International Educational Experience Research Articles

A Tale of Two Kindergartens: New Zealand and the United States

Cultural exchange among nations and peoples cultivates empathy, knowledge sharing, and global thinking. However, we must always keep in mind the diverse history, demographics, cultural mores, and attitudes that affect national and local policies, routines, and interpersonal interactions. Knowledge sharing among pre- and inservice teachers in different cultures can broaden viewpoints and influence classroom management and teaching and learning strategies. As we make our way through the 21st century, global citizenship becomes increasingly important for the leaders of tomorrow. All teachers should be prepared to equip students for living and working in a globalized world and facing the complex challenges of inequality, climate change, rapid urbanization, and more. This article describes an international student teaching experience.

Development of international clinical education experiences for doctor of physical therapy students in the United States

Development of international clinical education experiences for doctor of physical therapy students in the United States

Up in the air: an examination of the work–life balance of fly-in–fly-out academics

There is a dearth of research on the work–life balance experiences of academics who undertake short-term international teaching assignments. Academics who teach offshore are also accountable for onshore activities including lecturing, research, supervision of higher degree students, mentoring, publishing and administrative obligations inter alia. These responsibilities pose further challenges to work and life. Within the context of a qualitative design, 11 academics were interviewed in depth regarding their short-term international teaching experiences. Specific issues relating to family separation, excessive work hours, poor assignment planning and lack of organisational recognition were identified. Findings have important implications for academics, and university policy and practice.

Practice, problems and power in ‘internationalisation at home’: critical reflections on recent research evidence

In a period when international flows of higher education students are rapidly increasing and diversifying, this paper reviews recent research evidence about the experiences of ‘home’ students – those who are not mobile and study in their home nation. This is situated within the concept of ‘internationalisation at home’, which asserts that these students should also receive an international educational experience: through interaction with international students, curriculum development and new pedagogic approaches. However, the evidence to date suggests that this is considerably more problematic than might be imagined. For example, home students across the world are often found to resist intercultural group work and generally to avoid contact with their international peers, leading to concerns about unequal access to transformative experiences and powerful knowledge. The conflict between ‘global worker’ and ‘global citizen’ approaches to internationalisation is discussed, as well as the increasingly hegemonic role of English.

Becoming interculturally competent: Theory to practice in international education

Education abroad students are generally expected to return home with enhanced intercultural competence; however, recent research reveals that many do not fully benefit from their stay in the host environment and experience little or no gains in intercultural sensitivity. What steps can be taken to help achieve the intercultural aims of international educational experience? This article centres on an elective, credit-bearing course that was inspired by my education abroad research. Intercultural Transitions: Making Sense of International Experience has been designed to enrich and extend the intercultural learning of undergraduates with recent or current international experience. This credit-bearing course draws on multiple theories: the Intercultural Development Continuum/the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, Kolb's experiential learning model, poststructuralist notions of identity change, transformative adult education theory, and the intergroup contact hypothesis. This article describes the course and the lessons learned from multiple offerings. Content analyses of the qualitative data (e.g., reflective essays, Forum chats, open-ended surveys, interview transcripts) generally mirrored the results of the pre- and post-administrations of the Intercultural Development Inventor (IDI), a psychometric instrument that measures intercultural competence, suggesting that this form of intervention helps propel students to higher levels of intercultural competence. The results underscore the benefits of designing a research-driven, learner-centred curriculum to enhance interaction between local and international students, and scaffold deeper intellectual consolidation and integration of intercultural learning. While developed and offered in an Asian setting, similar courses could be implemented in other settings to enhance the intercultural competence of both local and international students.

Teaching Business Classes Abroad: How International Experience Benefits Faculty, Students, and Institutions

International educational experiences can provide benefits for faculty members as well as higher education institutions and their students. The opportunity to lecture and conduct research with colleagues at universities in other countries can foster the globalization or internationalization of academic teaching, the advancement of knowledge, and cooperation among institutions. Research has shown that the experience abroad helps educators to gain a more global perspective that will enhance business classes. This article will show that a Fulbright experience abroad helps faculty to lead business students to be more knowledgeable and aware of international issues and global concerns.

