Vol. 21 No. 04 (2024): Internationalisation of Higher Education at Home: Implications for an Evolving World

China is often seen as a home country of international students in higher education internationalisation. Little is known how Chinese institutions actively engage in multi-modal and multi-lateral internationalised practices. This paper

China is often seen as a home country of international students in higher education internationalisation. Little is known how Chinese institutions actively engage in multi-modal and multi-lateral internationalised practices. This paper offers an updated insight of higher education internationalisation in a context outside the dominant western landscape through a case study set in an international college in China. Making use of the existing frameworks of internationalisation of the curriculum (IoC), the current case study focuses on three key aspects of the curriculum: program development, student experience and staff perspectives. A mixed-method approach was used to collect data from three sources: institutional archives and course materials, and student and staff surveys. Triangulated data show that the curriculum was well aligned within the existing IoC frameworks. The curriculum incorporated international content and comparative approaches. Local socio-cultural values were also embedded in joint programs. Both students and academics’ perspectives of an internationalised curriculum showed a high level of alignment with the western community. Student and staff data also revealed urgent need to enhance the level of internationalisation, including English competence of discipline academics, people-to-people connection between local Chinese students and incoming international students, student and staff mobility opportunities, and teaching and research development for academic staff. This study hopes to contribute to the current knowledge of internationalisation of the curriculum with updated understanding in a Chinese context. This paper also provides insight in internationalisation implemented at the curriculum level in China, a context that presents much difference from but relates closely with the western context.

In an increasingly globalised world approaches to internationalisation continue to evolve within the education sector. Calls to reframe how higher education approaches internationalisation are clearly noted in the literature. Additionally

In an increasingly globalised world approaches to internationalisation continue to evolve within the education sector. Calls to reframe how higher education approaches internationalisation are clearly noted in the literature. Additionally, most education institutions have adopted mission statements promising to produce graduates with the capacity to work successfully across international borders and cultures. This means creating students who are interculturally competent and capable of interacting effectively in a range of contexts. However, in the current global climate, a host of challenges have presented obstacles for moving the well-intentioned internationalisation agenda forward, and in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, many Australian higher education institutions have been left questioning how internationalisation-at-home can best be achieved, if at all. This paper presents findings from a purpose- built internationalisation-at-home program piloted at a regional Australian university. A mixed group of domestic and international students participated in this program, founded on dialogic forums designed to promote intercultural interactions. This paper reports on shifts found in participants’ knowledge, attitude, and skill development, all framed as vital for intercultural competence to flourish. The importance of adopting a dialogic approach to stimulate intercultural competence development in students was key to the success of the internationalisation-at-home initiative. Embracing dialogic interaction as a teaching and learning pedagogy is presented as one way to promote internationalisation as we grapple to move the internationalisation agenda forward in a much-changed higher education arena.

In this new era of multiploidization, economic globalization, and cultural diversification, countries are actively advocating the joint construction of a community of shared futures for mankind. This value has led countries pay more

In this new era of multiploidization, economic globalization, and cultural diversification, countries are actively advocating the joint construction of a community of shared futures for mankind. This value has led countries pay more attention on global competence (GC). To nurture GC, different higher education institutions have been in action. The nine Sino-foreign cooperative universities (SFCUs) have made outstanding achievements in the cultivation of international talents. However, few studies have assessed how these SFCUs correspond to GC. Therefore, qualitative content analysis was conducted to identify talent cultivation in SFCUs by analyzing the objectives and curriculum documents collected from the websites of these universities. Firstly, the five representative indicator systems were summarised based on the logic of modular elements, subject-object relationships, and action procedures and 20 operational indicators. Second, the objectives of SFCUs were compared to the GC indicators and found to be highly aligned with GC. Finally, the curricula were organized into language courses, literacy courses, and applied courses, which aligned with 20 indicators of GC, reflecting the cultivation of various aspects such as students' global thinking, knowledge of the world's humanities, adaptability, creativity, leadership, respect for cultural diversity, and concern for cultural diversity. This indicator system can support the global competence cultivation of universities in China, creating better alignment with global competence indicators. The results of the study on nine SFCUs can help us understand the current status of global competence in talent cultivation of these universities, and provide recommendation for SFCUs to optimise their talent cultivation strategies.

