International Master's Program Research Articles

Characteristics of Engagement and Persistence of Teachers in an Innovative Master Programme Focused on the “One Health” Concept: A Qualitative Study

We aimed to describe the characteristics of teachers’ engagement and persistence in an innovative multidisciplinary health programme. Participants in this descriptive and comprehensive study consisted of teachers in higher education (veterinary medicine, human medicine, pharmacy, engineers in husbandry) who were involved in the conception and the implementation of an international Master programme called MAN-IMAL. This programme was characterized by interculturality, multidisciplinarity, using technology, active teaching, and learning. We conducted two focus groups, each of which included six participants. A thematic analysis was performed. The constitution of a community of practice through a process of socialization involving teachers, students, and faculty developers around the “One Health” concept had a positive influence on the engagement and the persistence. On the contrary, a lack of leadership sharing in the programme and a lack of recognition by institutional leaders had a negative effect on persistence. Also, the characteristics of the programme had different impacts on stress perceived by the teachers and, therefore, could have both a negative and/or a positive influence on persistence. Our results suggest that the development of a community of practice in an innovative multidisciplinary health programme around a unifying concept like “One Health” can have a positive influence on teachers’ engagement and persistence, even in a challenging context.

Integrating Digital and Manual Modes of Design

This study describes a teaching experience that aims to combine application-oriented approaches to computational design pedagogy. In the scope of this study, a hybrid framework is presented, which allows students to transition from manual to digital modes of design. In this transition, parametric thinking and design are selected as a mediator. This hybrid framework is being tested in an elective course of an international master's program in interior design. Columns are selected as the architectural elements for parametric design and experimental production. An "exhibition" is chosen to complete the design, production and assembly tasks. Preliminary exercises and three main assignments guide the process. The three assignments are organized as follows: parametric design and modeling of a single column (Assignment 1-Digital), parametric design and modeling of a family of columns (Assignment 2-Digital), the materialization of an individual column and a family of columns using 3D printers (Assignment 1 and 2-Digital+Manual), and designing the exhibition for displaying columns (Assignment 3-Digital+Manual), producing and setting up the exhibition (Assignment 3-Manual). The experiment with a hybrid framework shows that parametric design (digital) modes that students were unfamiliar with were integrated into the process of developing parametric columns, while exhibiting designed products using their existing skill sets (manual modes). The participants' inability to fully illustrate their technical knowledge of parametric design and digital fabrication in a single course, and the lack of tools and materials to facilitate 1:1 scale digital fabrication have emerged as the major limitations of the teaching experience.

Developing experimental skills: A hands-on course in acoustical measurement techniques at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology

The course "Acoustical Measurement Techniques TTT4250," offered by the Acoustics Group at the Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, is a fourth-year course in the specialization of acoustics in the five-year master program "Electronics Systems Design and Innovation" or MTELSYS, and the two-year international master program "Electronic Systems Design" or MSELSYS. It is one of the four required courses for MTELSYS and one of the two required courses for MSELSYS. It offers a hands-on approach to acoustics. This paper outlines the topics covered in this course and the involvement of several academic staff members, as well as invited industry and research institute guest speakers, as teachers. The assessment of laboratory reports is described, and general lecture topics, including measurement uncertainty and statistics, the introduction of standards, and programming, are also described. All aspects of the course aim to maximize students' experience with a broad range of acoustic measurements and their interest in acoustics.

Development of a competence ecosystem for the future space workforce: strategies, practices and recommendations from international master programs in northern Sweden

Requirements from the global labor market have substantially changed in recent years. Graduate and post-graduate students with excellent subject knowledge, deep understanding of modern working methods, technical and higher-order thinking, engineering intuition and problem-solving skills are in great demand. They should also have professional skills such as well-developed abilities in communication and teamwork, usually in an international work environment. This review discusses the advantages of multidisciplinary study environment, educational strategies such as student-oriented teaching, project-based learning with its applicability to a “real-world” setting, active learning techniques, development of entrepreneurial skills, lessons learned and best practices from the international Master Program in Spacecraft Design and the Joint Master Program in Space Science and Technology – SpaceMaster at Luleå University of Technology in northern Sweden. The importance of complementarity between formal, informal and non-formal learning methods for science and engineering students has been specifically highlighted. Connections to the world of work, through active industry involvement in the education in a systematic way, e.g. External Advisory Board, shared services and facilities, joint projects and supervision of Master and PhD students, is recognised as a key success factor for professional training. A structural combination of modern pedagogical tools, strategic partnership with industry, business entities, academic partners and up-to-date multidisciplinary labs creates the conceptual framework for a Competence Ecosystem for fostering a new generation of space scientists and engineers.

