Category: Internationalisation

Quality assurance for qualification recognition – reflecting on the implications of the Global Recognition Convention

“The diversity in quality assurance systems globally poses the question of what quality assurance should be used to inform qualification recognition”

Higher education, internationally, has been undergoing significant changes over the past 20 years. In particular, we have seen an increasing diversification of modes of delivery, including through online and blended learning, different types of international branch campuses and partnerships, articulation arrangements, short courses and work-based learning.

These developments have opened-up important opportunities to make progress towards more flexible and inclusive learning pathways, and thus in supporting the UNESCO vision captured in the Roadmap to 2030 of fostering “diversity over uniformity and flexible learning over traditionally well-structured, hierarchical models of education”.

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Managing the uptick of international student applications in the UK

“The explosion of international applications has intensified the number of verification checks needed and made for a challenging landscape”

The UK has long been an attractive place to study for international students and, as the latest figures show, the trend looks set to continue. However, managing the implications of the UK meeting international student targets a decade before the deadline has undoubtedly piled pressure on university admission teams.

The explosion of international applications in the wake of the introduction of the new Graduate Route Visa, plus a general widening of the recruitment net, has intensified the number of verification checks needed and made for a challenging landscape.

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The importance of sustainability in students’ university choice

“Considering 45% of 16 to 25-year-olds are suffering from climate anxiety, it’s understandable that they want to study at an institution which shares their vision for a sustainable future”

2023 saw the launch of a new league table for higher education institutions based on sustainability. The QS sustainability rankings set out to measure a university’s ability to tackle the world’s greatest environmental, social and governance challenges.

Likewise, the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which were introduced four years ago, aim to assess universities against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

But do students really think about an institution’s approach to climate action when deciding where to apply?

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Complexities in the role of English in international students’ experiences in multilingual Hong Kong

“Simply stating English as the medium of instruction in the name of internationalisation leaves much room for disagreement and inconsistency”

Research over the past decade has unveiled the complexities of language issues both inside and outside the classroom. However, relatively few studies consider the experiences of students in non-Anglophone settings. My research fills this gap by examining the role of English in the multilingual context of Hong Kong.

Using interview data gathered from 24 full-time international students with little or no proficiency in Chinese, my research traces their experiences of using English in Hong Kong higher education. In particular, my work focuses on the ‘language ideologies’ of international students, especially what participants think should be the role of English in the university. The results offer food for thought.

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Schools wanting to compete for top international faculty need robust integration strategies

“Faculty willing to migrate to work for you are usually happy to relocate to work for your competitors”

Growing diversity has been a key objective in the business world for a few decades now, as international corporations realise bringing a mix of people to the table introduces fresh ideas and allows for continuous innovation.

It’s been no stranger to the higher education sector either, especially for institutions that teach business and management. From the executive level down to bachelor courses, having a diverse cohort of students and participants has been (rightly) deemed an important issue.

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We must target the root causes of gender bias in the classroom

“Despite girls’ education having been advertised as a priority for decades, top aid agency education investments have rarely targeted the underlying barriers girls face”

Recently, the UK launched their new International Development strategy. Almost at the very top of their priorities is girls’ education—“every girl receiving 12 years of quality education”—and women’s economic equality–“improve economic security for girls and women.”

The strategy talks about the specific barriers that girls face: violence in school, early marriage, unintended pregnancies, as well as issues that are likely to disproportionately impact girls, like poverty and disability. Tackling these issues is a crucial step in the right direction, and is something which has been overlooked in the past.

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Responsible curiosity: what it means to be a global citizen

“I see global citizenship as involving a sense of open-mindedness and adaptability”

Global citizenship has become quite a political and controversial concept. In 2016, the UK Prime Minister at the time, Theresa May, declared “today, too many people in positions of power behave as though they have more in common with international elites than with the people down the road, the people they employ, the people they pass in the street…. But if you believe you’re a citizen of the world, you’re a citizen of nowhere. You don’t understand what the very word ‘citizenship’ means”.

And then, in 2019, Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that “the future does not belong to the globalists. The future belongs to the patriots”.

I don’t agree with either of these statements, writes Martin Hall, head of school at ACS International School Hillingdon.

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The importance of international collaboration in tackling climate change

“We are building international collaborations and working with experts/mentors to influence issues related to climate and environment”

The pandemic has shone a light on the vital role of higher education in providing solutions to society’s greatest challenges, thrusting the contribution of universities to the fore. And so, as we stare what is undoubtedly the most significant issue of our time in the face – climate change – there has never been a more critical time for global collaboration between institutions and faculty to find the answers and influence change.

The ACU Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort, a partnership between the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and The British Council, was formed with this notion in mind. Scott J. Davidson, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo in Canada, explains.

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XJTLU: breaking barriers to reach the future

“We wanted to create an international university in China and a Chinese university recognised internationally”

The future of education is about bringing together multiple worlds. To create a robust higher education sector, universities need to form partnerships with each other, industry, and the community. It Is also beneficial to blend teaching methods and philosophies. Youmin Xi of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University explains.

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The Asian universities working together to solve challenges in higher education

“In a highly globalised world, a country or region can rarely develop in isolation”

Over the last few years, we have observed some important trends that have already been changing the global landscape of higher education. Asian universities have accelerated in their development and started to enjoy a greater presence among the top global universities.

Being a network of prominent universities in the region, the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) has the potential to lead intellectual scholarship and scientific discovery, pulling together the best minds from member institutions, each with their own expertise to contribute to joint initiatives. Arman Zhumazhanov of Nazarbayev University discusses the work of the regional university network.

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