WHAT IS GRRIF

Launched in 2016 in Montreal, the Groupe des responsables des relations internationales des

institutions of higher education (GRRIF) is an informal grouping of international

practitioners of international relations in higher education institutions, which meets once a year

meets once a year to exchange, discuss and help each other. The GRRIF aims to be a community of practice

to discuss the challenges of internationalization for French-speaking institutions in a globalized, largely English-speaking world.  Above all, a unique opportunity for mutual capacity-building among colleagues.

By way of example, here are just a few of the themes addressed at the seminars since 2016: what are the training needs for people in charge of internationalization; North - South international  cooperation; linguistic challenges for French-speaking institutions;   the changing role of the international relations manager, etc.

The GRRIF was born of the realization that there was a need for regular exchange between those in charge of international relations in the French-speaking universities in order to discuss common issues together.

The first meeting was organized in February 2016 by the Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM), with the

the support of ARES ( Académie de recherche et d'enseignement supérieur de Belgique, an agency created to federate francophone universities and institutions of higher education). The second seminar was held in Brussels in March 2017, and this is when GRRIF was really created. The third conference took place in University of Lausanne in Switzerland in February 2018, the fourth in Tunis in February 2019 , the fifth in Barcelona in September 2022, and the sixth was organized in Brussels in 2023. 

As mentioned, the GRRIF is an informal group currently made up of its various seminar participants.

There is no mechanism for joining GRRIF. The group was formed over the course of the seminars on the basis of partners invited by the various organizers, initially UQAM and ARES and then UNIL, Université de la Manouba, Université de Caen and more recently Haute Ecole Léonard de Vinci. 

In order to understand GRRIF, it is important to emphasize its relevance and originality, based on

its approach to internationalization issues from a practitioner's point of view, with concrete and useful examples. We leave theory, ideology and formal presentations to other forums of exchange.

GRRIF is a forum for exchange and discussion, in a safe, comfortable and non-judgmental space..Those who have already taken part remember the overflowing enthusiasm and the pressing need that participants feel to intervene, exchange and discuss. That's why we try to keep our presentations short, without power point,  the exchange with the participants being the main goal. It's all about getting to the bottom of the whys and wherefores

and how, and enriching everyone's experience.