The Department of Tourism at the University of Otago has been a World Leisure Center of Excellence since 2018. Known also by the M?ori title of ?t?kou Whakaihu Waka, the University is located in Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. Dunedin is renowned for its diverse natural landscapes, unique wildlife species and multicultural heritage. It is possible to construct an image of this WLCE as being a long way from everywhere else, disconnected from the rest of the world and out of touch. Certainly, the recent experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which New Zealand’s borders were closed for a long period and life within them went on pretty much as before while so much of the rest of the world struggled. Yet seen from a different perspective, New Zealand is one of the first places in the world where the new day dawns. As such, it may be said to lead the world, not merely follow in everyone else’s shadow.

Under the background of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, the income level and quality of life of China's residents have significantly improved, while leisure and recreation have become an important part of the Chinese people's daily lives. For example, the survey in the Annual Report on Leisure Development in China 2023-2024 shows that 86.2 per cent of respondents consider leisure time to be very important or important to them, which is an increase of 22 percentage points from 2022 (China Tourism Academy, 2024). Therefore, to meet people's needs for a better life, leisure has become a national strategy and an important way to promote social harmony, stability and improve the quality of life. In addition, with the increasing integration and advancement of emerging technologies such as 5G, big data, cloud computing, and AI in the leisure industry, the ongoing emergence of innovative business models in the leisure sector, the continuous enhancement of policies and institutional frameworks in the leisure field, and the notable improvement in governance capabilities, a diverse pattern of high-quality development in the leisure industry has been established. This development is further supported by the cultural, tourism, sports, and health sectors. As a result, leisure activities in China have evolved from traditional, often passive, activities to diversified, more active, technology-driven activities, and on a global scale (Lin & Dong, 2018). We would like to give a brief overview of the main issues and challenges of the current globalisation of leisure activities in China.

The School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, at the University of São Paulo (EACH-USP), is one of the founding hubs of the World Leisure Centers of Excellence (WLCE) network. With 4,400 students and over 250 professors, EACH-USP is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary (2005-2025), but it is part of one of the most influential universities in Latin America: USP was founded in 1934 and, today, is ranked at position 85 at QS World University Ranking. The creation of the new campus brought innovative and, in some cases, unprecedented focuses to the undergrad environment, including marketing, public policies management, textile & fashion and, of course, leisure and tourism programmes. Though tourism is a traditional academic pathway in Brazil (the first undergraduate programme opened in 1974), EACH was a pioneer in combining leisure and tourism topics into a single programme, enhancing an integrated approach to both fields.

At BUas, there are many ways to organise and facilitate the BUas community. Numerous activities are organised for and by the community of students and staff such as Sport and Play Fest, De-stress Fest and Cupid’s Carnival. Studium Generale activities spotlight current substantive topics such as inclusion, AI or the Ukraine war. Green Office organises events and activities with the aim of raising awareness and creating a more sustainable campus. The annual Good Mood Week with dozens of activities focuses on student well-being. The HUB provides entertainment in the form of (live) radio, podcasts and BLEND magazine. A very important role in community building is also reserved for the BUas Clubs, which bring students and staff together around shared interests. All to make students and staff feel welcome and at home. As the manager of BUas Clubs, I was asked to share both my personal journey and the story of the clubs. In this article, you will read about my experiences as an international student at BUas and about the way BUas Clubs enrich the lives of participants, featuring personal stories from those who have been positively impacted by the clubs.

The 2022-2025 BUas+ Strategy states that the ‘intercultural classroom’ is BUas’ standard learning environment. In the last few years, groups of students of Academy for Leisure & Events have actively put aims from this strategy in practice already, by conducting surveys in museums, attraction parks, and among people taking city tours together with experiential experts of LFB (interest group for and by people with intellectual disabilities). Collaborating in these projects with people with disabilities perfectly meets the strategic aims and objectives of BUas that students work on “industry-relevant, high-quality, and innovative research and design” in “small-scale, personal, sustainable, diverse, and inclusive learning environments”. Accessibility innovations in the leisure sector are desperately needed, and equivalent cooperation with people with disabilities is perceived an example of “on-campus curricular intercultural collaboration”. In this way, the BUas students develop “skills that empower them to contribute to shaping a better world”. This article addresses important concerns from six projects.

BUas sees working towards a more inclusive leisure sector as an important challenge, which needs to be tackled together with representatives of the sector itself. A key requirement for that to be successful is that when designing for leisure practices and facilities, students (and lecturers!) need to look beyond personal preferences (what you like is not necessarily good for everyone), beyond their own physical, sensory or intellectual abilities (what you are capable of doing - seeing - understanding might be inaccessible to others) and their financial capacity (some people might have less - or no - money to spend on leisure). Doing so means to recognise and acknowledge diverse perspectives, backgrounds, motives and possibilities.

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.