The Teaching International Students Project: What weve done and what still needs to be done.

The Teaching International Students Project: What we’ve done and what still needs to be done

Run by the Higher Education AcademyFunded through the Academy, UKCISA & PMI2

2 year project

TIS Team: Janette Ryan, Jude Carroll, Fiona Hyland (ESCalate), Simon

Steiner & Andrew McLaren(Engineering) , Inna Pomorina (Economics), Caprice Lantz (Psychology), Richard Atfield

(BMAF), Katherine Gent, Adam Child & Matt Watkins (HEA)

Why TIS: Changing contexts in higher education• International students in UK 15% and rising (22.9%↑2010, UUK)

plus increases in TNE, IS no longer a ‘minority group’ (a majority in many courses)

• Radical changes in student population yet relatively little change in teaching and learning practices

• Understanding of the imperative for internationalisation but little guidance on how to operationalise its objectives

• It’s pedagogy that brings the curriculum to life

TIS Project aims

• ‘One stop shop’ – database of research and teaching resources with specialist resources

• Move beyond ‘problem identification’ - share ideas, resources and expertise (solutions)

• Encourage understanding and ‘meta-sensitivity’

• Multi-disciplinary approach (from pre-arrival to employability) – primary audience is lecturers

TIS activities

• Website & ‘International Students Lifecycle’ database

• Outreach activities and partnerships (IDP, CAPRI & CICIN)

• Series of collaborative events with Academy Subject Centres and other HEIs and HE groups

• Build a Community of Practice

http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/themes/internationalisation

UK National Student Survey Q22 Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the course

75

7677

78

79

8081

82

83

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

UK students

Int students

Responses

• 15,000 website hits (UK and overseas), 880 per month

• Critical Thinking, Independent Learning, Lecturing, Assessment and Feedback

• 770 subscribers to TIS newsletter

• More than 50 universities have hosted an event/provided resource

• 30 case stories from students and staff

• A lot of interest and support - goodwill and generosity, very vibrant community

Aims and philosophy

• Our aim: to address our praxis in rapidly changing contexts; to connect theory and practice

• Our philosophy/theoretical approach: internationalised learning contexts benefit both international and home students; but IS do have specific learning needs and in order for these to be met they must first be understood

• IS can be an asset in the internationalisation of pedagogy and curriculum; in truly internationalised learning contexts, everyone is international

Questions for the future• Are we taking advantage of opportunities for the generation of new

knowledge and skills or is the direction of travel only ‘one-way’? Do we risk being complacent about the superiority of ‘British’ or ‘Western’ academic ways?

• Is it time for us to re-consider the ways that we view the knowledge and perspectives of international students and whether our curriculum and pedagogy, and the contexts that international students are helping to shape, are still fit for purpose?

• Are we focusing on the wrong problems, just the easiest ones to see (language difficulties or plagiarism) or are there deeper issues about academic cultures and values; the nature of learning and understanding; and the sustainability of Western academic hegemony and the privileging of certain academic skills over others ,in rapidly globalising contexts in higher education? New frontiers yet to be explored…

Acknowledgements

• Jude Carroll, Fiona Hyland and Katherine Gent

• Project Champions - Dave Burnapp, Viv Caruana, Philip Garrahan, Qing Gu, Christine Humfrey, Elspeth Jones, Catherine Montgomery Sue Robson, Michele Schweisfurth, and Yvonne Turner

• Dominic Scott, Beatrice Merrick (UKCISA) and Philip Garrahan – instigators of TIS

• Rachel Segal and Craig Mahoney (HEA)

• Many people who have given feedback, written materials, provided case stories, organised events

“The internationalisation of education can be expressed in the exchange of culture and values, mutual

understanding and a respect for difference…The internationalisation of education does not simply mean

the integration of different national cultures or the suppression of one national culture by another culture.”

(Gu Mingyuan, 2001, p. 105)

“Good teaching and learning are the common treasures of humanity.”

(Kang Changyun, 2006)