Brief History
The years between the founding of the Alliance in 2002 to the present have, above all, been filled with people communicating with each other, with meeting new colleagues and friends, and with a most encouraging growth of links, supporting organisations and networks. Our history, quite appropriately, reflects not only some key events but the continuous sharing of experiences and ideas between a growing group of people linked by the mission of the Alliance. The original idea for the formation of an Alliance for International Education was floated in an article appearing in the International Schools Journal in April 2000 ("Flying Flags or Raising Standards?"). In thinking about the way forward for the promotion of international education, Mary Hayden and Jeff Thompson suggested that what was needed for the new millenium was an organisational structure in which all the players involved in the promotion of international education - individuals, institutions, and systems of education - could meet together to exchange new ideas and to form partnerships for the development of intercultural understanding. Following the publication of the article a seminar was held at the University of Bath in June 2001 from which it was recommended that a formal organisation called the Alliance for International Education should be established and that a conference should be held in Geneva in 2002 to inaugurate the AIE. The initial development of the Alliance concentrated on the organisation of further global conferences on a biennial basis. A number of local and regional gatherings prepared the ground for the later development of regional chapters.