Paving the way to Cultural Agility & Internationalisation of the Curriculum: International Faculty Perspectives

Petros KefalasIF Learning & Teaching Director

The profile of the IF

Departments: 3Research Centers:

1 Staff: 90Academic: 38

Admin: 52Students: 900

UG: 43%PGT: 57%PhD: 30UG Programmes: 5

PGT Programmes: 9Executive Prog: 1

Doctoral Programme

In collaboration with TUOS since 1993

The 6th Faculty of TUOS since

2009

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Distributed & Collaborative

provision

The profile of the IF

Thessaloniki:7 Bachelors11 Masters

Abroad:1 Bachelor10 Masters

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The profile of the IF

30 Nationalities

For Greece: 66% InternationalFor UK: 100% International

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Given the specific profile of the Faculty, does this imply that internationalisation is achieved by default?

Internationalisation in IF

Gears are in place but we don’t know

exactly how it works out.

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The Antikythira mechanism

An extremely interesting region for a number of

reasons

The region of SEE

cultures

history

ethnicities

conflicts

politics

religionsIoC, October 2013

Internationalisation is an emergent process that arises through the synergy of individual actions:

Each one contributes its share Each one is not sufficient by itself to

achieve it The potential of all acting together is

greater than the sum of individual actions

… in the absence of definition …

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• … someone who sees the big picture and understands the importance of context

• …. experienced in working with clients, communities and partners outside the University

• … an active citizen who respects diversity and has the cultural agility to work in multinational settings

Sheffield Graduate

AACCDD

Active Citizen who respects

Diversity

CCAA

Culturally Agile

CCCCPP

Working with clients,

communities & partners

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Actions required by and also targeted to

…

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Institution

Students

Staff

Programmes

Other Activities

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It works two ways

International

Local

Outgoing Incoming

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We apply the usual practices; most of them already discussed in this event.

But we are going to focus on some that bring added value in our base and abroad.

Actions in the IF

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Brief description of action.

Actions in the IF

Interesting Notes for consideration/Discussion

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Students from all cities where the MBA is delivered spend a week in Sheffield and a week in Thessaloniki.They engage in team building exercises, they visit industrial sites, they participate in social activities etc.

Mono-cultural groups

Note: delegates in MBA consider these as most valuable for networking

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Mono-cultural groups

UG Students in Sofia do 3 years in Bulgaria and the final 4th year in Thessaloniki.

In the meantime, Bulgarian students visit once or twice Thessaloniki for events, joining students at base.

Note: Bulgarian students are not in favour of spending a year abroad.

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Academic staff of IF fly over to different cities to participate in module delivery during the weekends in block teaching.

Most of times give open talks to the public organised by local partners.

IF staff visit other locations

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Note: all those staff increase their cultural agility by observing the students behaviour in their home country.

Staff bring back in base their understanding of the student culture and are more able to interpret the student behaviour when they study in Greece.

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IF staff visit other locations

Lecturers of UK and EU Universities fly over to different cities to participate in module delivery during the weekends.

These lecturers bring a more “western” European flavour into the programme.

EU Visiting Lecturers

Note: it took a while for those lecturers to adjust to an audience that is studying in its own country

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Lecturers try to include international examples / case studies but at the same time refer to local ones, which look more familiar to students.

Case studies

Note: significant percentage of SEE students prefer to have only local case studies than international one because they see themselves tied in their country

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We organised a summer school together with Management School and USE for students coming from EU institutions (UK, Russia, Greece, Netherlands etc)

Summer Schools

Note: dates, topic, engagement in class activities, attendance load and social programme seem to be the keys to a successful summer school.

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Students have the opportunity to work in another (than their home) country during summer.

The network of the IF in SEE makes this easier to implement.

Internships

Note: Greece is more popular among choices for the non-Greek students. Greek students rarely choose to go to another SEE country.

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Students from Sheffield attended a (block teaching) module in one of the countries offered and gain credits.

IF staff came to Sheffield for a week to teach on block teaching part of the modules.

Mobility

Note: restrictive only to few Departments.

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There are modules in Communication aspects in which students act as interviewers or peer assessors in mock interviews.

Course on Communication

Note: very interesting to see what assessment criteria each ethnic group of students apply to assess fellow students.

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• In group projects, teams are formed by lecturers by selecting students from different nationalities.

• Small group tutorials• Interactive Lectures

Working in multi-national teams

Note: not very popular among students who might prefer peers who speak the same language.

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An event is organised by the IF, where the students attend personal development seminars on interviewing, CV writing, career paths etc. We organise mock and real interviews for all students willing to work in Greece and elsewhere.

Career Days

Note: Many students ignore the opportunity to us elements from the Sheffield Graduate attributes

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We use a number of new tools for on-line collaboration and work sharing as a routine procedure in several modules.

Use of contemporary IT

Note: although familiar with modern tools and social media, getting to know how these could enhance international collaboration could take a while.

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Modules like “Making Ideas Happen” or “Industrial Projects” with a real client, offer excellent chance for student to engage with culture of the business and community.

Community Projects

Note: it is interesting to see how students struggle to get the grasp of the project, especially if this is concerned with a social problem in the country of study.

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Activities outside the classroom by organising groups of international students carrying out projects for the community.

Community of Learning

Note: People in this region have not been cultivated in volunteering. It is a challenge to motivate them and “infuse” the culture.

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A Student Spring Symposium (an interdisciplinary forum) is organised by students for students. They gain a lot by cooperating in preparing the event.

Conferences

Note: few students from Sheffield participated in S3 already (a couple by presenting on-line). We need to disseminate the event further.

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In SEERC Doctoral Conference, PhD candidates from various Universities of the SEE region present preliminary and final findings of their research.

Conferences

Note: interesting to observe what constitutes “original” research finding in some countries of the region.

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SEERC, the South-East European Research Center, conducts regional and international funded research projects.

International Research

Note: experience acquired is again brought back to teaching & learning , through case studies, reports, etc.

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IF Vision

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IF Vision

Internationalisation: A truly International Faculty with operations in many countries

Strong Civic

Engagement

Multidisciplinarity & Interdisciplinarity: main focus on social

sciences

Research & Innovation: High quality

Research with Research Centres in

many locations

Learning & Teaching: Excellent Research-led

Teaching strongly connected to

professional practice

A base – gateway –

for the whole University

University Strategies

TUOS STRATEGIC THEMES

Protecting the Future

Work

ing

Toge

ther

M

aking a D

ifferen

ce Cultivating Ambition

Achieving Excellence

Leading the Way

The International Faculty contributes to the Internationalisation Strategy of the University.

We welcome any proposals that could facilitate IoC for other Faculties and Departments.

The IF within TUOS

IoC, October 2013 What’s next?

We Shape the Future Together

Thank you!