The Soliya Connect Program: Two Institutions' Experience with Virtual Intercultural Communication

In 2012, Georgia College and Kennesaw State University partnered with Soliya, a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization, to bring their students a unique international education experience: the opportunity to engage “virtually” in dialogue, via video-conferencing technology, with students around the world about Islam and the relationship between Western countries and Muslim-majority countries. In this article, the authors compare their respective approaches, examining course objectives, student learning outcomes, course structure, students’ experience with Soliya, and student learning outcomes assessment. The authors conclude with some observations about Soliya and, by implication, other virtual international education experiences as alternatives and/or complements to traditional study-abroad programs in educating globally competent students and citizens.

Educational Simulation in Construction Project Financial Risks Management

Construction sector is vulnerable to economic changes, especially during recession periods due to the high capital outlays, cost flexibility and high competition limiting the price. The changes of the business environment, often associated with shortage of funds, exchange rate fluctuation and political instability increase the construction projects financial risks. In this context, the application of structured approaches related to the financial planning, scheduling and monitoring of the projects is even more important. In order to execute these processes, the project managers should have the necessary competences. The development of financial management competencies cannot be achieved into the classical educational settings, by using common methods of knowledge transfer. Instead, the project financial management should be taught in active and experiential ways, stimulating students to think creatively and to act properly as project managers. Education simulations are very valuable in this regards.The paper presents the experience gained in the master program of Project Management in Construction held in the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest. Based on the main international project management competence standards and relevant educational experiences, the authors designed a simulation platform. The paper presents the architecture and functionality of this platform. A simulation scenario is presented as a case study.

TMT international orientation and firm internationalisation: evidence from Italy

Several studies have highlighted a significant relationship between the degree of international orientation of a firm's Top Management Team (TMT) and the firm's international development. Previous analyses on this issue have been conducted using samples of firms from countries (such as the UK, USA and Switzerland) whose national culture is characterised by a low degree of uncertainty avoidance (UA). The purpose of this paper is to extend the available knowledge to include firms operating in cultures with a high degree of UA, and which may perceive the internationalisation process as a threat. Four hypotheses are suggested and tested using data from the Italian firms listed on the Italian Stock Exchange - FTSE MIB index. Our findings show that the national diversity of TMT members is positively related to firm internationalisation. Moreover, the international working experience and international educational experience of TMT members are important, but only when they are combined.

Confidence development in non-music specialist trainee primary teachers after an intensive programme

The issue of music teacher training for primary generalist teachers is shared by many countries in the world. We know from a range of studies which factors contribute to teachers’ abilities and confidence, but there are fewer studies that document the possible training approaches and interventions that might improve the outcomes. This article describes an international educational experience addressed to 23 trainee primary teachers coming from Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovenia. The Intensive Programme1 called ‘International Summer School in Educating Music Teachers’ (ISSEMT) was offered at Padova University, Italy with the purpose of fostering confidence and competences among trainee generalist teachers for teaching music in the primary school. In planning the didactic approach of the ISSEMT, methods designed to enhance participants’ understandings of teaching creatively and teaching for creativity were adopted. The entire educational activity was evaluated by students using questionnaires and discussion. In addition, a follow-up interview was conducted with students after two years and five months, at the end of the ISSEMT. Students refer to the improvement of confidence in teaching music and the application of a creative approach. They appreciated the approach, the practical teaching ideas and the way the course closely related to their educational needs. These results are discussed in the framework of confidence development of the generalist teacher in the primary school for teaching music. The key factors that contributed to the effectiveness of the ISSEMT are also discussed.

The Formation of Students’ National Self-Awareness in EFL Class

In the epoch of globalization it is urgently important to draw attention to the problem of the formation of national self-awareness of school students. Numerous researches in the Russian Federation show that there is a tendency of cultural level decreasing, according to which a great many school students are not aware not only of the world's cultural heritage, but have a vague idea of their own (national) culture. The authors examine the role of foreign languages learning in the formation of national self-awareness of students in High schools. Language, as it is, reflects the culture and history of the nation. Therefore it can be declared a unique source in the process of national self-awareness formation of school students. The cross-cultural approach and the cross-cultural comparative approach in teaching EFL let both, teachers and students, consider human problems from the standpoint of two or more cultures that contribute to the comparative-contrastive analysis of native culture phenomena and compare the native culture with the culture of the target language. Drawing on literature of teaching and learning EFL, multicultural studies, as well as personal international teaching and learning experience, the authors examine the teaching and learning techniques focused on these approaches and present the authentic model of the formation of students’ national self-awareness based on the integration of teaching the language and local lore in EFL classes. The paper discusses issues and practices of the studied model and offers general recommendations for High schools faculty.

