Rich Exchanges on Diverse Campuses: Creating the ‘win-win’ scenario?

Viv CaruanaReader in internationalisation of the Curriculum and Co-Director of CAPRI, Leeds Metropolitan University

Research commissioned by Equality Challenge Unit (ECU)

Internationalisation and Equality and Diversity in Higher Education: Merging Identities

http://tinyurl.com/4ungtaw

Project Focus

• Advantages of building on the intersection of internationalisation and Equality and Diversity (E and D)

• Awareness, commitment, understanding and involvement

• Effective practice• Geographical location, size, and profile• Multi-level and multi-method

Data collection

• Desk research

• Online surveys

• Focus groups

• Interviews

Aims of internationalisation

Student voices: Aims of Internationalisation

…the university recruits too many international students because they pay high fees…(UB, survey)

…It seems as though the international students are only attractive to the university as a revenue earner… (LMU, survey)

…Worcester uni is more interested in money, status and especially expanding than caring for its current students… (UW, survey)

…produce more graduates who can be valuable for the university’s reputation (UWN, survey)

Student voices: A multicultural and diverse university in a multicultural and

diverse societyThe university is an example of a successful

multicultural society (UB survey)

…it fits into the growing diversity of the UK and the globalised world we live in…(LMU, survey)

…the university is aiming to bring it a diverse range of people and skill levels to integrate each student into part of ‘everyday society’… (UW, survey)

Student voices: Equality of Opportunities – rights and respect

…the university aims to provide places not based upon background, gender or ethnicity but on prior achievements and academic background…(UB survey)

…all students have a right to have their opinions heard, regardless of their background. (LMU, survey)

Treating everyone equal with respect and understanding whilst being interested in different cultures, traditions and ways of life…(UW, survey)

Treat everyone how you would like to be treated (UWN, survey)

International students and international perspectives

Bristol values students from different cultures…its important that Bristol stays international (UB, survey)

Leeds Met is very open to establishing interational relationships between both the institution and also the student level (LMU, survey)

They try to make home away from home for us at the same time helping us understand the difference in culture…(UW, survey)

This term holds pretty much importance at our university. We see student mentors not only from local place but our country…as well… (UWN, survey)

Student voices: Sharing and interacting with diversity

…be able to learn from, share and enjoy experiences with people from a wide variety of different backgrounds…(UB, survey)

...we can learn more about each other and have a better understanding about the different cultures…(LMU, survey)

… Local students on campus are very open-minded…international students create a very dynamic learning environment… (UW, survey)

Interacting, socialising and living among themselves equally without no discrimination (UWN, survey)

Tensions in home and international student relationships

International students have to make an effort to integrate themselves as well…[they] slow down the learning process (LMU, survey)

…More could be done to promote unity between cultures and ethnicities…(UW, survey)

…If I don’t pronounce something correctly the ISs will understand but the HSs won’t …or at least they pretend not to…they will just smile at you…it is like they are not hearing me… (UW, focus group)

…they are happy to speak with you but they don’t come to you…they get happy when you take an interest…(UW, focus group)

…it is all about knowing what they are comfortable with…then just sitting down and listening that’s all (UW, focus group)

Student voices: Global perspectives in ALT?

…The classes do not seem to be mixed enough…There is very little acknowledgement of [the need] to develop knowledge internationally… (LMU, survey)

…would love to have more opportunities…in class to interact…people would benefit from the experiences (UW, survey)

The ‘win-win’ scenario?

• Adopting an academic cultural capital development model that not only builds upon but includes students’ backgrounds and cultures

• Questioning learning resources from multiple standpoints, integrating, applying and extending the cultural boundaries of knowledge

The ‘win-win’ scenario?

• Creating the safe place to explore by de-personalising engagement (OSDE methodology)

• Orientation programmes (and peer mentoring schemes) for home as well as international students – together!

• Using different learning stimuli to allow students to diversify their learning portfolio

• Threshold concepts to create curriculum space

The ‘win-win’ scenario at the chalk-face?

• Mixed-method assessment strategies involving linked and formative assessments

• Challenging multicultural group work and being transparent about the rationale

• Acknowledge that cross-cultural capability is emergent, iterative and highly dependent on experience

• Experiential learning in local multicultural community settings can assist boundary crossing

The ‘win-win’ scenario at institutional level?

• Synergy between internationalisation and Equality and Diversity agendas

• The ‘business case’ approach• Operating at all three levels of

diversity – structural, classroom, informal interactional

Thank you!

References to follow!