22nd Businet Conference - Palas Atenea, Palma City

12 - 15 November 2008

We are pleased to formally announce that the 2008 Conference of the Businet network will be held in Palma de Majorca. The Conference will open on Wednesday 12 November and close with the Gala Dinner on Friday 14 November. There will be the traditional social programme, on Saturday 15 November.

The theme of the Conference will be “Current Issues in European Higher Education”. This title will provide a vehicle that allows for any contemporary issues and debates that are important to us to be explored. Please feel free to submit any suggestions you may have.

The Board spent considerable time discussing the feedback received from last year’s event. As a result the structure of the Conference will be modified slightly, placing more emphasis on showcasing examples of good practice, using some of the time allocated for working group activities.

It is also our intention to promote the working groups by their curriculum area, dropping the HED prefix on Conference documentation. The idea behind this is that it makes the subject focus of the groups more understandable to new members and first time delegates.

The growth of the Businet Conference (over 145 people at the Riga event and the requirement of 8 conference rooms) is testament to the way the network is moving forward. We would anticipate welcoming a similar or slightly larger number of delegates to Palma.

With this growth comes the challenge of finding suitable venues with the appropriate conference facilities at a realistic price. Several suitable options in Spain were explored, from which the Board selected the Sol Melia Palas Atena Hotel at Palma de Majorca. We are convinced that the chosen venue will provide the necessary facilities, standards of comfort and accessibility at the right price, and in a beautiful setting which is ideal for the major event in the Businet calendar.

Details of the hotel can be found here A 360 degree image of the hotel is available on that page.

The single room rate at the Palas Atenea will be €115 and a twin €134, which is more than at the Reval Latvia last year, but in line with previous events in Cannes and Berlin. We have sought to balance value for money to members with appropriate conference facilities, and we were encouraged by travel costs, which should be relatively low with the large number of low cost and charter airlines operating between mainland Europe and Palma. Additionally the hotel is easily accessed from the airport: a local bus transfer takes you to very near the hotel for €1.80, in under half an hour.

Another reason that Palma was chosen was that delegates can easily seek cheaper accommodation away from the main conference venue if they so choose. However, one of the reasons that our Conferences are a success is the camaraderie that they generate, which is enhanced by all participants staying at the same hotel

We look forward to welcoming old and new friends to Palma for the 22nd Businet Conference where we will be promoting business programmes in European Higher Education.

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Click here for the conference programme.

Past Conferences