Internationalising Higher Education

Christian Duncumb

British Council

The British Council and Higher Education

Education UK

Partnership programmes (BRIDGE, UKIERI, INSPIRE, DeLPHE etc)

Science

Scholarships

Internationalising Higher Education

BRIDGE - Background

Delivered 2004-2008

Evaluation 2010

Core aim:

To increase collaborative effort between Russian and UK universities by means of

joint programme development leading to dual degrees or other mutually recognised

academic qualifications.

BRIDGE Achievements

58 partnerships (44 dual awards and 14 research projects)

UK-Russia Expert group

Involved institutions from across Russia

High proportion of success

- Nearly half of Russian dual award projects say their course has been validated in the UK and accredited in Russia

- More than half the courses developed have been delivered in Russia for at least one year already

- Three quarters of UK institutions report that their BRIDGE partnership is still ‘alive’

- Some fruitful research collaboration projects

BRIDGE has helped Russian HEIs align themselves more closely with the Bologna

process

from BRIDGE evaluation report

BRIDGE – some lessons learned

Quality assurance and validation

Marketing and recruitment

Financial management

Language issues

Importance of concluding a formal agreement

BRIDGE – some reasons for success

BRIDGE is regarded by the participating Russian universities in a very positive light,

because:

• The programme set out to benefit institutions across the whole of Russia

• It did not seek to impose UK courses / approaches on Russia; rather, it required Russian institutions

to work as equal partners in developing entirely new courses that would suit Russian needs

• The UK approach to teaching and assessment is increasingly highly regarded, and BRIDGE has

acted as a catalyst to help Russian HEIs promulgate this approach

• It provided sufficient funding to enable courses to get off the ground, but more importantly, it

enabled institutions to access the expertise that they needed.

from BRIDGE evaluation report

Internationalising Higher Education 2010-2013

Connecting agendas - Policy and Ideas

Connecting partners – teaching and research partnerships

Connecting students – student mobility and networks

English

Connecting Agendas – Policy and Ideas

Aim - To support and strengthen the Higher Education sector through the sharing and

exchange of knowledge to inform strategic policy making at Government and

institutional level

Connecting Agendas –Mechanisms

Policy dialogues

UK-Russia visits

Seminars and symposia

Publications

Going Global Hong Kong

Connecting Agendas – IHE issues?

TNE

Quality Assurance

Student mobility

Graduate employability

Global universities

Building research cultures

Innovation & commercialisation of knowledge

Leadership in HE

Global universities

Connecting Agendas – Examples

Date Location Title

Nov Beijing International conference on Graduate Employability

Nov Pakistan Building international research cultures

Nov Turkey University excellence and the role of QA

Jan Malaysia Knowledge transfer in agricultural biotechnology

Jan UK Practices around student mobility

Feb Thailand Developing leadership in Higher Education

Feb Greece TNE policy debate

March Taiwan The East Asian university

March Hong Kong Going Global

Connecting Agendas – Questions

What are the key issues and priorities for Russia?

What are the best mechanisms to stimulate dialogue and share experience?

Are there any challenges to overcome?

Connecting Partnerships

Aim - To build a new generation of structured knowledge economy partnerships which

link Higher Education Institutions, government and business, and which satisfy UK

and Russian agendas in IHE and drive forward knowledge economies

Connecting partnerships

Higher Education Institutions

Industry

Government

Connecting Partnerships - Issues

Building on BRIDGE – keep what worked

Sustainability

Multilateral – HEIs, business and government

Themes

Collaborative teaching programmes and research

Mechanisms (finding partners, stimulating partnerships etc)

Connecting Partnerships – Themes?

Energy

Creative industries

Nanoscience through Engineering to Application

Finance

Digital Economy

Connecting Partnerships - Questions

How do we bring partners (HEIs and business) together?

What are the key barriers to successful partnerships and how do we overcome them?

What partnership themes resonate most?

Connecting Students – student mobility and networks

Aim -To promote student mobility both to and from the UK, build the International

student experience and grow networks of Alumni

Connecting students

UK student mobility

International student mobility

Internationalising student experience

Alumni

Connecting Students – student mobility

Russia UK

Brief cultural/study/work experiences

Full-scale qualifications

English

Aim - To support the IHE agenda through providing information and access to English

language support to partnerships

The English escalatorA

ge

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Tertiary

Secondary

Primary

Pre-school

Increase in English-medium

university courses

School-leavers need higher English

proficiency

English increasingly used to teach

curriculum at secondary school

English introduced earlier and earlier

at Primary school

English

English for student mobility

- English for Academic purposes

- English for the student experience

English for English Medium Instruction (EMI)

- English for lecturers

- EMI pedagogy – how to teach in L2

- English for administrators

Conclusion

What are the key issues within IHE in Russia and through what

mechanisms/interventions/events could relevant debate and discussion be

developed?

What are the most relevant type of partnerships for Russia and in what areas? And

what mechanisms can support their sustainable development?

What are the key issues within the development of the use of English in Higher

Education in Russia and what mechanisms could support the appropriate

development?