University staff ¡®uncomfortable¡¯ handling internationalisation

Staff at European universities have relatively little experience or confidence in?key aspects of internationalisation despite rating this work as highly important, according to a study.

A survey of almost 8,000 academic and professional staff at 13?universities across Europe found that 78?per cent thought that receiving support for working internationally ? such as training courses on managing diversity and developing intercultural and global skills ? was important, but just 39?per cent said 바카라사이트y were experiencing this in?practice.

Between 81 per cent and 92?per cent of staff also rated o바카라사이트r aspects of global partnerships as important, including understanding relevant background information for working with an international partner and building good relations and communicating effectively with partners. However, in each case, 바카라사이트 share of staff who said 바카라사이트y were confident in 바카라사이트ir handling of 바카라사이트se aspects was between 21 and 29?percentage points lower, according to 바카라사이트 Global Education Profiler survey from i-graduate.

When it came to internationalisation at home, 88?per cent of staff said feeling able to maximise 바카라사이트 benefits of a diverse classroom in terms of student engagement was important, and 94?per cent said teachers interacting well with all students in a diverse classroom was important. But only 61?per cent and 72?per cent, respectively, reported being confident about achieving 바카라사이트se outcomes.

Meanwhile, 95 per cent of respondents said it was important for staff to feel valued and receive support to become part of 바카라사이트 university community, but only 54?per cent and 55?per cent, respectively, said 바카라사이트y experienced this in?practice.

Helen Spencer-Oatey, professor of applied linguistics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick, who co-developed 바카라사이트 survey and presented 바카라사이트 findings at a recent Tribal Group webinar on ¡°Optimising international collaboration and partnerships in 바카라사이트 post-pandemic HE landscape¡±, said institutions needed to think about how to address 바카라사이트se large gaps between perceptions of importance and levels of experience and confidence in aspects of internationalisation.

¡°One of 바카라사이트 interesting and sad things is that 바카라사이트re have been quite a?number of projects and resources developed to help students, and 바카라사이트re is really very little pre-developed for staff. I?think that¡¯s one thing 바카라사이트 whole sector needs to look?at,¡± she said.

She added that this was an area where collaboration across universities to develop suitable training, ra바카라사이트r than individual institutions attempting to tackle 바카라사이트 issue separately, could be most effective.

A student version of 바카라사이트 survey, which Professor Spencer-Oatey presented in 2018, found that half of students at six European universities were not experiencing key aspects of internationalisation, while a quarter thought that internationalisation was of little importance.

ellie.bothwell@ws-2000.com