Programme 2024
- Tuesday, 20 August 2024
- Wednesday, 21 August 2024
- Thursday, 22 August 2024
- Friday, 23 August 2024
07:00 – 18:00 | Conference Desk: On-site registrations and collections of registration bags and name tags. |
Workshop 1: Full Day
08:00 – 17:00 | Topic: Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Policy: Institutional strategies and decolonial policy frameworks |
(Includes lunch and refreshment breaks) | |
Venue: Kwa-Thema |
Workshop 2: Morning
08:00 – 14:00 | Topic: Immigration support for inbound students, PDRFS, Staff and Distinguished visiting professors – Learnings from the University of Johannesburg |
(Includes lunch and refreshment break) | |
Venue: Duduza |
Workshop 3: Morning
08:00 – 14:00 | Topic: Grant and Proposal writing to support the internationalisation agenda |
(Includes lunch and refreshment break) | |
Venue: Tsakane |
Workshop 4: Afternoon
13:00 – 17:30 | Topic: Empowering refugees: Strategies for qualification recognition |
(Includes lunch and refreshment break) | |
Venue: Duduza |
Workshop 5: Afternoon
13:00 – 18:00 | Topic: Data-driven strategies to grow international student recruitment in South Africa |
(Includes lunch and refreshment break) | |
Venue: Tsakane |
Need more information on the workshops?
07:00 – 16:30 | Registration Desk Open |
Opening Plenary/Keynote Address
08:30 – 08:45 | Welcome Lavern Samuels, IEASA President 2023-2024 |
08:45 – 09:45 | Keynote Address |
Thebe Ikalafeng, Advocate for brand-led African agenda | |
Chairperson: Normah Zondo, IEASA Deputy President | |
Venue: Auditorium |
10:00 - 11:00 Parallel Session 1
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D | PRESENTATION E |
Topic: The Role Paradox: Speaking Truth to Power or Soft Diplomacy? | Topic: Navigating scarcity to create viable avenues for sustained internationalisation across contexts | Topic: From the Periphery to the Centre, engaging the dialectics of internationalisation as the challenge of power dynamics in knowledge generation | Topic: Collations of Thoughts: African Elders’ Critical Teachings in (Higher) Education | Topic: Analyzing the role of government in advancing internationalization of higher education: A South African perspective. |
Anisa Khan, University of Johannesburg | Refilwe Moleyane, Central University of Technology | Valile Dwayi, Walter Sisulu University | Paul Adjei, Memorial University of Newfoundland | Jabu Makhubela, University of Fort Hare |
Chevon Slambee, University of the Free State | Kefa Simwa, ANIE | Asanda Tele, University of Fort Hare | ||
Quinter Onyango, University of the Free State | ||||
Chairperson: Orla Quinlan, Rhodes University | Chairperson: Helin Bäckman Kartal, South Africa – Sweden University Forum (SASUF) | Chairperson: Jody Felton, IES Abroad | Chairperson: Samia Chasi, IEASA | Chairperson: Gita Patel, University of Witwatersrand |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: The Role Paradox: Speaking Truth to Power or Soft Diplomacy? | Topic: Navigating scarcity to create viable avenues for sustained internationalisation across contexts |
Anisa Khan, University of Johannesburg | Refilwe Moleyane, Central University of Technology |
Chevon Slambee, University of the Free State | |
Quinter Onyango, University of the Free State | |
Chairperson: Orla Quinlan, Rhodes University | Chairperson: Helin Bäckman Kartal, South Africa – Sweden University Forum (SASUF) |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 |
PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: From the Periphery to the Centre, engaging the dialectics of internationalisation as the challenge of power dynamics in knowledge generation | Topic: Collations of Thoughts: African Elders’ Critical Teachings in (Higher) Education |
Valile Dwayi, Walter Sisulu University | Paul Adjei, Memorial University of Newfoundland |
Kefa Simwa, ANIE | |
Chairperson: Jody Felton, IES Abroad | Chairperson: Samia Chasi, IEASA |
Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema |
PRESENTATION E |
Topic: Analyzing the role of government in advancing internationalization of higher education: A South African perspective. |
Jabu Makhubela, University of Fort Hare |
Asanda Tele, University of Fort Hare |
Chairperson: Gita Patel, University of Witwatersrand |
Venue: Tsakane |
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This session explores the role of the SIO in a rapidly changing geopolitical context wherein socio-historical, political, religious, cultural and economic rationales are used to justify Scholasticide, Genocide, Ethnic cleansing and Apartheid policies. Drawing on the unprecedented scale of the attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, and this historical “tipping point” I will explore (possibly together with colleagues from Birzeit University and one other university TBC) the contradictions and tensions which have emerged for Internationalisation practitioners for whom diplomacy has meant that they do not have the protection of academic freedom policies at universities and for whom, leading on university Internationalisation strategies could mean replicating rather than challenging the patterns of power dynamics and structures of neo-liberal, colonial, higher education institutions that continue to reproduce injustice and inequity.
This context of contested history, tensions and contradictions challenges the SIO to define his/ her/ they role in new ways such that the SIO can act as a change agent, protecting and promoting a culture of academic freedom which should transform university strategies and policies on global engagements in response to this rapidly changing context. As a university’s global engagement lead and as the implementer of the university strategy on partnerships for research, staff and student exchanges, international fundraising and joint teaching and learning, the SIO can advocate and influence universities to use academic boycotts and intentional partnering for social justice and human rights to influence change. In University contexts where such changes are hampered by other political and economic imperatives and heavily influenced by the North and the West’s emphasis on rankings and global rankings systems, agency for change may be difficult or impossible to achieve. For many SIOs who are in empathic distress and for those who are the custodians of partnerships with universities that are under attack, these schisms between acting for justice and equity versus acting in the self-interest of profiling and advancement based on colonial paradigms of “global stature” can lead to role conflict, heightened senses of lack of purpose and contradictions between personal values and ethics and institutional roles.
