BUTEX Annual General Meeting

Goodenough College, London

Friday 7th December, 2007

MINUTES

Present:

Erica Arthur, Paul Beavitt, Anja Bleidorn, Rachel Buckley, Robert Carthy, Christina Ehlers, Tony Emmerson, Geraint Fox, Anja Funston, Rebecca Gaukroger, Neil Green, Jo Hagerty, Allison Handley, Elizabeth Harris, Shannon Hersage, Valerie Horwood, Helen Johnson, Angela Jones, Denise Kendry, Sally Lambe, Hazel Lander, Sarah Leach, Lisa Lessware, Lisa Lessware, Monika Malak, Rose Matthews, Colette McGowan, Jennie Milford, Paola Moruzzi, Cathy O'Hara, Isabelle Pugh, Tory Ribar, Colleen Sarisky, Ruth Sheret, Aini Siu, Carol Smart, Veronica Speiser, Dorte Stevenson, Caroline Whitehand

Apologies:

Kathleen Adnum, Gail Armistead, Jane Atkinson, Donna Beckington, Will Breare-Hall, Adrian Bregazzi, Anne-Marie Bruner, Sue Bunney, Mary Beth Butler, Janis Chambers, Isobel Child, Paul Clark, Alison Cooper, Cliff Condell, Kevin Coyne, Gordon Craig, Heidi Cummins, Maria de la Pisa, Andrew George, Lydia George, Sue Green, Tim Gutsell, Jenni Hales, Adrian Hawksworth, Delia Heneghan, Jenny Hogg, Sue Hudson, JJ Hummon, Ivan Hutchins, Nicola Jackson, Vanessa Johnson, Mary Jones, David Killick, Rachel King, Annette Kratz, Dimitri Lazo, David Liston, Rebecca Mathers, Jackie Maudsley, Erich McElroy, Anne McIntyre, Heather McKeever, Bobby Mehta, William Migniuolo, Eleanor Moffatt, Toby Moseley, David Moulds, Kate Naameh, Jane Norris-Hill, Julia Oatham, Lucy Phillips, Mark Pickerill, Sue Piggott, Julie Ramsey, Brenda Reed, Joan Reilly, Susan Rhodes-Molden, Jonathan Richards, Michael Rosier, Anna Sarka, Mark Shay, Rachel Shilling, Emily Sinclair, Charlotte Smith, Zehra Sonkaynar, Jill Tabuteau, Ian Thomson, Angela Turton, Val Vassallo, Natasa Vukadinovic, Jane Wallis, Peter Whitelaw, Paul Wilkinson, Maggie Williams, Tonya Willoughby, Anne Worth

