Truly the place where international education comes together, this event offered numerous opportunities for educators to hone their knowledge, skills and abilities. Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the United Nations, gave the opening plenary, and Oscar Arias, Nobel laureate and former president of Costa Rica, gave the concluding speech.

The inspiring stories of Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, MD, and Rye Barcott moved the audience and people had a chance to interact with these world renowned figures.

NAFSA’s preconference workshops included topics such as ‘Assessing International Learning Abroad’ where participants learnt the role that commonly used education abroad learning assessment surveys play in the learning outcomes assessments and institutional quality control processes. Other topics included ‘Building Intercultural Competence in International Educators’ which taught participants how culture influences communication, thinking, and learning. Participants also learnt how to capitalize on opportunities and limit barriers to working effectively in international education.

St. Louis is a culturally rich city and was very welcoming to the thousands of NAFSA guests – right from the airport to the several restaurants; everyone welcomed NAFSA visitors with open arms. Be sure to attend the NAFSA 2014 conference in the beautiful city of San Diego.