This session explores the schisms, rupture and internal conflicts being experienced by Internationalisation officers under pressure to be good global citizens, human tools for advancing the soft diplomacy objectives of neoliberal HE institutions and how this could be a seminal moment in advancing critical Internationalisation for social justice and equity that could lead to universities severing ties with universities in countries that are found to be committing genocide and other human rights abuses. The session will also explore different approaches to Internationalisation, share experiences, and discuss what it means in practical terms to “speak truth to power” but also to remain committed to advancing Internationalisation. I will also work together with the audience to chart a way forward for how we can engage and research this topic so that we can make a positive contribution to a more just, equitable and sustainable society for future generations.
The significant shifts in the geopolitical economy have directly impacted national governments, leading to consequential effects on the higher education sector (HEI). Decreasing annual budget allocations earmarked for sector support and internationalisation necessitate a creative approach to generating third-stream funding for HEIs. Within the national context, South African universities present abundant opportunities. They have long been recognized as a premier destination for African scholars, granting them a distinct advantage in talent acquisition and retention. Moreover, the continent possesses unique strengths in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), both from a knowledge and commercial standpoint.
“Can these distinctive attributes be utilised to unlock funding opportunities amidst the current landscape? “
This workshop session tackles the challenges faced by HEIs endeavouring to internationalise within resource-constrained settings. Formidable obstacles such as financial scarcity, technological gaps, and limited infrastructure necessitate careful consideration. Furthermore, cultural intricacies, regulatory hurdles, and geopolitical limitations further complicate the internationalisation process in such environments.
The current trajectory indicates a worsening situation, prompting HEIs to explore alternative funding sources, with institutional networks emerging as viable options. By examining successful case studies and innovative approaches, this session aims to illuminate feasible avenues for internationalisation tailored to the unique circumstances of resource-constrained settings.
Highlighting innovative responses from the sector to navigate resource constraints and optimize existing networks as facilitators of internationalisation, the focus rests on collaborative and strategic efforts within institutional networks. The objective is to improve access to funding and bolster capacity in institutions with burgeoning profiles.
The case about internationalisation, as one of the distinguishing features about scholarship projects in the idea of university education, seems to be quite illustrative of the famous statement that “every picture tells a story!” Such a statement continues to receive more elaboration from scholars of internationalization despite more than 20 years of deep debates and expansive conversations about the practice in the South African transformation context in particular. My take on the latter is, whose story counts in what can be deconstructed about internationalization as the Significance-Character-Trajectories-Dynamics Logic and the Narrative-Analysis-Interpretation-Literacy Chain? Therefore, this paper invites a conversation in answering this question, towards what ought to be scholarship/advancement about the subject. Building on the existing knowledge about the Global North-South relations, the South-South, and about South, even, the paper zooms onto the case of a 3rd Lower Category of university education and purposefully identifies the internationalization practices as the power dynamics in knowledge generation within the institution itself and thus the need to surface the silences and superficialities thereof by means of critical discourse analysis. The emergent picture seems to be a distorted logic from the questionable narratives about internationalization, as a result of a heavily skewed case of a university predominantly constitutive of undergraduate programs. It is this case, therefore, from which an argument can be made that, internationalization, while necessary, it remains challenged at the point of incompatibilities. For potential scholarship advancement, there needs to be powerful conversations about the dialectics of periphery versus the center, however, not in spatial, but in conceptual terms. The latter includes suggestions about what can be done about in such cases when corporate agency can take emergence and over time in ways that ought to be context-specific, concept-dependent and actor-driven.
The search for pedagogical needs of African learners for the new futures has become pressing more so than ever before due to emerging global educational challenges that demand education responds to the needs of local specificities and global conditionalities. So far, this search has taken African education almost everywhere but nowhere near the involvement of Indigenous African Elders. As a generative concept anchored in cultural locations, an African Elder is a venerated title bestowed on individuals in African communities for their exemplary life worthy of emulations and is not ascribed by age (as in elderly) or socio-economic class. The value of African Elders as cultural educators, storytellers, historians, languages and knowledge keepers, gifted people, record-keepers, and community healers is well reflected in a West African proverb that equates the dying of an African Elder to the burning of an entire library — “When an African Elder die, a bit like an entire library is burnt to the ground.” Within the hallmarks of (higher) education where knowledge is valued, African Elders’ teachings exceed the reach of textbooks. More reason, the absence of African Elders in the search for alternative solutions to educational needs of African learners remains an egregious error. “Ahyia nso ebu ye esen abebuo nyinaa” literally translates, “it is bent but not broken is the most important proverb of all proverbs” is an Asante of Ghana’s proverb to aspire hope and reminds the living that nothing is too late to amend if people are determined to right the wrong. This panel presentation is committed to address this egregious error by inviting a broader and a critical conversation about the pedagogical possibilities of African Elders to (higher) education in Africa. Although an advanced form of Western imperial racism and colonization is to seduce African learners into believing that by rejecting African traditional/Indigenous cultural knowledges, worldviews, values, languages and beliefs and embracing only those of Europe, they will realize their full humanity. However, we have learned through African Elders that there are limits in trying to use a Zulu dictionary to explain Swahili. African education systems cannot rely on the cultural values and worldviews of Europe to address almost every need affecting Africa. Therefore, a shift is needed in the education systems to stop producing “culturally estranged” learners to producing “culturally engaged” learners (Nyamnjoh, 2012). With the involvement of Indigenous/Traditional African Elders in African education, there are promises and possibilities of realizing such dreams.