Learning and Students’ Experiences with Blended Education

The article presents the outcomes of the research project supported by Linköping University, Sweden. The research project constitutes a part of an umbrella project called Pedagogiska Utvecklingsmedel för E-lärande 2019 (Pedagogical Development Tools for E-learning 2019). The research project focuses on the International Master's Program “Gender Studies - Intersectionality and Change” offered at the Unit of Gender Studies, Department of Thematic Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Linköping University, Sweden. The main aims of the research project are to determine which teaching content, teaching methods, learning activities, teacher’s role, and students’ own strategies matter for learning i.e., for acquiring knowledge and skills/competences in an international blended, face-to-face and online, Master’s Program, and to present students’ experiences with face-to-face and online education in the Program. The project is based on qualitative, semi-structured interviews with the 2nd year students and alumni who have participated in the Program. The interviews were conducted online in November and December 2019. The article presents which content, teaching methods, learning activities, teacher’s role, and students’ own strategies matter for the acquirement of knowledge and skills by the students in blended education. It describes how Campus and online phases of the Program matter for students’ learning. Next to that, it indicates the challenges related to online study, but also educational methods that may help to overcome them.

Paradigm shifts in northern art, community and environment studies for art teacher education

In Northern Finland, where this study takes place, nature is a typical setting for recreational activities and employment. At the University of Lapland, attention has been given to art teacher education that supports the continuation of the Northern ecoculture and enhances human–nature connectedness. In this article, we discuss art, community and environmental (ACE) studies developed through international collaborations and joint, long-term action research based on the arts. These studies are part of art teacher training and an international master's degree programme in Arctic art and design. This article explains the paradigm changes that have impacted the aims and methods employed in ACE studies since the 1990s. The discussion is framed by a Western theoretical shift from environmental aesthetics to new materialism, post-humanism and decolonisation. We conclude that ACE projects can enhance revitalisation and increase capacities to retain cultural pride and local ecocultures. Art education that is carried out in a place-specific manner, in cooperation with local communities, is one way to keep traditions alive and foster environmentalism in the North. The article has international relevance for developing art teacher training in Arctic communities but also in other remote locations in which strong bonds between nature and culture are maintained. • Art-based environmental education in art teacher training has been implanted as environmental art and community art activities. • Many artists and art researchers endorse a post humanistic relationship with the environment challenging methods for art education. • Art education can help to release eco-anxiety and increase educators’ capacities in facilitating transformative experiences. • Art education in cooperation with local communities is one way to keep traditions alive and foster environmentalism in the North. • Art-based action research is a research strategy to develop art teacher training and art education methods.

Exploring student anxiety when starting in a joint international Master’s programme

ABSTRACT There are a handful of programmes in higher education that offer students a joint international study programme and research shows that students have certain levels of anxiety when starting studying in such graduate programmes. This study aimed to explore levels of student anxiety and investigates the prerequisite skills in order to better prepare students for studying in an international Master programme of Marine Biological Resources with 10 European campuses in seven countries. We applied mixed-methods including online questionnaires and interviews capturing student experiences and teachers’ perspectives. Results show that especially mature and non-native English-speaking students experience anxiety and that there is a high class-heterogeneity in terms of academic background and life experience. This may simultaneously act as a barrier for and enable learning. The presented results show a need to improve the student acculturation process in international programmes. This could be done by better communicating expectations and by providing resources for social, methodological, and pedagogical skills. More specific strategies are a) prerequisite courses that use quantitative measurements as the most significant causes of anxiety, b) educators to better state what a good practice of learning in their course is, c) mixing local and international students in courses i.e. groupwork or other class interactivity.