There is a scarcity of audiological training programs in low-and middle-income settings. We aimed to co-develop an audiology training program combining on-site and tele-education at two locations: a charity hospital in Cambodia and a

There is a scarcity of audiological training programs in low-and middle-income settings. We aimed to co-develop an audiology training program combining on-site and tele-education at two locations: a charity hospital in Cambodia and a government hospital in Bangladesh. A novel program was designed to train local staff in pure tone audiometry which forms the basis of hearing assessment in adults. Prior to training, there were no in-house audiology services for patients. A combined short bespoke in-country training program, followed by ongoing support through remote live education enabled an audiometry set up. The model also consisted of continuing quality assurance during audiological assessments via an internet platform. The programs have allowed for successful training of seven local health care workers in Cambodia and two in Bangladesh, providing accurate hearing testing of adult patients, with associated streamlining of patient referral pathways. Trainee performance in both contexts has been positive. In Cambodia, trainees exhibit highly proficient audiological skills and assess over 1000 patients annually. In Bangladesh, trainees have gained competency in hearing screening. On-site training followed by remote support allowed for a low-cost model for audiological training. Critical to success was the motivation, trust and engagement of local staff, availability of equipment, and flexibility in teaching style. The program has proven a model of training health care workers in hearing assessments. An additional outcome of this cross-cultural collaboration has been the internationalisation of higher education at home.

Equity in assessment has been a major issue plaguing the higher education sector for a long time and although efforts have been made to implement a variety of assessments to address this issue, the assessment design tends to ignore the

Equity in assessment has been a major issue plaguing the higher education sector for a long time and although efforts have been made to implement a variety of assessments to address this issue, the assessment design tends to ignore the increasingly diverse student population. This article assesses the equity of Interactive Oral Assessments (IOAs) based on the principles of the McCES framework: match, comprehensible, challenge, elicit, and scaffold. Accordingly, the process of designing and administering IOAs is compared with each of the five principles and shows that the assessment environment for students from equity backgrounds is significantly improved. To do this, the data collected from teaching staff and students from a two-year mixed methods research project at a regional university in Australia is used to evaluate the claim. The findings demonstrate that IOAs offer an opportunity to assess students’ learning and clarify their ability to achieve learning outcomes which aligns with the McCES framework; therefore, it is argued that IOAs are an equitable assessment approach. The implications of the findings for academics, students, and educational institutions are significant. For academics, they can be confident that their assessment approach is equitable. For non-traditional students, the chances of succeeding in assessments and improvement in learning are enhanced. For educational institutions, a direct impact on reducing the gap between the performance of mainstream students and non-traditional students in relation to retention, attrition, and successful completions is expected.

This paper showcases a partnership between students, and an academic to develop new and review existing learning resources in a second-year physiology subject “Systems Physiology” offered at Deakin University in Australia, from the

This paper showcases a partnership between students, and an academic to develop new and review existing learning resources in a second-year physiology subject “Systems Physiology” offered at Deakin University in Australia, from the perspective of both of students and the teaching staff. All involved participated in a collaborative, student lead project; it was a reciprocal process where all members contributed, in their own unique way to evaluate, design, create and implement an online activity to enhance the understanding of a concept, in this case cardiovascular physiology (both theoretical and practical aspects). This type of partnership encourages critical reflection and opens a door to new ways of learning and teaching in Higher Education. We propose that Students As Partners project could be designed to specially meet an Internationalisation at Home experience for both domestic and international students at Deakin University tapping into the diverse pool of experiences and skills that our current students already bring to the curriculum.