The internationalization of higher education has gained significant attention in contemporary years, as universities strive to create a global learning environment and foster cross-cultural understanding. This abstract analyzes the role of government in advancing internationalization efforts with a specific reference to South Africa. It highlights that government plays a pivotal role in shaping policies and regulations that either facilitate or impede internationalization efforts. On the advancing side, government can provide financial support, scholarships, and establish policies that encourage internationalization efforts in institutions of higher learning. They can also facilitate exchange programs and research collaborations. However, government departments can also hinder internationalization through restrictive immigration policies, visa regulations, and bureaucratic barriers. These obstacles can limit the entry and stay of international students and scholars, thereby hampering the exchange of knowledge and ideas. This abstract emphasizes the importance of government support in creating an enabling environment for the internationalization of higher education and underscores the need for balanced policies that promote inclusivity and global engagement. This study will employ a desktop research approach to comprehensively analyze the multifaceted role of government on the internationalization of higher education in South Africa. Desktop/secondary research is well-suited for exploring complex and context-dependent phenomena, allowing a better understanding of a particular topic. A comprehensive review of books, journals government gazettes, academic literature, institutional reports, and policy documents pertaining to internationalization in South African higher education will be conducted.
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This session explores the role of the SIO in a rapidly changing geopolitical context wherein socio-historical, political, religious, cultural and economic rationales are used to justify Scholasticide, Genocide, Ethnic cleansing and Apartheid policies. Drawing on the unprecedented scale of the attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, and this historical “tipping point” I will explore (possibly together with colleagues from Birzeit University and one other university TBC) the contradictions and tensions which have emerged for Internationalisation practitioners for whom diplomacy has meant that they do not have the protection of academic freedom policies at universities and for whom, leading on university Internationalisation strategies could mean replicating rather than challenging the patterns of power dynamics and structures of neo-liberal, colonial, higher education institutions that continue to reproduce injustice and inequity.
This context of contested history, tensions and contradictions challenges the SIO to define his/ her/ they role in new ways such that the SIO can act as a change agent, protecting and promoting a culture of academic freedom which should transform university strategies and policies on global engagements in response to this rapidly changing context. As a university’s global engagement lead and as the implementer of the university strategy on partnerships for research, staff and student exchanges, international fundraising and joint teaching and learning, the SIO can advocate and influence universities to use academic boycotts and intentional partnering for social justice and human rights to influence change. In University contexts where such changes are hampered by other political and economic imperatives and heavily influenced by the North and the West’s emphasis on rankings and global rankings systems, agency for change may be difficult or impossible to achieve. For many SIOs who are in empathic distress and for those who are the custodians of partnerships with universities that are under attack, these schisms between acting for justice and equity versus acting in the self-interest of profiling and advancement based on colonial paradigms of “global stature” can lead to role conflict, heightened senses of lack of purpose and contradictions between personal values and ethics and institutional roles.
This session explores the schisms, rupture and internal conflicts being experienced by Internationalisation officers under pressure to be good global citizens, human tools for advancing the soft diplomacy objectives of neoliberal HE institutions and how this could be a seminal moment in advancing critical Internationalisation for social justice and equity that could lead to universities severing ties with universities in countries that are found to be committing genocide and other human rights abuses. The session will also explore different approaches to Internationalisation, share experiences, and discuss what it means in practical terms to “speak truth to power” but also to remain committed to advancing Internationalisation. I will also work together with the audience to chart a way forward for how we can engage and research this topic so that we can make a positive contribution to a more just, equitable and sustainable society for future generations.
The significant shifts in the geopolitical economy have directly impacted national governments, leading to consequential effects on the higher education sector (HEI). Decreasing annual budget allocations earmarked for sector support and internationalisation necessitate a creative approach to generating third-stream funding for HEIs. Within the national context, South African universities present abundant opportunities. They have long been recognized as a premier destination for African scholars, granting them a distinct advantage in talent acquisition and retention. Moreover, the continent possesses unique strengths in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), both from a knowledge and commercial standpoint.
“Can these distinctive attributes be utilised to unlock funding opportunities amidst the current landscape? “
This workshop session tackles the challenges faced by HEIs endeavouring to internationalise within resource-constrained settings. Formidable obstacles such as financial scarcity, technological gaps, and limited infrastructure necessitate careful consideration. Furthermore, cultural intricacies, regulatory hurdles, and geopolitical limitations further complicate the internationalisation process in such environments.
The current trajectory indicates a worsening situation, prompting HEIs to explore alternative funding sources, with institutional networks emerging as viable options. By examining successful case studies and innovative approaches, this session aims to illuminate feasible avenues for internationalisation tailored to the unique circumstances of resource-constrained settings.
Highlighting innovative responses from the sector to navigate resource constraints and optimize existing networks as facilitators of internationalisation, the focus rests on collaborative and strategic efforts within institutional networks. The objective is to improve access to funding and bolster capacity in institutions with burgeoning profiles.
The case about internationalisation, as one of the distinguishing features about scholarship projects in the idea of university education, seems to be quite illustrative of the famous statement that “every picture tells a story!” Such a statement continues to receive more elaboration from scholars of internationalization despite more than 20 years of deep debates and expansive conversations about the practice in the South African transformation context in particular. My take on the latter is, whose story counts in what can be deconstructed about internationalization as the Significance-Character-Trajectories-Dynamics Logic and the Narrative-Analysis-Interpretation-Literacy Chain? Therefore, this paper invites a conversation in answering this question, towards what ought to be scholarship/advancement about the subject. Building on the existing knowledge about the Global North-South relations, the South-South, and about South, even, the paper zooms onto the case of a 3rd Lower Category of university education and purposefully identifies the internationalization practices as the power dynamics in knowledge generation within the institution itself and thus the need to surface the silences and superficialities thereof by means of critical discourse analysis. The emergent picture seems to be a distorted logic from the questionable narratives about internationalization, as a result of a heavily skewed case of a university predominantly constitutive of undergraduate programs. It is this case, therefore, from which an argument can be made that, internationalization, while necessary, it remains challenged at the point of incompatibilities. For potential scholarship advancement, there needs to be powerful conversations about the dialectics of periphery versus the center, however, not in spatial, but in conceptual terms. The latter includes suggestions about what can be done about in such cases when corporate agency can take emergence and over time in ways that ought to be context-specific, concept-dependent and actor-driven.