A Flipped Classroom Approach to Teaching Empirical Software Engineering

Contribution: A flipped classroom approach to teaching empirical software engineering increases student learning by providing more time for active learning in class. Background: There is a need for longitudinal studies of the flipped classroom approach in general. Although a few cross-sectional studies show that a flipped classroom approach can increase student learning by providing more time for other in-class activities, such as active learning, such studies are also rare in the context of teaching software engineering. Intended outcomes: To assess the usefulness of a flipped classroom approach in teaching software engineering. Application design: The study was conducted at an international Master's program in Sweden, given in English, and partially replicated at a university in Africa. Findings: The results suggest that students' academic success, as measured by their exam grades, can be improved by introducing a flipped classroom to teach software engineering topics, but this may not extend to their subjective liking of the material, as measured by student evaluations. Furthermore, the effect of the change in teaching methodology was not replicated when changing the teaching team.

If you can defend your own point of view, you're good: Norms of voice construction in student writing on an international Master's programme

This ethnographically oriented study followed the writing experiences of four students on an international masters programme in Finland. Gathering a range of data, the study set out to examine what counts as good writing on a programme with a very diverse student body in which English is used as a lingua franca. Both teachers and students emphasised the importance of arguing one's ‘own point of view’ in academic writing, and teachers often formed impressions of students on the basis of their texts, drawing attention particularly to their use of metadiscourse markers (e.g., self-mentions, attitude markers and hedges). The present article therefore combines a quantitative analysis of students' use of metadiscourse in their papers with qualitative analysis of the voice types they construed in their texts and the ways in which their practices were perceived. The analysis found that students' use of metadiscourse varied from text to text, and they construed strikingly different voice types in their writing. Based on interview and journal data, their practices seemed to be influenced by their experiences of the classroom and teacher, as well as their disciplinary backgrounds. Teachers seemed to prefer the voice of a detached cultural analyst, with fewer explicit expressions of the writer's stance. However, they also drew on their impressions of the individual student's learning and on images of cultural norms in interpreting their practices.

A new educational program in heart failure drug development: the Brescia international master program.

: Despite recent advances in chronic heart failure treatment, prognosis of acute heart failure patients remains poor with a heart failure rehospitalization rate or death reaching approximately 25% during the first 6 months after discharge. In addition, about half of these patients have preserved ejection fraction for which there are no evidence-based therapies. Disappointing results from heart failure clinical trials over the past 20 years emphasize the need for developing novel approaches and pathways for testing new heart failure drugs and devices. Indeed, many trials are being conducted without matching the mechanism and action of the drug with the clinical event. The implementation of these novel approaches should be coupled with the training of a new generation of heart failure physicians and scientists in the art and science of clinical trials. Currently, drug development is led by opinion leaders and experts who, despite their huge personal experience, were never trained systematically on drug development. The aim of this article is to propose a training program of 'drug development in Heart Failure'. A physician attending this course would have to be trained with a major emphasis on heart failure pathophysiology to better match mechanisms of death and rehospitalization with mechanism of action of the drug. Applicants will have to prove their qualifications and special interest in heart failure drug development before enrollment. This article should serve as a roadmap on how to apply emerging general principles in an innovative drug-development-in-heart-failure-process as well as the introduction of a new educational and mentorship program focusing on younger generations of researchers.

International Master Program as a Resource for Internationalization of Educational Environment

At present, all the spheres of life of the world society are under the influence of constant, continuous and intensive changes such as digitalization, automation of various types of human activities, as well as changing of value orientations, which requires a revision of the basic competencies of modern specialists able to work effectively in the conditions of the global market. In education there is a gap between the expectations of employers and the real competencies of graduates, between the dissatisfaction of graduates with the knowledge and skills acquired at the factory and the willingness of universities to respond to employers and students’ requests for the formation of competencies necessary for graduates. This article considers the issues connected with formation of a model of internationalization of educational environment of the Russian universities at the graduate level as well as the processes of the transformation of educational model. The characteristics of a modern global graduate who is able to live and work in the multicultural and multilingual society are considered in the article. An analysis of the national experience of graduate training in Russian research universities showed that now there is a lack of systematic and conscious use of the mechanisms of internationalization; as well as a deficit of scientific and pedagogical staff who are able to use and teach the students global competencies.

