Call for Proposals

NAFSA 2027: Future Ready Together

The 2027 Annual Conference Committee invites you to submit a session, poster, or workshop proposal for the NAFSA 2027 Annual Conference & Expo, to be held June 1-4, 2027, in Los Angeles, California.

NAFSA 2027 theme highlights new ways of strategizing for being future ready, grounded in collaboration, shared insight, and collective action. No individual or organization does it alone. Advancing International education requires adaptability, innovation, and a shared commitment to facing global challenges together. 

Proposal Deadlines: 

Sessions and workshops: Wednesday, August 26, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. (EDT) 
Posters: Wednesday, December 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. (EST) 

SUBMIT A SESSION or WORKSHOP NOW           SUBMIT A POSTER NOW

Sessions and Workshops

Content Guidelines

• Solution-oriented, purposeful proposals featuring bold ideas and global perspectives
• Align with the conference theme, content priorities, and key audiences

Content Priorities

Our content priorities highlight the key conversations shaping the field and bringing our community together. We encourage proposals that reflect these areas, with diverse voices and global perspectives.

• Bold Strategies for Tomorrow’s World: Approaches to shaping partnerships, enrollment trends, artificial intelligence (AI), visa and immigration policies, transnational education exploration, and innovative teaching and learning models
• Management Skills to Prepare for the Future: Preparing and managing change including budget management, evolving staffing models, professional skills development, and communication planning during uncertainty
• Industry-University Collaboration: Examples of industry-university collaborations that present new opportunities for campuses and communities to thrive together, as well as industry-university joint research initiatives
• Future Employment and Career Readiness: Initiatives and collaborations that create future internships and employment opportunities for students, as well as strategies that higher education and global offices are implementing to enhance student job readiness and career opportunities
• Duty of Care: Advising, orientation, mental health, risk management, building strong connections, enhancing engagement and adaptability, and new forms of communication strategies for multiple generations
• Data, Technology, and Humanity: New data insights and technology that propel critical decisions forward and impact our work, overall global education, and ultimately, students, scholars, and the community
• Paths Forward in International Education: Exploring issues and solutions through case studies and lessons learned from past experiences to ensure the field is ready for the global future
• Partnerships Within the Global Community: Cross-border initiatives and collaborative efforts among universities that strengthen and advance campus internationalization
• Teaching and Learning: How faculty and program developers are embracing changes in pedagogy, content delivery, and student experiences and expectations
• Research and Scholarship: What is informing a creative strategic-thinking mindset? What are new research gaps and opportunities to collaborate across domains, and how are scholar practitioners utilizing a new data-driven decision process?
• Accessibility and Belonging: Creating an environment where students and professionals can thrive and feel connectedness and belonging. Programs, support services, and resources to expand participation and equitable opportunities for all.
• Wellness: Wellness issues affecting the workplace, staff resilience, coaching, and managing stress
• Sustainability/SDGs: Paths for progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 
• Community, Vocational, and Technical Colleges: Innovative global initiatives and international strategies at community, vocational, and technical colleges 
• Trends Related to NAFSA Knowledge Communities and NAFSA’s International Education Professional Competencies

Submission Formats

25-Minute Sessions To the Point Sessions: focuses on a single topic or concept that can be covered in short amount of time. They are a unique opportunity to propose a topic that is engaging and fast-paced. Up to 2 presenters. 

50-Minute Sessions: in-depth exploration of topics and concepts. Up to 4 presenters are allowed in this type of session. 

Workshops: As NAFSA longest proposal type, all Current Topic Workshops are schedule as two- or - four- hour interactive trainings. Workshops proposals cannot duplicate existing NAFSA Core Education Program Workshops. Any questions can be directed to [email protected].

Great Global Debates: New! The Annual Conference Committee invites 50-minute proposals that feature dialogues and varying perspectives on big picture questions such as:

• How does higher education contribute to building strong global societies?
• How does international education contribute to the public good?
• If we had to build educational institutions from scratch, what would we do differently, considering the current landscape?
• What will the global education ecosystem of the future look like? 
• How will AI transform international education in practice?

NAFSA Audiences

NAFSA’s key conference audiences have specific work responsibilities within international education. Focus your content on one or more of these NAFSA audiences when developing your proposal. 

Education Abroad: Proposals for this audience are focused on comprehensive advising and recruitment, safety and risk management, innovative program design, and strategic leadership and operations.

International Education Leadership: Proposals for this audience are focused on advocacy for international education, leadership development, budgeting and management models, commitment to people development, navigating current geopolitical trends, and comprehensive internationalization.

International Enrollment Management: Proposals for this audience are focused on admissions, recruitment, enrollment management, marketing, credential evaluation, sponsored student programs, and intensive English programs.

International Student and Scholar Services: Proposals for this audience are focused on complying with immigration regulations, orienting, advising, supporting, and providing programming for inbound students and scholars.

Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship: Proposals for this audience are focused on cross-cultural competence, curriculum internationalization, graduate students, faculty development, intercultural training, learning experiences of students at all levels, and scholarly research that directly informs the work of international education practice.

Shared Interest: Proposals for this audience are focused on other, wide-ranging topics that are not specific to a knowledge community, or on topics that apply to two or more knowledge communities.

The Poster Fair is a wonderful opportunity to discover new ideas, engage with presenters one-on-one, and network with other attendees at NAFSA 2027. Explore eleven poster fair themes below that connect to the annual conference theme.You can submit a poster proposal related to any of the themes, and there is no limit to how many proposals you may submit. If your proposed topic fits within several themes, submit your proposal to the theme that best reflects your intended audience. Selected presenters will be expected to submit a virtual and physical representation of their posters in the spring leading up to the conference, and will engage with passerby on their poster topic for an hour and a half during the conference.