The search for pedagogical needs of African learners for the new futures has become pressing more so than ever before due to emerging global educational challenges that demand education responds to the needs of local specificities and global conditionalities. So far, this search has taken African education almost everywhere but nowhere near the involvement of Indigenous African Elders. As a generative concept anchored in cultural locations, an African Elder is a venerated title bestowed on individuals in African communities for their exemplary life worthy of emulations and is not ascribed by age (as in elderly) or socio-economic class. The value of African Elders as cultural educators, storytellers, historians, languages and knowledge keepers, gifted people, record-keepers, and community healers is well reflected in a West African proverb that equates the dying of an African Elder to the burning of an entire library — “When an African Elder die, a bit like an entire library is burnt to the ground.” Within the hallmarks of (higher) education where knowledge is valued, African Elders’ teachings exceed the reach of textbooks. More reason, the absence of African Elders in the search for alternative solutions to educational needs of African learners remains an egregious error. “Ahyia nso ebu ye esen abebuo nyinaa” literally translates, “it is bent but not broken is the most important proverb of all proverbs” is an Asante of Ghana’s proverb to aspire hope and reminds the living that nothing is too late to amend if people are determined to right the wrong. This panel presentation is committed to address this egregious error by inviting a broader and a critical conversation about the pedagogical possibilities of African Elders to (higher) education in Africa. Although an advanced form of Western imperial racism and colonization is to seduce African learners into believing that by rejecting African traditional/Indigenous cultural knowledges, worldviews, values, languages and beliefs and embracing only those of Europe, they will realize their full humanity. However, we have learned through African Elders that there are limits in trying to use a Zulu dictionary to explain Swahili. African education systems cannot rely on the cultural values and worldviews of Europe to address almost every need affecting Africa. Therefore, a shift is needed in the education systems to stop producing “culturally estranged” learners to producing “culturally engaged” learners (Nyamnjoh, 2012). With the involvement of Indigenous/Traditional African Elders in African education, there are promises and possibilities of realizing such dreams.
The internationalization of higher education has gained significant attention in contemporary years, as universities strive to create a global learning environment and foster cross-cultural understanding. This abstract analyzes the role of government in advancing internationalization efforts with a specific reference to South Africa. It highlights that government plays a pivotal role in shaping policies and regulations that either facilitate or impede internationalization efforts. On the advancing side, government can provide financial support, scholarships, and establish policies that encourage internationalization efforts in institutions of higher learning. They can also facilitate exchange programs and research collaborations. However, government departments can also hinder internationalization through restrictive immigration policies, visa regulations, and bureaucratic barriers. These obstacles can limit the entry and stay of international students and scholars, thereby hampering the exchange of knowledge and ideas. This abstract emphasizes the importance of government support in creating an enabling environment for the internationalization of higher education and underscores the need for balanced policies that promote inclusivity and global engagement. This study will employ a desktop research approach to comprehensively analyze the multifaceted role of government on the internationalization of higher education in South Africa. Desktop/secondary research is well-suited for exploring complex and context-dependent phenomena, allowing a better understanding of a particular topic. A comprehensive review of books, journals government gazettes, academic literature, institutional reports, and policy documents pertaining to internationalization in South African higher education will be conducted.
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11:00 – 11:30 | Refreshment Break |
11:30 - 12:30 Parallel Session 2
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: HERstory: Exploring the Fellowship Experiences of Black American and South African Female, Fulbright Recipients | Topic: Prevalence of Stress and Anxiety among International Students at a Health Sciences Institution in South Africa | Topic: Curriculum decolonisation and internationalisation: Challenges, intersections and the practical way(s) forward | Topic: Fishbowl or River-Ecosystem: Developing Responsible and Authentic Internationalization on Your Campus |
Stephanie Tilley, University of Johannesburg | Oratilwe Penuel Mokoena, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University | Savo Heleta, Durban University of Technology | JY Zhou, James Madison University |
Ashleigh Brown- Grier, University of KwaZulu-Natal | Solly Matshonisa Seeletse, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University | Samia Chasi, International Education Association of South Africa | Sarah van der Westhuizen, Stellenbosch University |
Jill Humphries, University of Fort Hare | Taurai Hungwe, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University | ||
Nokulunga Shabalala, University of Johannesburg | |||
Chairperson: Keshia Abraham, Abraham Consulting | Chairperson: Elizabeth Agbor Eta, University of Helsinki | Chairperson: Divinia Jithoo, Durban University of Technology | Chairperson: Huba Boshoff, Durban University of Technology |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: HERstory: Exploring the Fellowship Experiences of Black American and South African Female, Fulbright Recipients | Topic: Prevalence of Stress and Anxiety among International Students at a Health Sciences Institution in South Africa |
Stephanie Tilley, University of Johannesburg | Oratilwe Penuel Mokoena, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University |
Ashleigh Brown- Grier, University of KwaZulu-Natal | Solly Matshonisa Seeletse, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University |
Jill Humphries, University of Fort Hare | Taurai Hungwe, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University |
Nokulunga Shabalala, University of Johannesburg | |
Chairperson: Keshia Abraham, Abraham Consulting | Chairperson: Elizabeth Agbor Eta, University of Helsinki |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Duduza |
PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: Curriculum decolonisation and internationalisation: Challenges, intersections and the practical way(s) forward | Topic: Fishbowl or River-Ecosystem: Developing Responsible and Authentic Internationalization on Your Campus |
Dr Savo Heleta, Durban University of Technology | JY Zhou, James Madison University |
Dr Samia Chasi, International Education Association of South Africa | Sarah van der Westhuizen, Stellenbosch University |
Chairperson: Divinia Jithoo, Durban University of Technology | Chairperson: Huba Boshoff, Durban University of Technology |
Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
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The Fulbright Program is revered as a highly regarded international exchange program that has served as a fertilizing source for global knowledge sharing and production through formal study, teaching, research, and exercising talent development. Rooted in autoethnography and storytelling, this workshop will include the accounts of Black, Fulbright recipients and how stronger pathways can be forged to ensure continued participation, support, and success of this demographic. The presenters identify as Black Americans who completed their fellowship in South Africa and Black South Africans who completed their fellowship in the United States.
