Breda Guardians, founded in 2015, is an esports community with the vision of uniting gamers in and around the city of Breda. They have their own gaming and esports facility ‘The HIVE’ located in the Frontier Building of BUas, where students can relax, make friends, and play games – both casually and competitively. Aside from that, Breda Guardians also organises events for its members and students interested in gaming and esports. The community is very diverse - coming from different domains and several schools. Quite a few members of Breda Guardians and visitors of The HIVE are internationals, and it is our goal to make everyone feel welcome and at home, while providing a safe space and having fun.

In our quest to shape education that resonates with the contemporary global world while being sensitive to local culture and context, it is fundamental to look at the integration of international and intercultural dimensions into both formal and informal curricula. Glocal education aims to prepare our students to address complex issues by understanding global ones in different ways of knowing. For that to happen you must foster collaborative and participatory work, engaging a variety of social actors. The international and intercultural approach is highlighted here as it provides contextual diversity and plural solutions for societal challenges. Within this article, I aim to delineate two concepts that have been guiding my work as a learning facilitator in the transformation of classrooms into vibrant learning communities: glocalisation and the pluriverse. These concepts diverge from dominant narratives of globalised development where the focus is on universals. Instead, they present alternative world views and practices that envision an ecologically responsible and socially just global community.

I think it is fair to say that internationalisation in higher education has always been an important aspect in my work. My love for international affairs started in Switzerland, where I was on an Erasmus+ exchange at the University of Bern during my studies. All these different nationalities together, all these different perspectives, I thought were fascinating and inspiring. I still have this fascination after all these years of working in an international environment.

A Dutch-Belgian delegation specialising in sport and vitality recently visited Copenhagen. Representing Breda University of Applied Sciences, I participated in this delegation to strengthen our international network. Moreover, the programme aligned seamlessly with my professional doctorate studies, which focus on the role urban or street culture can play in the development of future-proof cities. So how do you ensure that leisure activities contribute to a vital, inclusive and attractive city for residents and visitors?

I teach the courses Storytelling and Cultural Narratives, Understanding Leisure and Tourism Attractions and Events, and I supervise qualitative research projects. In 2022, I finished my PhD, and now I am defining my research direction further, which is mostly related to Placemaking, Events, and Storytelling. From 5 to 8 February 2024, I took part in a workshop in Barbados, called Caribbean World Heritage Sites in the light of today’s global challenges: the case of Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison. The workshop was organised by Dr Maaike de Waal from Leiden University in collaboration with UWI (University of the West Indies). Maaike had asked me to participate and deliver a keynote presentation.

In line with BUas’ programme portfolio, international cooperation has always been part of what we do. In 2023 Academy for Leisure & Events (ALE) had 18.6% incoming international students (of 547 students in total) which compares favourably to 2017 when we had 11.8% incoming international students (of 493). This is the number of students who do their entire study programme (bachelor’s or master’s) at our academy, named ’degree- seeking students’ in formal terms. We also welcome incoming exchange students, who only come to study for one semester.