International Theatrical Educational Programs: Moscow Art Theatre School Experience

This paper presents research results regarding the creation, development, and implementation of the international theatrical educational programs organized by the Moscow Art Theatre School together with leading American universities: the first program carried out together with the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Centre; the first international Master's theatre program carried out together with Carnegie Mellon University; the international Master's theatre program, which is currently being carried out together with the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard University, and the short-term international theatrical educational program carried out together with Wayne State University in Detroit (Michigan). The results confirm the necessity of carrying out international theatrical educational programs for training foreign students which are facilitated by the ongoing rise in global student mobility.

A gestão centro-periferia na internacionalização de mestrados executivos

This article analyzes the process of internationalization of the International Masters Program for Managers (IMPM) started in 2012 from a partnership established with a Brazilian institution. Created in 1995 by Henry Mintzberg – also the current director – the IMPM adopted a heterodox model challenging the US traditional MBA model, Mintzberg’s moto “Managers, Not MBA” suggests a new focus on managers instead of overemphasizing analysis and technique. From a critical perspective, this study identifies that, although proposing an appreciation of the culture of the different places where the international modules are hosted, the IMPM still adopts the Anglo-Saxon logic of knowledge imposition. The study reflects the expectation that, when considering the internationalization of management educational programs, from a critical point of view, the voices of peripheral countries are heard, promoting a better balance between the production and consumption of knowledge on management in the contemporary global context. It is necessary, therefore, to work in order to create a more dialogical movement between center and periphery, establishing a dynamic that considers not only cultural aspects, but also that recognizes the production of knowledge in both contexts.

Diary-Writing as a Tool for Monitoring and Assessing - Intercultural Learning and Cultural Intelligence

This paper outlines a research project which is being conducted in the edu¬cational context of an international Master program: In 2001, an interdisci¬plinary and cohort-based Master program entitled “International Manage¬ment and Intercultural Communication/GlobalMBA” was founded, which is currently offered by a four-university consortium that includes the follow¬ing: Technische Hochschule Köln (TH Köln), Cologne, Germany, the Fac¬ulty of Management at the University of Warsaw (UW), Poland, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics (DUFE) in Dalian, China, and the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville, USA. During the program´s 15-month duration, a multina¬tional cohort of 25-30 students recruited from each of the four universi¬ties studies together for one semester at each university. Much of the coursework and assignments as well as the final Master thesis are written in multinational groups of three to four students, thus requiring the students to permanently prove their teamwork skills. Besides, given the in-built mobility and multinational cohort-based structure of the program, the students are continuously exposed to a variety of different cultural experi¬ences and encounters. The program´s curriculum includes management-oriented courses as well as courses on the theory and practice of intercul¬tural communication. In one of these latter modules called Applied Inter¬cultural Communication, which is taught in every location and has a strong country-specific perspective, students are required to produce reflective dia¬ries describing their cultural experiences. The research project presented here started in 2013 and is based on a qualitative analysis of students´ diary entries written during a time span of 15 months as part of the course requirements for this particular module. The project is intended to serve two main purposes:

Students as a Teaching Resource in Preparing Educational Leaders: An International Masters Programme

Students as a Teaching Resource in Preparing Educational Leaders: An International Masters Programme

The Transformative Impact of Blended Mobility Courses

AbstractSeveral pedagogical assets of the blended‐learning courses conducted within the ADRIART.net partnership originate from their novel site‐specific approach and intercultural value. Conducted outside school environments across Austria, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia in 2011–2014, over a dozen of these intensive Master's programme workshops mixed students and mentors from different cultural and professional backgrounds, intersecting the realms of film, new media, photography, performance, architecture and contemporary art. These short‐term academic mobility courses concluded with public exhibitions, screenings or performances, often at eminent cultural venues or in public spaces pertaining to the site‐specific character of each course. This article discusses key issues that proved beneficial for conceiving and implementing this fruitful academic collaboration format. Several curricular and organisational solutions are presented that increased the positive impact on students as well as other stakeholders in this project‐based pedagogical piloting of the Media Arts and Practices international Master's programme. Set against its curriculum‐development framework, the article examines new methodological solutions, joint mentoring models and group dynamics management, as well as some specific logistical issues. Next to developing relevant employment skills and attitudes, such production‐oriented, but process‐aware course designs offer timely academic provisions as a response to a ‘glocalised’ world. More importantly, these course designs can also foster students' engagement with the actual (social, economic, natural, political) environment and the development of life‐long learning habits.