1. / Minutes Of The Previous Meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed to be correct.
2. / The BUTEX 8th International Conference
(i) / Conference Programme
The BUTEX 8th International Conference 23rd – 26th June will be hosted by Queen's University Belfast. The programme for the conference will be as follows:
Sunday 22nd June
Trip to the North Coast, to include the Giants Causeway and the Bushmills Distillary, followed by an informal BUTEX dinner.
Monday 23rd June
Pre-Conference workshops
Tuesday 24th June – Thursday 26th June
Conference
(ii) / Pre-Conference Workshops
Erica Arthur confirmed the following pre-conference workshops:
-  Using Returnees As A Resource
To be co-run by Erica Arthur, Liz Simpson and Jason Kinear from the University of Missouri – Columbia
-  Study Abroad 101
To be run by Caroline Whitehand and other speakers to be confirmed
Both workshops will run on Monday 23rd June as three hour sessions.
The Study Abroad 101 workshop requires two additional facilitators. If any BUTEX members with 2 -3 years experience of working in the field of study abroad would like to volunteer, please contact Erica Arthur (). / Action
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(iii) / Call For Papers
The deadline for the receipt of session proposals is 28th February 2008.
The theme for the 2008 Conference will be Study Abroad: Beyond The Comfort Zone. All proposals are very welcome, but we would particularly encourage proposals on the following topics:
·  Widening Participation In Study Abroad
·  Student Support
·  Emergency Response
·  Welfare Provision and Mentoring
·  Quality Assurance In Study Abroad
·  Student Funding
·  On-Line Systems
·  Student Mobility
·  Effective Engagement With Alumni
It would be helpful if members could forward details to their North American contacts. North American University staff normally welcome such invitations as they are far more likely to gain funding to attend the conference if they are also presenting. Some members have suggested that their contacts combine attending the conference with making some general partner visits and this seems to be have been received very positively. / Action
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Action
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3. / NAFSA 2008 May 25th
(i) / General Arrangements
The NAFSA 60th Annual Conference 25th – 30th May will be hosted in Washington D.C.
Following positive feedback from members, BUTEX will again have a double booth so that it can be used by members to host informal meetings.
BUTEX will also continue to arrange a pre-conference BUTEX Dinner.
Members were reminded that as the conference is to take place in Washington D.C. it may be advisable to make accommodation bookings as early as possible.
(ii) / BUTEX / British Council Reception
As in previous years the reception will be organised primarily by the British Council with input from BUTEX. The reception is provisionally to be held at the Embassy, although this has yet to be finally confirmed.
Members were advised that if the Embassy is used as a venue, guest numbers are likely to be restricted. Members may need to consider sending one representative from their office rather than allowing all of their staff to attend.
As in previous years, members will be encouraged to give some of their allocated to places to North American contacts. Feedback from the last conference indicated that many members would like to see more North American contacts at this event; unfortunately the number of allocated places will always be restricted and so, again, members may need to consider sending just one representative from their office in order to free more spaces for North American guests.
BUTEX will attempt to improve the current guest allocation system by contacting members in February to request the names of chosen North American guests. A core list of guests can then be forwarded to the British Council in advance.
4.
(i) / BUTEX Scholarship Scheme
The BUTEX Scholarship 2007
It was reported that BUTEX had received 111 entries for the UK student scholarship and 142 entries for the international student scholarship.
Members were informed that entries were very skewed towards certain Universities, whilst other Universities were not represented at all. Successful Universities had tended to mention the Scholarship in briefings so this may be a good tactic for other members next year in order to encourage entries.
The scholarships were awarded as follows:
UK Student Scholarship:
Forename / Surname / Email / Home University / Host University
Sebastian / Somers / / The University of Exeter / College of William & Mary
Danny / Allen / / The University of Wales, Aberystwth / The University of Pittsburgh
Peter / Duncan / / The University of Wales, Aberystwth / The University of Montana
Robert / Foxell / / The University of Exeter / The University of Denver
Duncan / Taylor / / The University of Glasgow / The University of Toronto
Kirsty / Buck / / King's College London / The University of California – Berkley
Kartika / Limaho / / The University of Manchester / The University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign
Deborah / Price / / The University of Wales, Swansea / The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
International Student Scholarship:
Forename / Surname / Email / Home Uni / NA Uni /
Margaret / Bresnahan / / The University of Edinburgh / Smith University /
Whitney / Scott / / The University of Manchester / Colgate University /
Rebecca / Matheson / / The University of East Anglia / The Univeristy of Miami /
Connine / Liang / / The University of Glasgow / The University of North Carolina /
Christine / Baver / / The University of Aberdeen / Pacific Lutheran University /
Kelsey / Hanf / / The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London / Wellesley College /
Celeste / Voce / / The University of Bristol / Pitzer College /
Charlotte / Townes / / Glasgow School of Art / The University of North Carolina /
(ii) / The BUTEX Scholarship 2008
The requirements for the personal statement for the 2008/09 Scholarship are to be finalised at the January Executive meeting. Proposals were requested from members and the following proposals were tabled:
'How would you promote Study Abroad on your campus?'
'Why should every student study abroad?'
It was decided that 'Why should every student study abroad?' should be the theme of the 2008 statements and that winning entries could be posted on the BUTEX website.
5. / Finance
The 2007 Annual Financial Report was distributed (addendum 1).
Tony Emmerson confirmed that there would be no change in the annual subscription rate.
Members were reminded that the details of the BUTEX bank account have changed and that finance offices may need to update their database details. It would appear that some membership subscriptions have not been processed due to this problem and members in this position will receive subscription reminders.
Members were reminded that Invoice Numbers must be quoted in all payments to BUTEX.
6. / BUTEX Website
Jo Hagerty reported on the work she has been doing to arrange a new host for the BUTEX website. Jo will work towards using 'Drupal' which is a free software package that allows organisations to publish, manage and organize a variety of content on a website. It was confirmed that the new website will be able to include message boards, discussion groups and blogs.
It is likely that when the new site goes live members will need to re-register themselves as BUTEX members on the site.
A preview of the website will be available at the January Executive meeting.
7. / Annual Report
Membership Update
Number of current Full Members – 78
Number of current Associate Members – 8
New members joining during 2007:
Cardiff University
University of Glamorgan
Appointment of a BUTEX administrator
Ruth Sheret was appointed in January 2007 as the BUTEX administrator. The Executive Committee have found that the appointment of a permanent administrator has benefited the organisation and that her appointment has enabled them to focus on developing BUTEX activities.
BUTEX Workshops
During 2007 BUTEX organised the following two workshops:
Outgoing students: Pre-departure and Reorientation
Incoming Students: Orientation And Returning Home
Both workshops have received very positive feedback and we intend to organise further workshops in 2008. Workshops will aim to encourage professional development and the sharing of good practice.
Members are requested to suggest workshops which they would be happy to run or co-run in 2008. Members are also requested to suggest general workshop topics of interest to them. All suggestions should be made to Erica Arthur ().
BUTEX 2-Day Symposium
Following the success of the BUTEX workshops, we intend to organise a 2-day symposium in non-conference years.
BUTEX Scholarship Scheme
We hope to expand this scheme as it is an excellent way of raising the profile of BUTEX.
It is hoped that website improvements will enable us to ask winners to contribute to web pages and blogs.
NAFSA
Current arrangements will continue for the 2008 Conference.
Communications / Publicity
It is hoped that the organisation will move towards an increase in web /e-mail promotion.
DIUS Working Group
It has been proposed that BUTEX will organise a working group with DIUS to encourage outward Study Abroad mobility. It is anticipated that the group will meet 3-4 times a year in 2008. It is hoped that the group will encompass members from a range of different types of institutions so that we can represent the following groups:
Pre-92 and Post-92 institutions
Large and small institutions
Institutions with a very active study abroad office and institutions which are currently sending a relatively small number of students abroad.
To put your name forward for the DIUS/BUTEX Working Group please e-mail / Action
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Action
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