Teaching Expatriate Adaptation While Dealing With Reality: The Impact of a Tragedy on the Study-Abroad Experience

This paper explores the relevance of the accepted U-shaped models of expatriate adaptation to students engaged in an international educational experience when they are faced with a tragedy. In this study-abroad course, an examination of the existing adaptation models and how they provide a set of expectations for the process of cultural adjustment is presented as course material. During a particular four-week summer program, one of the nineteen students who went abroad died in an accident at the end of the first week. It became clear after the tragedy that the models studied failed to explain the impact of a personal tragedy of this magnitude on the students’ adjustment process. This unfortunate event provided an opportunity to conduct a quasi-experiment to consider the impact of personal tragedy for students to question a body of research through their own personal experience and for scholars to re-examine and update the existing models.

Comparison of U.S. and Chinese pharmacy education programs

Pharmacy students at the University of Kentucky (UK) are required to complete 10 one-month rotations during the final year of pharmacy school. In 2007, the college’s first director for international professional student education started to increase opportunities for international and multicultural educational experiences for UK pharmacy students, with the hope of offering students a broader perspective of health care.1 At Peking University Third Hospital (PUTH)––a practice site for pharmacy students from Peking University—the director of the department of pharmacy also wanted to provide students with multicultural educational experiences. To this end, a contract between UK and PUTH was signed, and PUTH started to receive students from UK in 2008. Since the implementation of this program, a total of 13 international pharmacy students finished their rotation at PUTH and 1 pharmacy student from PUTH finished her rotation at UK. In this program, pharmacy students from UK or PUTH are responsible for their transportation costs and daily costs during their stay; no additional tuition is required.

In Reply to Ventres

I thank Dr. Ventres for his comments on my recent commentary. In particular, I appreciate his point that it is not only trainees and students who benefit from comprehensive ethical guidelines in international health service, but also practicing physicians, who might be tempted to practice outside their specialty or beyond their regular capabilities. As outlined in my commentary, it is my point of view that an overemphasis on the service aspects of such work contributes to the risk that short-term health interventions in underresourced countries may do more harm than good. Sustainability, which should be a primary concern of any intervention,1 may become an afterthought if visiting learners and physicians calculate the benefit of short-term international educational experiences according to procedures conducted or medicines distributed during their stay. Visitors should instead give serious consideration to the costs of their visit in terms of the potential undermining of local infrastructure and negative outcomes in the community due to lack of follow-up, both of which are indicators that are likely to be visible only after the visitors have packed up and gone home.2 Dr. Ventres writes eloquently of humility, echoing my concern that the pride one may feel in having “served” risks blinding visitors to the benefits that they themselves seek or obtain from the experience.3 Roberts points out that a better framework for evaluating ethical conduct in service, including outreach, may be found in guidelines governing clinical trials,3 whereby the burden rests on the researcher to document, even when some benefit to participants is evident, that the harm to those “served” does not exceed those benefits and that due diligence has been taken to protect their interests.

International academic careers: personal reflections

University business schools are increasingly adopting an international outlook as they compete for students who are aiming for global careers. A natural consequence of university internationalization is the need to internationalize the academic workforce, resulting in increasing attention on, and recognition for, the academic with international teaching and research experience. Yet the effort and complexity involved in making an international academic transition is often overlooked. Academic institutions' efforts to recruit international academics often outpace their expertise and support in the inpatriation and orientation processes. Academics interested in international mobility may find it difficult to obtain helpful information prior to arrival in the new country and encounter problems in adjusting to their new job and surroundings. This paper presents personal experiences of a select group of academics who have moved between countries. Their reports illustrate differences in teaching loads, language, student behavior, recruitment and career-ladder issues across countries, as well as strategies they have used to adapt to their new surroundings.

Realigning capital portfolios: international students' educational experiences in higher education

This paper reports on first year experiences of international students who use English as an additional language (EAL) in higher education in Australia. It examines how valued resources can foster a positive educational experience of these students from sociological perspectives. It draws data from an interview study, exploring narrative accounts of 17 EAL international students from nine countries about their educational relations and strategies across their first year of study. Their narratives were analysed through Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus, capital and legitimation, as well as tools of narrative inquiry. The paper finds that the students took up strategies to realign their capital portfolios with new rules of the game. Their decisions were dependent on their personal trajectories and conditions on offer. This paper suggests that more effort needs to be made to understand international students' differentiated access to valued resources in higher education.

