New Perspectives on Internationalisation: Enhancing the Student Experience

Understanding transnational mobility: Staff, Students, and Future Employees?

Deborah Peel and Andrea Frank

12 June 2009

Overview1. To critically consider what is meant by the

internationalisation of the curriculum

2. To report a scoping study

3. To facilitate a debate about the implications of internationalisation for the transnational mobility of staff, students, and future employees

Internationalisation?

To learn ● verb……..

To teach ● verb…….

To internationalise ● verb…….

The University of X The University of ? prides itself on being more than

nine hundred years old. But who can identify with any certainty the moment in which a university comes into being? It is difficult to settle on a precise date. By way of definition, academic activity initially involved the scholar who, motivated by a love for knowledge, decided the parameters of a field of study and rigorously explored everything falling within them. As he conducted his research the scholar imparted the results to students who freely decided to follow him, outside of the jurisdiction of any official institution of the state or church.

…Thomas Becket - - Leon Battista Alberti - Pico della Mirandola - Nicholas Copernicus - Erasmus - Albrecht Dürer – Carlo Goldoni …

InternationalisationCritical Literature - Snapshot

‘one of the most significant drivers of change facing the modern university’ (Taylor, 2004)

a ‘core business’ of universities (de Jong & Teekens, 2003)

‘a new paradigm for education for the 21st century’ (Gacel-Ấvila, 2005)

‘a catchword of the times’ (Yang, 2002)

Internationalisation

curriculum development to prepare all graduates, regardless of country of origin, to be informed, responsible citizens able to work effectively in a global, multi-cultural context;

development of initiatives to enhance the learning experience of international students;

promote the Bologna process;

support the development of institutional strategies.

to help institutions, discipline groups and all staff to provide the best possible learning experience for their students

Scoping Study Objectives conceptualise the meaning/importance of an

‘internationalised curriculum’ for the built environment disciplines;

identify the potential problems and challenges in developing an internationalised curriculum;

explore and share participants’ experiences and knowledge of current teaching practices in delivering what they understood as an internationalised curriculum; and

map and seek to prioritise the particular needs of departments/schools to overcome potential barriers in progressing an internationalisation of curricula and which a research agenda could support.

Internationalisation of the Curriculum

How do you understand the concept?

What are your personal experiences?

What are the main problems and challenges?

Is this a common agenda?

What are the implications for transnational mobility?

1.The meaning/importance of an ‘internationalised curriculum’

in your sphere of activity

Contested Conceptualisations

Approaches: activities/programmes; process; competency

(skills,knowledge, values);

ethos.

Rationales: academic; political; economic; cultural and social.

Competitive/ Co-operative

ScalesMacroMedioMicro

In time and space

Internationalisation? Differentiated interpretations by:

individuals, institutions, anddisciplines

Ambiguity about the need for curriculum internationalisation…

2. Current teaching practices/ your experience in delivering an internationalised curriculum

in your institution

(e.g., special support for international students/collaborative projects)

Practices and Experiences Curriculum – design of programmes and content

Teaching and Learning Strategies and Delivery

Cross-cultural learningExchange programmes/study abroadField workDistance-learning

Changing Faculty and Student Profile (UG and PG)

Teaching and Learning Styles and Preferences

3. Problems and mobility challenges in developing an internationalised curriculum

Staff

Students

Mobility Drivers - Staff Intrinsic

ExperientialCircumstantialResearch-driven

Extrinsic

Economic/Global CompetitionInstitutionalStructural – Bologna

Mobility Issues - Students Differential needs which relate to the

‘total student experience’

Active recruitment of international staff to support student communities

Type, timing, nature and resourcing of student support

Home or Away?

Mobility Challenges Relevance of an

‘international product’ Implications for

professional bodies and accreditation

Language

Location/Real Estate

The University of Liverpool is to be the first in the UK to open a new University in China

(Suzhou). It will be completely independent with its own degree-awarding powers.

4. Needs of departments/ schools to overcome potential barriers in progressing internationalisation of curricula

Needs (Wish List….?) Information and understanding

Comparative insights

Guidance and advice

Greater clarity

Emerging questions Are there the necessary institutional resources and will-power

to support the process?

Is internationalisation sustainable over the longer term?

Workloads – do staff have the necessary time and space to rethink and redesign practice?

What staff incentives exist?

What training is available?

(Haigh, 2002)

Internationalisation of the curriculum?

…the process of designing a curriculum that meets the needs of an international student body…

…fair play…

…universal suffrage…

…for everyone?...

(Haigh, 2002)

New Perspectives on Internationalisation: Enhancing the Student Experience

Understanding transnational mobility: Staff, Students, and Future Employees?

Deborah Peel and Andrea Frank

12 June 2009