The presenters will provide a thorough analysis of the social, environmental, and professional dynamics they encountered during their fellowship. The presenters will share their learning outcomes, the intrinsic value that they gained, the challenges they faced, and the current implications of their fellowship experience. The individual and collective accounts of the presenters will highlight their shared and differing journeys. Furthermore, it will inform fellowship and institutional personnel on how to better support Fulbright recipients before, during, and after their fellowship process. The presenters will conclude with strategies on how to construct a strong application for the various Fulbright program types and how South African and American institutions can foster a culture of care for Fulbright recipients and prospective Fulbright applicants. This workshop will provide valuable insight into the experiences of Black South African Fulbrighters in the USA and Black American Fulbrighters in South Africa.
International students may have to experience additional challenges on top of the challenges that affect local students. The levels of their stress, particularly in South African settings, is somewhat incomprehensible as there are no studies recently on the topic of stress in institutions of higher learning (IHLs). About 15% of South African university students suffer from moderate to severe anxiety. In addition, in the context of South African universities, anxiety disorders are consistently higher at historically white institutions (HWIs), with generalised anxiety disorder reported at about 10.9%, panic disorder at about 7.2%, and bipolar spectrum disorder at about 1.8%. These figures do not directly address international students. However, they provide a context for understanding the prevalence of anxiety among university students in South Africa. In order to obtain specific data on international students, researchers would need to consult studies or research that focuses on this particular group. One important aspect of internationalisation in an IHL is to attract recruit and admit international students. Moreover, establishing solid support system for the well-being of the students during their course of study is important. However, the rise in stress and anxiety levels among international students due to fear of financial exclusion among others is concerning. International students in South Africa experience numerous stressors that contribute to their mental health challenges. Some of the common stressors include culture shock and adjusting to a new context; racism and discrimination; restricted opportunities; strict policies; financial pressures; academic pressures; interpersonal and social interactions; and environmental factors. Culture shock and adjusting to a new context may include different social norms, beliefs, and ways of interacting. Racism and discrimination can lead to feelings of being marginalised and excluded. They may experience restricted employment opportunities and difficulties accessing healthcare. There are usually strict immigration policies and difficulties meeting visa requirements. Some financial pressures could lead to the need to secure part-time employment to alleviate financial burdens. Common academic pressures may include extreme studying, complex course structures, and high expectations. There can be challenging interpersonal and social interactions for international students who are away from their support networks. The environmental factors may include noisy environments and poor living conditions that can contribute to stress. This study aims to investigate the perceived stress and coping strategies among international students at a health sciences university in South Africa. Furthermore, the study would like to draw on the experiences of international students about improving internationalisation at a health sciences university.
In this proposed parallel session, we will present our recent paper that provides a critical and decolonial perspective about curriculum decolonisation and internationalisation in South Africa. In our presentation, we will show how the propagation of knowledge from the Global North as ‘universal’ in post-apartheid South Africa – aided with the conceptually vague framings of curriculum internationalisation – has contributed to the maintenance of Eurocentric epistemic hegemony at the country’s universities. To critically unpack how Eurocentric curriculum continues to be maintained in South Africa, we follow Michael Apple’s (2019) framing of how hegemony, ideology and power impact, influence and shape the curriculum.
Critically engaging with and intersecting internationalisation and decolonisation is key as higher education internationalisation will never be genuinely international unless we first decolonise knowledge and curriculum (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2021). We will show that decolonisation of knowledge and curriculum can lead to epistemic plurality, which requires institutions and academics to engage with diverse global perspectives in the curriculum, instead of favoring the hegemonic perspectives and worldviews from the Global North at the expense of those from Africa and other regions in the Global South.
In our session, we will explore how to think otherwise about the world, knowledge and curriculum, framing this around a critical understanding of historical and contemporary politics, geopolitics and coloniality of knowledge. This includes an interrogation of historical workings of power and domination, hegemonic and ideological assumptions, and how all this continues to shape knowledge and curriculum. Most importantly, we will discuss a set of critical questions we developed that can assist academics and curriculum developers in assessing what is amplified and what is silenced in the curriculum. This can contribute to a genuine engagement with diverse global perspectives and promotion of epistemic plurality in higher education. Our session will be of relevance for internationalisation experts and practitioners, decolonial scholars and practitioners, students and university staff, and curriculum development experts and practitioners.
Internationalization of higher education is facing various challenges, including geopolitical issues, the rising of nationalism around the world, aligning with diversity, equity, and decolonization on campus, the internal and external funding competitions, and so on. How to develop a responsible and authentic internationalization is a challenge and urgent need for most higher learning institutions.
Using Dynamic Systems Theory and Complexity Theory, this session invites participants to discuss how international educators should respond to these ever-changing challenges and use the institutional values, mission, and conceptual framework to develop a responsible, authentic, and feasible comprehensive internationalization for individual institutions.
Participants will be guided to explore the following questions: 1. What are your institutional values, mission, and conceptual framework? 2. Who defines your institutional values? 3. What is the status of your internationalization? 4. Who defines your institution’s internationalization? 5. How to use your institutional values, mission, and conceptual framework to define, develop, and promote internationalization on your campus? 6. Institutional values and frameworks are however not stagnant and should be renewed continuously, how can internationalization play an important role in this renewal process? Participants will prepare an action plan that they can apply to their campuses.
