ACC Liverpool this week hosts its first international conference and exhibition to take place across its entire campus.
More than 5,000 delegates are attending the European Association for International Education (EAIE) Conference and Exhibition at the BT Convention Centre, Echo Arena and Exhibition Centre Liverpool.
The event is the largest international higher education conference in Europe, bringing together professionals from more than 90 countries. Delegates are attending plenary sessions in the arena, an exhibition throughout all three halls in the exhibition centre as well as seminars and break-out sessions in the convention centre.
Kerrin MacPhie, director of conference and exhibition sales at ACC Liverpool, said: “Bringing this prestigious event to the city has been a truly city-wide initiative. For five years we have worked closely with our four universities and the Liverpool Convention Bureau to bring the event to Liverpool with a key requirement being to ensure that the EAIE event could be accommodated by ACC Liverpool, hotels and social programme venues.
“The development of Exhibition Centre Liverpool means we are now able to host much larger international conferences of this scale across our whole site which now offers the only purpose-built integrated arena, convention and exhibition centre in Europe. This was one of our aims when we opened the additional venue, together with Pullman Liverpool, and we are delighted to welcome thousands of global delegates to our city and to our site.”
The four day event, which is set to generate £9.4m in economic benefit to the city region, has been given a full destination welcome, with Marketing Liverpool working closely with ACC Liverpool to provide city dressing, accommodation booking and content programming as well as support for the initial bid through the Club Liverpool ambassador programme.
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson opened the conference and keynote speakers include Richard Gerver, one of the advisers of the Hillary Clinton campaign. A series of networking events are taking place across the city, including the opening reception at Liverpool Cathedral. The event will address key issues affecting the field of international higher education across the world such as the refugee crisis and Brexit.
Leonard Engel, executive director at the EAIE, said: “This is a key time for the field of international education in Europe. The coming days in Liverpool will offer an unparalleled opportunity for international higher education professionals from all over the globe to join forces and imagine our futures together.”
As EAIE draws to a close, the ACC Liverpool team will prepare for the 2016 Labour Party Conference which takes place from September 24 until 28 and will also utilise the whole waterfront campus at ACC Liverpool.