Academic Experience of International Students on Scholarships in Malaysian Universities: The Case of A Private University College

The rate at which most organizations and institutions of learning offer scholarship and grant to attract international students is becoming competitive among citizens of the developing nations who seek to gain international education experience for better career opportunities and educational development. At present, Malaysia is fast becoming an educational centre for international students as the country has set a target by year 2020 to attract 200,000 international students from Africa, Asia and the Middle East and other continents of the world. It then becomes imperative to investigate the readiness of the country in terms of the provisions in place for achieving this laudable goal. It is with this intent that this study investigates the academic experience of international students on scholarships in Malaysian Universities. An in-depth interview was conducted among a group of international students in Malaysia with a particular focus on Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) scholarship recipients studying at a Private University College. The study revealed that, the scholars are generally satisfied and able to cope with the classroom teaching as well as academic huddles at Linton University College (LUC) while adapting to host challenges. They are able to comply with renewal of students’ visa regulations in Malaysia. This study suggested among other things, an initiative such as recommendation to improve international student academic experience studying in Malaysian Universities with an effort to enhance their academic performance and career opportunities, when the scholars returned to their respective countries.

Identifying Best Practices for Engaging Faculty in International Agricultural Education Experiences

Universities are being called upon to internationalize curriculum as the need for a globally competent workforce increases. Without globally-competent faculty, international integration within higher education cannot occur. Literature indicates that participation in short-term international agricultural education experiences is important to increasing agricultural faculty members’ cultural awareness. However, the best way to design and implement such experiences for faculty is uncharted. The purpose of the study was to identify best practices for facilitating a short-term international agricultural education experience for faculty in the agricultural and life sciences that encouraged learning, discussion, and reflection leading faculty to further integrate international perspectives in their agricultural courses in the U.S. Through a qualitative research design, reflective observations and statements from a planning team conducting a shortterm international agricultural education experience in Ecuador were used to provide a thick, rich description of the successes/challenges faced while designing and implementing the experience. The results provided a list of best practices future planning team members can use to emphasize learning before, during, and after a short-term international agricultural education experience for faculty.

The Location of Refugee Female Teachers in the Canadian Context: “Not Just a Refugee Woman!”


 
 
 This paper explores intersectionality of oppression and social agency in refugee narratives of four female teachers from Yugoslavia who immigrated to Ontario and Quebec between 1994 and 1998. These narratives reveal a number of systemic barriers participants encountered in their new country, such as lack of coordination between immigra- tion and settlement services, lack of information about the teacher recertification process, systemic ignorance towards international teaching credentials and experiences, and a number of settlement practices that pushed the partici- pating women teachers to the margins of the Canadian educational system. In addition to reporting a number of systemic barriers to teaching, these women also revealed self-imposed psychological and culturally constructed barriers to settlement such as personal perceptions of having limited language competencies, of being “too old” to continue education, and of remaining permanent outsiders to Canadian ways of being. Women also discussed their choices and priorities in terms of their personal and professional lives and the ways in which these preferences facilitated and/or hindered their integration in the Canadian education system and society. The paper challenges the master narrative of refugeehood in Canada by exposing the ways in which race, class, gender, age, ethnicity, and professional identity, in addition to refugeehood, shape the oppression and the privilege of refugee women in the Canadian context. 
 
 

A “research” into international student-related research: (Re)Visualising our stand?

This paper uses Tight (High Educ Res Dev 23(4):395–411, 2004; High Educ Res Dev 31(5):723–740, 2012; High Educ Res Dev 32(1):136–151, 2013)’s journal analysis and review framework to review a sample of 497 journal articles on researches concerning international students over the past 30 years. It was found that a majority of the articles focus on the students’ in-campus, academic and social experience. Even with different conceptualisation of the terms “international student” and “international student mobility”, international students undergo similar challenges throughout their sojourn duration, and much of the responsibilities in managing international students fall on universities and respective faculty members within the institutions. It might seem as if we are going in circles in terms of the issues and concerns in managing international students, but the silver lining out of this observation is the increased ethnical awareness among countries and higher education institutions in hosting and safeguarding the students throughout their international higher education experience, albeit rather slowly. The analysis brings to attention how much have we achieved in internationalisation of higher education in general and international student-related research in particular, and the potential for greater expansion and focus on managing the student population within a comprehensive “life cycle” approach.