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The Fulbright Program is revered as a highly regarded international exchange program that has served as a fertilizing source for global knowledge sharing and production through formal study, teaching, research, and exercising talent development. Rooted in autoethnography and storytelling, this workshop will include the accounts of Black, Fulbright recipients and how stronger pathways can be forged to ensure continued participation, support, and success of this demographic. The presenters identify as Black Americans who completed their fellowship in South Africa and Black South Africans who completed their fellowship in the United States.
The presenters will provide a thorough analysis of the social, environmental, and professional dynamics they encountered during their fellowship. The presenters will share their learning outcomes, the intrinsic value that they gained, the challenges they faced, and the current implications of their fellowship experience. The individual and collective accounts of the presenters will highlight their shared and differing journeys. Furthermore, it will inform fellowship and institutional personnel on how to better support Fulbright recipients before, during, and after their fellowship process. The presenters will conclude with strategies on how to construct a strong application for the various Fulbright program types and how South African and American institutions can foster a culture of care for Fulbright recipients and prospective Fulbright applicants. This workshop will provide valuable insight into the experiences of Black South African Fulbrighters in the USA and Black American Fulbrighters in South Africa.
International students may have to experience additional challenges on top of the challenges that affect local students. The levels of their stress, particularly in South African settings, is somewhat incomprehensible as there are no studies recently on the topic of stress in institutions of higher learning (IHLs). About 15% of South African university students suffer from moderate to severe anxiety. In addition, in the context of South African universities, anxiety disorders are consistently higher at historically white institutions (HWIs), with generalised anxiety disorder reported at about 10.9%, panic disorder at about 7.2%, and bipolar spectrum disorder at about 1.8%. These figures do not directly address international students. However, they provide a context for understanding the prevalence of anxiety among university students in South Africa. In order to obtain specific data on international students, researchers would need to consult studies or research that focuses on this particular group. One important aspect of internationalisation in an IHL is to attract recruit and admit international students. Moreover, establishing solid support system for the well-being of the students during their course of study is important. However, the rise in stress and anxiety levels among international students due to fear of financial exclusion among others is concerning. International students in South Africa experience numerous stressors that contribute to their mental health challenges. Some of the common stressors include culture shock and adjusting to a new context; racism and discrimination; restricted opportunities; strict policies; financial pressures; academic pressures; interpersonal and social interactions; and environmental factors. Culture shock and adjusting to a new context may include different social norms, beliefs, and ways of interacting. Racism and discrimination can lead to feelings of being marginalised and excluded. They may experience restricted employment opportunities and difficulties accessing healthcare. There are usually strict immigration policies and difficulties meeting visa requirements. Some financial pressures could lead to the need to secure part-time employment to alleviate financial burdens. Common academic pressures may include extreme studying, complex course structures, and high expectations. There can be challenging interpersonal and social interactions for international students who are away from their support networks. The environmental factors may include noisy environments and poor living conditions that can contribute to stress. This study aims to investigate the perceived stress and coping strategies among international students at a health sciences university in South Africa. Furthermore, the study would like to draw on the experiences of international students about improving internationalisation at a health sciences university.
In this proposed parallel session, we will present our recent paper that provides a critical and decolonial perspective about curriculum decolonisation and internationalisation in South Africa. In our presentation, we will show how the propagation of knowledge from the Global North as ‘universal’ in post-apartheid South Africa – aided with the conceptually vague framings of curriculum internationalisation – has contributed to the maintenance of Eurocentric epistemic hegemony at the country’s universities. To critically unpack how Eurocentric curriculum continues to be maintained in South Africa, we follow Michael Apple’s (2019) framing of how hegemony, ideology and power impact, influence and shape the curriculum.
Critically engaging with and intersecting internationalisation and decolonisation is key as higher education internationalisation will never be genuinely international unless we first decolonise knowledge and curriculum (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2021). We will show that decolonisation of knowledge and curriculum can lead to epistemic plurality, which requires institutions and academics to engage with diverse global perspectives in the curriculum, instead of favoring the hegemonic perspectives and worldviews from the Global North at the expense of those from Africa and other regions in the Global South.
In our session, we will explore how to think otherwise about the world, knowledge and curriculum, framing this around a critical understanding of historical and contemporary politics, geopolitics and coloniality of knowledge. This includes an interrogation of historical workings of power and domination, hegemonic and ideological assumptions, and how all this continues to shape knowledge and curriculum. Most importantly, we will discuss a set of critical questions we developed that can assist academics and curriculum developers in assessing what is amplified and what is silenced in the curriculum. This can contribute to a genuine engagement with diverse global perspectives and promotion of epistemic plurality in higher education. Our session will be of relevance for internationalisation experts and practitioners, decolonial scholars and practitioners, students and university staff, and curriculum development experts and practitioners.
Internationalization of higher education is facing various challenges, including geopolitical issues, the rising of nationalism around the world, aligning with diversity, equity, and decolonization on campus, the internal and external funding competitions, and so on. How to develop a responsible and authentic internationalization is a challenge and urgent need for most higher learning institutions.
Using Dynamic Systems Theory and Complexity Theory, this session invites participants to discuss how international educators should respond to these ever-changing challenges and use the institutional values, mission, and conceptual framework to develop a responsible, authentic, and feasible comprehensive internationalization for individual institutions.
Participants will be guided to explore the following questions: 1. What are your institutional values, mission, and conceptual framework? 2. Who defines your institutional values? 3. What is the status of your internationalization? 4. Who defines your institution’s internationalization? 5. How to use your institutional values, mission, and conceptual framework to define, develop, and promote internationalization on your campus? 6. Institutional values and frameworks are however not stagnant and should be renewed continuously, how can internationalization play an important role in this renewal process? Participants will prepare an action plan that they can apply to their campuses.
