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Bridging the gap between schools and universities

Name: Bridging the Gap Between Schools and Universities
Start: 2026-11-18T08:30
End: 2026-11-18T18:30
Location: Anglo American University

Date: 18 November 2026
Time: 08:30–17:00 Central European Time (CET)
Location: Anglo American University, Prague, Czechia

Students as the bridge: Strengthening the move from school to university

Help international school students move to university with greater confidence, belonging, and support

Why attend this workshop?

In this interactive workshop, international school counsellors, university admissions representatives, and student services teams will work together to turn student voice into practical transitions-care strategies.

You’ll better understand each other’s roles and expectations, so you can better support international students as they move from school to university, including the opportunities and challenges that come with moving across cultures brings.

This year’s workshop will place a strong emphasis on developing concrete, actionable plans through a dedicated day of cross-sector collaboration. You will work together to translate shared insights into practical strategies tailored to your own institutional contexts and leave ready to put ideas into practice.

Drawing on the CIS Educational Transitions Framework, you will explore the unique challenges facing international students—including repatriating students and third culture kids (TCKs)—as they move into university life. Topics include well-being, cultural adjustment, belonging, digital transitions, and identity.

Working with practitioners and expert facilitators, you will leave with an enhanced understanding of Educational Transitions within your own context, and the tools and strategies to collaborate more effectively across sectors. Ultimately, the workshop aims to strengthen the student experience before, during, and after their transition to post-secondary pathways.

This year’s theme: Students as the bridge

This year, we’ll focus on turning student voice into practical action. School counsellors will strengthen transitions-care strategies. Recruitment and admissions teams will align outreach with student readiness. Student services and enrolment colleagues will improve support and belonging. Join us to collaborate, co-design solutions, and leave with clear next steps.

What’s new in 2026?

The workshop content has evolved in four important ways:

From understanding transitions ➡️ actively designing solutions
From parallel school and university perspectives ➡️ integrated collaboration
From institution-led models ➡️ student agency as the bridge
From discussion ➡️ co-created, implementable outputs

Learning objectives

Shared learning objectives for all participants

Deepen understanding of students as active agents in transitions-care support. Recognise the role of student skills, competencies, and behaviours in navigating complexity across systems, cultures, and life stages.
Implement the CIS Educational Transitions-care Framework to identify misalignments, gaps, and opportunities across the student journey from school to higher education.
Engage in structured working sessions to co-design concrete action plans. Explore ready-to-use strategies to adapt to your institution to address transitions-care challenges and gaps.
Implement pilot initiatives for transitions-care programming. You can also reflect on the pilot and evaluate its effectiveness in a post-workshop follow-up session.
Translate research, student voice, and lived experience into action using student insights as the starting point for institutional change.
Develop shared language and understanding across sectors that strengthen alignment between guidance, recruitment, admissions, and student support.
Equip students to navigate AI and digital environments effectively.
Commit to ongoing cross-sector collaboration, including an opportunity to attend a post-workshop session to share what you’ve learned in practice.

For school participants

Understand how student agency and competency development support successful post-secondary transitions.
Integrate the CIS Educational Transitions-care Framework into university guidance programmes, with a stronger focus on skills-building alongside pathway planning.
Co-develop strategies with university partners that better prepare students for academic, social, and cultural transitions.
Embed a whole-institution approach to transitions-care, aligning counselling, teaching, leadership, and well-being initiatives.
Design interventions that foster belonging before transition, including preparation for intercultural adjustment and independent learning.
Leverage student voice and data to advocate for programme development and leadership buy-in. Watch a short interview with speaker Inga Szacka for a first-hand student perspective.
Develop concrete, collaborative action plans with university colleagues that can be implemented within your school context.

Sending someone from your school? This workshop will support them to:

Turn your university guidance and transitions-care strategy into practical action through cross-sector collaboration.
Pilot new approaches for developing student agency and transitions-related competencies aligned with international student needs.

For university admissions participants

Reframe recruitment and admissions as part of a wider transitions-care ecosystem, recognising the role they play in shaping student readiness and success.
Develop a deeper understanding of student competencies and agency, and how these influence transition outcomes.
Collaborate directly with schools to align expectations and practices, particularly around preparedness, support-seeking behaviours, and digital engagement.
Identify ways to integrate student support and services into recruitment strategies, ensuring a more holistic and transparent student experience.
Co-design transition-focused strategies with school partners that can be piloted in recruitment and outreach work.

For university student services participants

Strengthen understanding of how student agency, competencies, and behaviours impact transition success and belonging.
Apply the CIS Educational Transitions-care Framework to enhance institutional approaches to international student support with a focus on continuity across the transition.
Collaborate with schools to reduce gaps between expectation and experience, particularly in relation to independence, help-seeking, and community engagement.
Improve strategies to support digital transitions and AI literacy as part of the student experience.
Co-create actionable, cross-sector initiatives that strengthen alignment between recruitment, onboarding, and ongoing support.
Develop a clear, implementable action plan, created in collaboration with school partners and aligned with institutional priorities.

Who is this workshop for?

This professional learning opportunity is for:

Schools: Guidance counsellors, future pathway advisors, career counsellors, curriculum coordinators and managers, secondary school principals and social and emotional counsellors on preparing students for post-secondary pathways, fostering successful cross-cultural transitions, well-being, and belonging.

Universities: Recruitment and admissions representatives, VPs of enrolment and admissions, directors of student services, student affairs, and student life, and international student advisors on supporting international student success, retention, and well-being from recruitment and throughout university life.

While you’re there

Consider extending your trip to stay on in Prague and join our annual CIS Global Forum on International Admission & Guidance on 19–20 November where you will network with hundreds of your peers from across the CIS global community of schools and universities.

What’s the difference between the two events?

This workshop offers guided professional learning and development by experts and practitioners in the field who we invite to partner with CIS to deliver the training. The Forum is a peer-led professional learning and networking event focused on the latest trends in international admissions and guidance and building networks across the community to support students applying to university.

Excellence in our community

Each year, it’s our great pleasure to take a moment to recognise, honour, and celebrate the excellent work taking place across our international higher education admission and guidance community in these three areas:

Excellence in Change & Innovation
Excellence in Counselling
Excellence in Higher Education Practices

It's a great highlight of our annual Global Forum when we announce the recipients!

Nominate now individuals and groups at CIS schools and universities who demonstrate excellence in higher education admission and guidance in their service and support to you, your students, your institution, and ultimately, our global community.