Internationalising Higher Education Christian Duncumb British Council
Internationalising Higher Education
Christian Duncumb
British Council
The British Council and Higher Education
Education UK
Partnership programmes (BRIDGE, UKIERI, INSPIRE, DeLPHE etc)
Science
Scholarships
Internationalising Higher Education
BRIDGE - Background
Delivered 2004-2008
Evaluation 2010
Core aim:
To increase collaborative effort between Russian and UK universities by means of
joint programme development leading to dual degrees or other mutually recognised
academic qualifications.
BRIDGE Achievements
58 partnerships (44 dual awards and 14 research projects)
UK-Russia Expert group
Involved institutions from across Russia
High proportion of success
- Nearly half of Russian dual award projects say their course has been validated in the UK and accredited in Russia
- More than half the courses developed have been delivered in Russia for at least one year already
- Three quarters of UK institutions report that their BRIDGE partnership is still ‘alive’
- Some fruitful research collaboration projects
BRIDGE has helped Russian HEIs align themselves more closely with the Bologna
process
from BRIDGE evaluation report
BRIDGE – some lessons learned
Quality assurance and validation
Marketing and recruitment
Financial management
Language issues
Importance of concluding a formal agreement
BRIDGE – some reasons for success
BRIDGE is regarded by the participating Russian universities in a very positive light,
because:
• The programme set out to benefit institutions across the whole of Russia
• It did not seek to impose UK courses / approaches on Russia; rather, it required Russian institutions
to work as equal partners in developing entirely new courses that would suit Russian needs
• The UK approach to teaching and assessment is increasingly highly regarded, and BRIDGE has
acted as a catalyst to help Russian HEIs promulgate this approach
• It provided sufficient funding to enable courses to get off the ground, but more importantly, it
enabled institutions to access the expertise that they needed.
from BRIDGE evaluation report
Internationalising Higher Education 2010-2013
Connecting agendas - Policy and Ideas
Connecting partners – teaching and research partnerships
Connecting students – student mobility and networks
English
Connecting Agendas – Policy and Ideas
Aim - To support and strengthen the Higher Education sector through the sharing and
exchange of knowledge to inform strategic policy making at Government and
institutional level
Connecting Agendas –Mechanisms
Policy dialogues
UK-Russia visits
Seminars and symposia
Publications
Going Global Hong Kong
Connecting Agendas – IHE issues?
TNE
Quality Assurance
Student mobility
Graduate employability
Global universities
Building research cultures
Innovation & commercialisation of knowledge
Leadership in HE
Global universities
Connecting Agendas – Examples
Date Location Title
Nov Beijing International conference on Graduate Employability
Nov Pakistan Building international research cultures
Nov Turkey University excellence and the role of QA
Jan Malaysia Knowledge transfer in agricultural biotechnology
Jan UK Practices around student mobility
Feb Thailand Developing leadership in Higher Education
Feb Greece TNE policy debate
March Taiwan The East Asian university
March Hong Kong Going Global
Connecting Agendas – Questions
What are the key issues and priorities for Russia?
What are the best mechanisms to stimulate dialogue and share experience?
Are there any challenges to overcome?
Connecting Partnerships
Aim - To build a new generation of structured knowledge economy partnerships which
link Higher Education Institutions, government and business, and which satisfy UK
and Russian agendas in IHE and drive forward knowledge economies
Connecting partnerships
Higher Education Institutions
Industry
Government
Connecting Partnerships - Issues
Building on BRIDGE – keep what worked
Sustainability
Multilateral – HEIs, business and government
Themes
Collaborative teaching programmes and research
Mechanisms (finding partners, stimulating partnerships etc)
Connecting Partnerships – Themes?
Energy
Creative industries
Nanoscience through Engineering to Application
Finance
Digital Economy
Connecting Partnerships - Questions
How do we bring partners (HEIs and business) together?
What are the key barriers to successful partnerships and how do we overcome them?
What partnership themes resonate most?
Connecting Students – student mobility and networks
Aim -To promote student mobility both to and from the UK, build the International
student experience and grow networks of Alumni
Connecting students
UK student mobility
International student mobility
Internationalising student experience
Alumni
Connecting Students – student mobility
Russia UK
Brief cultural/study/work experiences
Full-scale qualifications
English
Aim - To support the IHE agenda through providing information and access to English
language support to partnerships
The English escalatorA
ge
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Tertiary
Secondary
Primary
Pre-school
Increase in English-medium
university courses
School-leavers need higher English
proficiency
English increasingly used to teach
curriculum at secondary school
English introduced earlier and earlier
at Primary school
English
English for student mobility
- English for Academic purposes
- English for the student experience
English for English Medium Instruction (EMI)
- English for lecturers
- EMI pedagogy – how to teach in L2
- English for administrators
Conclusion
What are the key issues within IHE in Russia and through what
mechanisms/interventions/events could relevant debate and discussion be
developed?
What are the most relevant type of partnerships for Russia and in what areas? And
what mechanisms can support their sustainable development?
What are the key issues within the development of the use of English in Higher
Education in Russia and what mechanisms could support the appropriate
development?