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12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch |
13:30 - 14:30 Parallel Session 3
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: The impact of the Genocide in Gaza and increased attacks in the Occupied West Bank on education access and internationalisation in Palestinian Universities | SPONSOR HIGHLIGHT Topic: Streamlining International Student Payments: A Case Study of UNISA and Flywire Collaboration | Topic: The failed logic of development in the context of international higher education collaboration | Topic: Power: Of speaking truth in international (higher education) relations |
Amir Khalil, Birzeit University | Leroi Ramasike, Flywire | Philina Wittke, Central University of Technology | Ylva Rodny-Gumede, Unviversity of Johannesburg |
Basri Saleh, Ministry of Education & Higher Education | Jade Bailey, Flywire | Leolyn Jackson, Central University of Technology | |
Amani Al-Mqadma, Islamic University of Gaza | Tintswalo Sambo, UNISA | ||
Chairperson: Anisa Khan, University of Johannesburg | Chairperson: Lebethe Malefo, University of Johannesburg | Chairperson: Helin Bäckman Kartal, South Africa Swedish Forum | Chairperson: Refilwe Moleyane, Central University of Technology |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: The impact of the Genocide in Gaza and increased attacks in the Occupied West Bank on education access and internationalisation in Palestinian Universities | SPONSOR HIGHLIGHT Topic: Streamlining International Student Payments: A Case Study of UNISA and Flywire Collaboration |
Amir Khalil, Birzeit University | Leroi Ramasike, Flywire |
Basri Saleh, Ministry of Education & Higher Education | Jade Bailey, Flywire |
Amani Al-Mqadma, Islamic University of Gaza | Tintswalo Sambo, UNISA |
Chairperson: Anisa Khan, University of Johannesburg | Chairperson: Lebethe Malefo, University of Johannesburg |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Duduza |
PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: The failed logic of development in the context of international higher education collaboration | Topic: Power: Of speaking truth in international (higher education) relations |
Philina Wittke, Central University of Technology | Ylva Rodny-Gumede, Unviversity of Johannesburg |
Leolyn Jackson, Central University of Technology | |
Chairperson: Helin Bäckman Kartal, South Africa Swedish Forum | Chairperson: Refilwe Moleyane, Central University of Technology |
Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
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This topic examines the impact of the Genocide in Gaza and increased attacks in the Occupied West Bank on education access and internationalisation in Palestinian Universities. Despite the ongoing challenges of genocide and political instability, Palestinian universities have strived to have an education access and internationalize their academic programs, research collaborations, and student exchanges. However, the ongoing situation have created formidable obstacles, including limited mobility, damaged infrastructure, financial constraints and academic isolation. This Panel discusses Palestinian universities’ strategies to overcome these challenges, such as utilizing digital technologies for virtual collaborations and teaching, fostering regional partnerships, and seeking international solidarity and support. Moreover, it discusses the Palestinian Universities initiatives to support the universities and students in the Gaza Strip. It also explores the evolving role of education access and internationalization in promoting resilience, academic excellence and intercultural understanding within Palestinian universities amidst the complexities of occupation. This contributes to the broader discourse on higher education in Palestine and highlights the resilience and innovation that Palestinian universities demonstrate in their pursuit of global engagement and academic advancement.
International Higher Education Collaborations aim to increase the quality or teaching and learning as well as research in their respective higher education landscapes. Their institutions therefore look for partners that are interested in answering similar (research) questions. They are, through that, also looking to be(come) visible in the global research community and to contribute to global knowledge. National and international funding organizations write schemes to support such developments.
However, in many African research landscapes, the need for institutionalized research funding is not always backed up by the necessary funding lines. That means, international research funding mainly comes from Europe and North America. This funding must inherently carry the perspective and the conditions of the donor’s origin which might not relate to the perspectives and approaches of African institutions and thus not ask or answer similar research questions. What is more, if the funding is labeled as “development funding”, it comes with inscribed power dynamics of advancement, progress and superiority, neglecting the contextuality and simultaneity of research and development needs.
These power and hierarchy dynamics also mean that development cooperation can never ultimately succeed because the developer needs to maintain the logic of development for which an underdeveloped partners is required. Therefore, the logic of development cooperation as it is conceptualized in the SDGs and the respective papers of the European Union and, for example, Germany, can never facilitate a partnership on the so-called eye-level and instead maintains a superiority of Global North standards and approaches.
That means, the logic of development cooperation has not changed since Truman put it on the agenda of international relations in 1949. Development cooperation, even after the protests in the 1980s, the Millenium Development goals and currently, the Sustainable Development Goals, follow the same logic: The Global North provides technical solutions to global problems while delegating the implementation to the so-defined developing world. More than 70 years later, the SDGs as the mother document, the EU and, for example, the German ministries, still use the same language. Post-Development approaches attempt to deconstruct the failed logic of development cooperation and to develop a new perspective of defining partnerships between African and European/Northern American higher education institutions.
This paper unfolds the underlying concepts of development in the context of higher education collaboration to make them transparent in current funding schemes from Europe and Germany. It also analyzes the African Union’s language on higher education collaboration to contrast the approaches and to develop common ideas for a new era.
Some might consider it trite to say that speaking truth to power is an act of bravery. In international relations, diplomacy often trumps the ideal of truth-speaking.
In the academy, academic freedom is often cited as an unbreakable covenant of the business and ethos of higher education. In later years actions as well as talk of academic freedom have increasingly touched upon issues of how to deal with academic partnerships with states accused of domestic and/or international war crimes or human rights abuses. Often debates around academic freedom involve debates among and between academics and university leadership of whether to continue partnerships and whether an institution should follow its own ideas and ideals, i.e. exercise their right to academic freedom or align to government policy on issues of international relations.
