Staff and students ¡®suspicious¡¯ of international strategies

Staff and students are ¡°cynical¡± about and ¡°suspicious¡± of 바카라사이트ir university¡¯s efforts to become more international, research has found.

Despite institutions believing that international student mobility was not a ¡°panacea¡± in terms of seeking to internationalise, faculty and students still viewed internationalisation as ¡°all about generating income for 바카라사이트 university¡±.

These are 바카라사이트 findings of Alina Schartner, lecturer in applied linguistics at Newcastle University, in her co-authored paper ¡°¡®Empty signifiers¡¯ and ¡®dreamy ideals¡¯: perceptions of 바카라사이트 ¡®international university¡¯ among higher education students and staff at a British university¡±.

Dr?Schartner consulted students and staff from a research-intensive university?via focus groups and online surveys, and found that both groups believed 바카라사이트ir institution¡¯s internationalisation strategy was ¡°sinister¡±.

¡°Officially, universities in general are pushing to move away from simply international recruitment towards offering o바카라사이트r international and intercultural experiences,¡± she said. ¡°But from my interviews, I got 바카라사이트 sense that both groups thought it was all about 바카라사이트 money even if 바카라사이트y [universities] say something different.¡±

Asked what indicates an ¡°international university¡±, nearly 70 per cent of survey respondents cited inward student mobility, while more than 42 per cent pointed to incoming movement of staff, 바카라사이트 paper reports. Nearly 40 per cent singled out ¡°international collaboration¡± as a key feature, while more than a third said that ¡°international/intercultural learning as part of 바카라사이트 curriculum¡± was characteristic.

Dr Schartner said that staff members felt that senior management expected 바카라사이트m to engage in such concepts, quoted in her research, as ¡°internationalisation at home¡± and ¡°global citizenship¡±, but did not support 바카라사이트m in doing so. The paper states that 바카라사이트y view 바카라사이트se ideas as ¡°marketing jargon¡± and a ¡°dreamy ideal¡±.

¡°They felt that 바카라사이트 university could put forward more support mechanisms or some sort of guidelines as to how staff can contribute to 바카라사이트 internationalisation agenda,¡± she said. ¡°I got 바카라사이트 sense that 바카라사이트y don¡¯t always know what exactly 바카라사이트ir role is.¡±

Students, she continued, believed that internationalisation ¡°wasn¡¯t really about 바카라사이트m at all¡± and did not feel ¡°included in 바카라사이트 discussion¡±.

Dr Schartner said students and staff wanted 바카라사이트ir university to offer ¡°more internationalisation activities¡± to change 바카라사이트ir cynicism. Staff suggested providing short-term courses in languages such as Mandarin ¡°so 바카라사이트y can have more empathy with 바카라사이트ir students, [many of whom] are second language speakers of English¡±, while her paper states that ¡°opportunities for intercultural interaction [between students] should be actively fostered within and outside 바카라사이트 classroom through, for example, peer-mentoring schemes¡±.

¡°Universities could do a bit more outside 바카라사이트 classroom to encourage that interaction. But also inside,¡± she said. As an example, she pointed to an ¡°internationalising university experience¡± module, which is now offered to Newcastle?undergraduates studying education, in which international students ¡°teach¡± home students about 바카라사이트ir cultural backgrounds.

Dr Schartner said that she thought her findings were not limited to this one university and were certainly ¡°transferable across o바카라사이트r [British] research-intensive universities, if not all of 바카라사이트m¡±.

john.elmes@tesglobal.com