You can view the rubric used to rate posters here. Submitters will hear back on whether your poster is accepted into the program or not in early February, 2027.

2027 Poster Themes and Descriptions

Designing Global and Local Partnerships 
Posters in this fair exhibit best practices in strategic planning and intentional partnership development to shape global engagement for tomorrow’s world. Partnership may occur on campus, in community, and virtually. Topics may entail:

• Ways to develop resilient partnerships that further internationalization through innovative curriculum and exchange
• Thoughtful, reciprocal engagement with students, faculty, institutions, the private sector, and local and international communities that allow stakeholders to thrive together
• Application and critical consideration of theoretical models of internationalization to build and renew communities through collaboration
• Successful strategies campuses can utilize to prioritize community and global engagement

Global Initiatives at Community, Vocational, and Technical Colleges 
Posters in this fair focus on bold global initiatives and international strategies at community, vocational, and technical colleges. They highlight:

• Successful steps toward internationalization at community, vocational, and technical colleges
• Innovative and creative partnerships with the private sector that enhance student job readiness and career opportunities for the global future 
• Creative solutions to specific challenges that community, vocational, and technical colleges face in developing and sustaining global initiatives

Global Outlooks in International Education 
Posters in this fair exhibit topics relating to:

• Current issues, research, and trends pertaining to the higher education policies and systems of various countries and regions
• Mobility trends and scholarships for all students, both incoming and outgoing
• New educational programs, initiatives, and collaborative efforts driving change in transnational education
• New laws affecting higher education and shaping our field

Increasing Accessibility and Belonging in International Education 
Posters in this fair focus on accessibility and belonging in all aspects of international education, such as:

• Programs, support services, and resources to assist colleges and universities interested in expanding participation and equitable opportunities for all including international students, scholars, education abroad participants, and international education professionals
• Resources that support underrepresented and non-traditional populations, with focuses on sexual orientation, disability, religion, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and non-traditional aged learners
• Proposals about supporting athletes, veterans, graduate students, first-generation students, and academic disciplines, particularly science and engineering, are also welcome

Research and Assessment 
Posters in this fair highlight model practices for gathering and analyzing data to inform strategic thinking, collaboration, and decision-making. They highlight:

• Strategies to assess program and learning outcomes, provide insight, and strengthen global learning and partnership 
• Important findings, perspectives, and academic inquiries to stimulate collaboration as well as provide tangible professional resources and educational understanding
• Joint research initiatives featuring university-industry partnership
• Innovative and in-depth qualitative and quantitative research that propels the field of international education forward

Submissions from graduate students, scholar-practitioners, and researchers from all knowledge communities are encouraged.

Uses of AI and Technology in International Education 
Posters in this fair exhibit artificial intelligence (AI) and technology in international education. Note: This theme is intended to present educational concepts, policies, and model practices versus demonstrations of technology tools. Proposal topics may involve:

• Forward-thinking uses of AI in international education 
• Campus policies, ethical considerations, and discussion of how technology impacts our work and global education overall
• Impacts of AI on teaching, learning, and scholarship
• Using new technology to transform office and process workflows

Great Global Debates 
Together we can solve today’s greatest global challenges. What are the big-picture questions we must answer to collectively move the field forward? Posters in this fair present varying perspectives on topics such as:

• Higher education’s contribution to building strong, global societies
• International education as a public good
• Future global education ecosystems
• AI’s impact on international education
• Career opportunities and skills necessary for the future global educator

Inclusion of multiple presenters, each representing a unique perspective of a Great Global Debate, is encouraged.

Designing the Future of Education Abroad 
Posters in this fair showcase innovative education abroad experiences, comprehensive support to student participants and program leaders, and initiatives supporting student readiness for a global society. Topics include:

• Campus-based, cocurricular, and virtual initiatives that institutions and organizations implement to stimulate, promote, and integrate learning at various stages of the education abroad experience
• Learning through education abroad as well as work, internships, service-learning, and research abroad for both credit and noncredit opportunities
• Comprehensive advising and recruitment strategies applicable to all education abroad stakeholders including multi-generation communications
• Strategies and industry-university collaboration to enhance student job readiness and future career opportunities
• Predeparture orientations on safety, risk management, mental health, wellness programming, and communication (especially in crisis situations)
• Regulatory aspects of education abroad, especially model practices in reporting for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act (Clery), Title IX, and data protection regulations

Future-Ready Strategies in International Enrollment Management 
Posters in this fair feature various international enrollment management strategies, such as:

• Creative recruitment strategies on alumni programs, technology platforms, and institutional storytelling used to successfully recruit, enroll, and retain international students
• Recruitment and retention models adaptable to evolving visa and immigration policies
• Intensive English program administration
• Sponsored student programs, plans, models, and measurement tools

Supporting Holistic Success for International Student and Scholar Services 
Posters in this fair highlight model practices in international student and scholar services, including:

• Campus programming for international students, namely orientation, intercultural initiatives, employment, and career services
• Compliance with exchange visitor and employment-based sponsorship policies
• Successful case studies in effectively navigating crises, supporting institutional duty of care, and ensuring students' and scholars' well-being and safety
• Support for special populations such as J-1 students, international spouses, families, and postdocs

Teaching and Learning for a Global Tomorrow 
Posters in this fair exhibit model practices and success stories of teaching in a global context. Posters in this theme include:

• Examples of co-curricular activities, workforce, and career development
• Matters of global self-awareness, cultural diversity, as well as personal and social responsibility
• Teaching languages and other global skills development
• Collaborating with faculty and curriculum development

This theme encourages proposals in both on-site and virtual global learning opportunities.