The conceptualisation of internationalisation of the curriculum has evolved over the last 30 years. Simultaneously, its contextual foundation has also gradually shifted from being Euro-centric to encompass a broader landscape beyond the

The conceptualisation of internationalisation of the curriculum has evolved over the last 30 years. Simultaneously, its contextual foundation has also gradually shifted from being Euro-centric to encompass a broader landscape beyond the Western domain. Therefore, understanding of Internationalisation of the curriculum needs to include practices in these contexts. This special issue hence has invited researchers and practitioners in the field of higher education internationalisation to participate in this conversation. The focus of the discussion is on emerging and alternative understanding and practices of internationalising the curriculum which include incorporating local cultural values and perspectives in the curriculum. This Special Issue features articles that firmly situate the Internationalisation of teaching, learning, and the curriculum in their specific contexts and acknowledge the influence of important contextual factors on the motivations, processes, and outcomes of internationalisation. Closely associated with taking an inclusive lens in understanding internationalisation of the curriculum, we also discuss the inclusivity of communicating research in this field. Specifically, we discuss the challenges encountered by scholars working outside the English-speaking domain to communicate their research with English-speaking research communities. We hence call for support for international academics from the publication outlets. We hope that this Special Issue constitutes a step towards a more diverse and inclusive scholarship in the field of internationalisation in higher education.

A globalised world brings diversity into the classroom and internationalisation to higher education, where intercultural competence comes to the fore. Accommodating interculturality, however, extends beyond the international student cohort

A globalised world brings diversity into the classroom and internationalisation to higher education, where intercultural competence comes to the fore. Accommodating interculturality, however, extends beyond the international student cohort and includes heterogeneous domestic cultures, including Indigenous cultures. In the Australian context, historically Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have experienced limited access to culturally appropriate health, social and educational services. Accordingly, higher education institutions can be vehicles of change in this regard. More specifically, just as many higher education providers have moved towards internationalised curriculum, there is increasing evidence and intention to introduce Indigenised curriculum where respective educators delivering indigenised curricula need to be culturally competent. Institutions therefore, are offering cultural training programs for educators delivering Indigenised curricula, where recognition of Indigenous cultural competence amongst educators would be useful. Yet, the review presented in this paper demonstrates a gap in literature regarding measurement of cultural and intercultural competence in the context of Australian higher education. To that end, an instrument specifically designed to measure educator intercultural competence in Australia as related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is proposed. This instrument will enable higher education institutions to document educator Indigenous cultural competence, demonstrate the intercultural skills of their educational staff and continuously improve intercultural competency within the institution.

A search began in 2008 to identify a theoretical wellbeing model with the capacity to underpin holistic student supports for a cohort of Indigenous and Pacific Island students in order to support their achievement, and equity aspirations

A search began in 2008 to identify a theoretical wellbeing model with the capacity to underpin holistic student supports for a cohort of Indigenous and Pacific Island students in order to support their achievement, and equity aspirations. An initial literature review found evidence-based wellbeing definitions, and models related to higher education students to be highly variable. A long term programme of research was implemented to build a robust philosophical, theoretical, research, and use inspired practice base to measurably enhance the inclusion and holistic wellbeing of all students in higher education settings. Post a nationally funded investigation into the effectiveness of an indigenous model in praxis, a more robust model was sought and investigated with more ethnically and culturally diverse international students, staff, and holistic wellbeing-pastoral care practitioners. The methods selected to comprehensively answer the questions posed included a programme of themed literature review, theoretical model analysis and evaluation, plus use inspired theoretical and practice research. Findings from the second funded investigation led to the emergence, and creation of new, indigenously based but internationally responsive Universal Wellbeing Model (UWM), and new ‘researchable’ definition of wellbeing. The emerging UWM, and a new definition of wellbeing, were strongly contributed to by international participants perspectives. The implications for the practice of higher education sector leaders, staff, professional wellbeing and pastoral care practitioners, and policy makers are far reaching. The UWM is capable of underpinning policy, planning, wellbeing and pastoral care practice, and supportive cross organisational systems in institutions seeking to measurably enhance wellbeing outcomes.