An international Master's program in green ICT as a contribution to sustainable development

Various principles of sustainable development are currently being integrated into national policies and programs. Such principles relate to a range of aspects of human activities requiring urgent attention, including heating, mobility, food security, and sustainable agriculture. One of the fields contributing to the transition towards a sustainable society is that of green information and communication technologies (ICT). Therefore, the implementation of educational programs in green ICT is important in ensuring further ICT development around sustainability concerns. This article describes the development of an international Master's degree program named “Pervasive computing and communications for sustainable development” (PERCCOM) by an international consortium, which aimed to combine advanced ICT with environmental, economic, and social awareness. The article presents background information regarding the role of the ICT sector in environmental challenges, and a review of the literature, in order to understand what is required of ICT and green ICT graduates. The curriculum of the PERCCOM program is then described and findings on program improvement are reported. The article is aimed at academic and research professionals in the fields of sustainable development and green technologies, with the goal of improving educational initiatives to address the societal demand for sustainable development. The findings reported here contribute toward the search for a solution for sustainability, especially regarding environmental issues, among educating professionals with high expertise in networking, computing, and programming, who are able to design, develop, deploy, and maintain both pervasive computing systems and communication architectures for sustainable development.

Integration of microbiology and infectious disease teaching courses in an interdisciplinary training programme (Master level) centred on the 'One world, one health' WHO concept.

This report describes the integration of the microbiology and infectious diseases teaching courses in an international Master's level interdisciplinary programme based on the 'One world, one health' WHO concept, and reports the students and teachers' evaluation related to their feelings of about this innovative programme. The integration was evaluated by recording the positioning of these two topics in the five teaching units constituting the programme, and by identifying their contribution in the interactions between the different teaching units. The satisfaction of students was assessed by a quantitative survey, whereas the feelings of students and teachers were assessed by interviews. The study demonstrated that microbiology and infectious diseases were widely involved in interactions between the teaching units, constituting a kind of cement for the programme. The students assigned a mean score of 3.7 to the topics dealing with microbiology and infectious diseases. According to the qualitative data, students and teachers considered that the interdisciplinary approach provided new insights but reported problems of communication, probably inherent to the multiculturalism of the class.

Transnational Connected Learning and Experimentation - Using live online classes and remote labs for preparing international engineering students for an international working world

Students, who are leaving their home country for taking part in an international study program, face several challenges. Not only the new course of studies can be very challenging but also their whole living conditions may change significantly. This can be a severe clash especially for students who are moving to a country with a totally different cultural background in comparison to their home countries. Moreover, it can profoundly complicate the first weeks at the new university. Knowing about the difficulties the Institute of Forming Technology and Lightweight Construction (IUL) at TU Dortmund University in Germany developed a preparational online course for those international students, who are coming to the IUL for their Master of Science program in Manufacturing Technology (MMT; a special international master program). In context of this course the use of the IUL’s remote laboratory equipment was a key aspect. The course itself was implemented and delivered for the first time in 2014. By now a second updated edition was delivered in 2015. It was designed to prepare the students as best as possible for their new studies at a German university and at the same time prepare them for transnational collaboration. Hence, this course is a good example for a meaningful integration of remote laboratories into an innovative online course concept. On the one hand making use of remote laboratories and its practical integration in online courses helps to connect the international students and on the other hand it brings them into the situation to interact in context of a typical engineering situation, the experiment. The paper presents the course itself and experiences from its first and second implementation.

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Digital Humanities: An International Master Program via Trans-Eurasian Universities Network

This paper presents an intention of two Russian universities located at opposite sides of Russia to build with partners – leading world educational centers (in the Top-100 Universities of Times Higher Education) – a trans-Eurasian international network with Master's program “Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Digital Humanities.” This program significantly extends the area of fostering students’ talent. In addition, it allows students to develop valuable global skills of a contemporary professional: domain expertise, soft skills including creative and system thinking, self-development, working in an international and intercultural team on a research project, etc. After graduation, the alumni will have a wide choice of opportunities to continue their academic career or to get a well-paid job in developing and developed countries around the World.