"I remember reading the CIS website’s promise of ’Shaping the Future of International Education’ and I thought 'Wow, that sounds exciting; I would love to contribute to that, but what would that look like in practice?'" A year later, Nico Evers is our Director of Higher Education Services and reports on his first CIS Summit of University and School Leaders and how we're doing on that promise. 

One of the highlights of our CIS Global Forum each year is the celebration of outstanding work across our community of universities and schools via the Higher Education Awards. This year, amid such a challenging time, it gives us enormous pleasure to celebrate, recognise, and thank our award recipients for their exemplary service in the international admission and guidance community.

The CIS membership community places the student and their needs at the centre of education. Peter Williams takes up the challenge of highlighting a critical aspect relating to the prompt ‘who are the learners?’, bringing meaning to it using three lenses, and shares a rationale for why we need to invest in identity for the sake of all learners.

What does 'charging our batteries' really mean? So often, people take a break from work only to crave something to occupy minds, establish routine and break the monotony. Lee Hole, Head of Secondary School at GEMS International School–Al Khail in the United Arab Emirates describes what to look out for and ways to recharge.

With so much going on in our busy minds, busy lives, and even busier inboxes, it can be extremely easy to miss small but important details like authentic email addresses—and cybercriminals take great advantage of this. Here are some things to look out for.

Reflections from two foundational learning and listening exercises as we explore our implicit biases and consider “What if we centred equity in accreditation?”

What does it mean to purposefully and intentionally 'tackle' racism? And how will we hold ourselves accountable to each other and for the young people we serve in international education? We asked speakers from our upcoming Tackling Racism Workshop Series to identify some of the common missteps that educational leaders and educators make in their goal to address and tackle racism.

Some safeguarding and well-being risks have increased for many children as a consequence of moving to remote learning. At the same time, the sudden shift to home-based learning and concerns about students’ academic progress has meant that key elements of some schools’ safeguarding and well-being education were paused or weakened. We look at different approaches to terminology, explore challenges, and offer eight steps/solutions that schools can take as we draw on examples from CIS Accredited schools and on the work of experts in this field.

As schools and universities have had to move their teaching online in response to the Coronavirus, their reliance on IT systems has increased and a series of data protection and cybersecurity risks have emerged. Following a recent increase in cyberattacks on educational insitutions, here's an outline of steps you can take to mitigate threats.

Leo Thompson starts his post with the bold claim: High-quality learning and teaching (HQLT) is both context and culture dependent and cannot be defined and measured in absolute, universal terms. He unpacks his claim in this post and offers guidance to help school leaders and educators to approach the challenge it presents. 

Anyone anywhere can open a school and call it international. Some schools are financed by companies, others by individuals, and some by groups of parents, but there is no apparent guarantee of quality in any of these schools. Or is there? 

A series of conversations with students since 2018 about different forms of peer-on-peer abuse provides the first-hand context and a strong foundation for the guidance in this post. We’ve been careful to reflect on the Coronavirus, anti-racism and diversity and how these may also have an impact on peer-on-peer abuse. 

The pandemic has brought uncertainty, loss and hardship to many students graduating from high school this year. We share five ‘big ideas’ emerging in transition programming in the context of the Coronavirus. Plus key findings from a recent survey of 134 high school counsellors across 52 countries, links to research, resources and more.

Reputation management is crucial for international schools, whether they're thriving, beginning or developing. Right now, benchmarking and managing a school’s reputation has become even more critical for some as they face a myriad of risks, some associated with COVID-19 and others that were already building. Stephen Holmes outlines risks, responses, benchmarking processes and recent examples.

Nunana's personal story provides us with a powerful starting point for what we can and will do at CIS for ourselves, the communities we serve, and the world at large. The Black Lives Matter movement is a significant catalyst for change and one that we will highlight. We can do better at CIS.

In the middle of the pandemic, a dedicated group of 102 educators from 71 schools in 39 countries across every continent found the energy, time and commitment to complete an online training course in April to develop the skills and attributes of a CIS accreditation team evaluator. School improvement and learning from each other, right now, is more critical than ever.

In the midst of a global pandemic, we’re learning and adapting to a whole new set of circumstances and a wide set of factors at play—cultural, personal, professional, and otherwise. We can begin to recognize the powerful role culture plays in our responses during times of stress and uncertainty.

Members of the International Taskforce on Child Protection are dedicated volunteers who maintain focus on their fundamental responsibility to keep children as safe as possible in education. Read their latest report and resources.

It's been a strange start for Nico Evers in his new role as CIS Director of Higher Education Services. He has established himself by bonding with his new team via video and quickly identifying where to focus his efforts and contribute to our community of schools and universities. Hear more from Nico.