EAIE-konferansen 2007 i Trondheim

 

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Norway and to the city of Trondheim. I will also pay my tribute to Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the European Association for International Education (EAIE) who have made this conference possible. My pleasure in doing this is largely increased by the fact that I am welcoming you to my native town. And I have several reasons for being proud of my background as a citizen of Trondheim.

It is a city with a rich and honourable position in the history of this nation, a city of kings and nation-builders, located in the heart of Norway. It played a central role in the past as the medieval capital of Norway. Trondheim has in fact been the city of Kings since Harald the first, popularly known as Harald Hairfair because he sweared not to cut this hair until he had unified Norway into one kingdom at the end of the 9th century. And with the unification of the country Trondheim’s status as the capital of Norway was established. 

However, the Viking king who is first and foremost linked to this city, and to this cathedral, is Olav Haraldsson or Olav the Saint. He has become the symbol of this city. King Olav was killed in a famous Viking battle some miles north of the city in the year 1030.  In the aftermath of the battle some of his enemies started to regret that they had opposed him, and people began to think of him as a holy man. Miraculous stories were told about his dead body.  

A blind man had by coincidence entered into a little farmhouse where his body was laying after the battle, he rubbed his eyes with the king’s blood and recovered his sight.  The owner of the farm took the body, brought it to the city and buried it by the riverside. 

When one year later the body was digged up again, rumours claims that a wonderful fragrance came out from his body, he still had red cheeks as if he had just been sleeping, and his beard, hear and nails had continued to grow.  

The King was declared a saint, and pilgrims began to flock to Nidaros and to the King’s grave. So, according to tradition the High Altar of the Nidaros cathedral now stands on the burial site of the king.  

In recent years, the tradition of pilgrimage has been renewed, and pilgrims both form Norway and abroad are now once more starting out on their journey towards the Nidaros cathedral, as a Nordic parallel to the roads leading to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. 

However, if we turn our eyes to the present, I am proud to say that the city can now rightly be described as the technological capital of Norway. And as such it is still building the nation: Norway’s technological advances in the past century and nowadays is mainly due to the location of high-standing institutions of higher education and research in this city.  During the last 100 years more than eighty per cent of the country’s graduate engineers have been educated in this city. The graduates of the university and colleges in Trondheim have thus literally been building the nation for almost a century.   

In Norway, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is also on the forefront of international cooperation in higher education.

It is therefore natural that NTNU is the host of EAIE, which is a major platform and arena for developing partnerships between higher education institutions and international coordination.

This is the 19th Annual Conference of the European Association for International Education (EAIE).  

This years title of the conference is: “Reaching for new shores” – where opportunities and trends in the internationalisation of European higher education will be discussed. I am sure that there will be presented a lot of interesting key note speeches and papers – followed by fruitful discussions and exchanges of ideas and knowledge in the different sessions, seminars and workshops. And my be the most important thing for this kind of international conferences – establishment of useful networks and contacts with international colleagues.

Last years conference in Basel, Switzerland, attracted more than 2000 participants from over 60 countries. I presume the level is quite similar for this EAIE-conference in Trondheim. 

Finally, let me express the hope, more generally, that you will enjoy your stay in the city of Trondheim. I am sure that you all will have meaningful and constructive outcomes of the conference.  

Thank you for your kind attention. Have an excellent conference!