In global geopolitics, there is a fault line that divides the global.
North from the global south more of them than not talk to legacies of slavery, colonialism and apartheid and its many aberrations. Such fault lines have dictated the power that universities and individual academics and even states have by way of influence over global politics.
In this paper I will talk about how power dynamics are shifting globally and how later years re-emphasis on decolonization and equality in global politics influence universities and the way in which they structure their international relations and global engagements. I will argue that what is emerging is a stronger emphasis on diversity and equity in international relations globally and within the global South a voice that is becoming increasingly stronger and empowered to speak the truth. This will impact higher education collaborations in substantial ways and also poses a Kairos moment.
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This topic examines the impact of the Genocide in Gaza and increased attacks in the Occupied West Bank on education access and internationalisation in Palestinian Universities. Despite the ongoing challenges of genocide and political instability, Palestinian universities have strived to have an education access and internationalize their academic programs, research collaborations, and student exchanges. However, the ongoing situation have created formidable obstacles, including limited mobility, damaged infrastructure, financial constraints and academic isolation. This Panel discusses Palestinian universities’ strategies to overcome these challenges, such as utilizing digital technologies for virtual collaborations and teaching, fostering regional partnerships, and seeking international solidarity and support. Moreover, it discusses the Palestinian Universities initiatives to support the universities and students in the Gaza Strip. It also explores the evolving role of education access and internationalization in promoting resilience, academic excellence and intercultural understanding within Palestinian universities amidst the complexities of occupation. This contributes to the broader discourse on higher education in Palestine and highlights the resilience and innovation that Palestinian universities demonstrate in their pursuit of global engagement and academic advancement.
International Higher Education Collaborations aim to increase the quality or teaching and learning as well as research in their respective higher education landscapes. Their institutions therefore look for partners that are interested in answering similar (research) questions. They are, through that, also looking to be(come) visible in the global research community and to contribute to global knowledge. National and international funding organizations write schemes to support such developments.
However, in many African research landscapes, the need for institutionalized research funding is not always backed up by the necessary funding lines. That means, international research funding mainly comes from Europe and North America. This funding must inherently carry the perspective and the conditions of the donor’s origin which might not relate to the perspectives and approaches of African institutions and thus not ask or answer similar research questions. What is more, if the funding is labeled as “development funding”, it comes with inscribed power dynamics of advancement, progress and superiority, neglecting the contextuality and simultaneity of research and development needs.
These power and hierarchy dynamics also mean that development cooperation can never ultimately succeed because the developer needs to maintain the logic of development for which an underdeveloped partners is required. Therefore, the logic of development cooperation as it is conceptualized in the SDGs and the respective papers of the European Union and, for example, Germany, can never facilitate a partnership on the so-called eye-level and instead maintains a superiority of Global North standards and approaches.
That means, the logic of development cooperation has not changed since Truman put it on the agenda of international relations in 1949. Development cooperation, even after the protests in the 1980s, the Millenium Development goals and currently, the Sustainable Development Goals, follow the same logic: The Global North provides technical solutions to global problems while delegating the implementation to the so-defined developing world. More than 70 years later, the SDGs as the mother document, the EU and, for example, the German ministries, still use the same language. Post-Development approaches attempt to deconstruct the failed logic of development cooperation and to develop a new perspective of defining partnerships between African and European/Northern American higher education institutions.
This paper unfolds the underlying concepts of development in the context of higher education collaboration to make them transparent in current funding schemes from Europe and Germany. It also analyzes the African Union’s language on higher education collaboration to contrast the approaches and to develop common ideas for a new era.
Some might consider it trite to say that speaking truth to power is an act of bravery. In international relations, diplomacy often trumps the ideal of truth-speaking.
In the academy, academic freedom is often cited as an unbreakable covenant of the business and ethos of higher education. In later years actions as well as talk of academic freedom have increasingly touched upon issues of how to deal with academic partnerships with states accused of domestic and/or international war crimes or human rights abuses. Often debates around academic freedom involve debates among and between academics and university leadership of whether to continue partnerships and whether an institution should follow its own ideas and ideals, i.e. exercise their right to academic freedom or align to government policy on issues of international relations.
In global geopolitics, there is a fault line that divides the global.
North from the global south more of them than not talk to legacies of slavery, colonialism and apartheid and its many aberrations. Such fault lines have dictated the power that universities and individual academics and even states have by way of influence over global politics.
In this paper I will talk about how power dynamics are shifting globally and how later years re-emphasis on decolonization and equality in global politics influence universities and the way in which they structure their international relations and global engagements. I will argue that what is emerging is a stronger emphasis on diversity and equity in international relations globally and within the global South a voice that is becoming increasingly stronger and empowered to speak the truth. This will impact higher education collaborations in substantial ways and also poses a Kairos moment.
PRESENTATION C LINKS:
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Plenary Session
14:45 – 15:45 | Topic: Higher education, human rights, and the right to collaborate? |
Panellists:
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Chairperson: Prof. Ylva Rodny-Gumede, Head of the Division for Global Engagement and a Professor in the School of Communication at the University of Johannesburg. | |
Venue: Auditorium |
This panel will discuss imperatives of solidarity and action from the side institutions of higher education vis a vis human rights abuse. Increasingly, universities and institutions of higher education find themselves having to answers questions around partnerships with institutions or even nations complicit in systematic rights abuses and whether they have policies regulating partnerships and collaboration and/or policies that prohibits cooperation with institutions and/or nations complicit in systematic rights abuses.
Questions to be addressed:
- Do we see higher education as a public good as opposed to a commodity, and does this influence the way we form partnerships and with whom we partner?
- If democratic values and capacities form the basis of the public good of higher education, how does this impact strategies and policies around partnerships and collaborations?
- Should institutions of higher education act as agents for democracy, human rights, equity, and change in the interest of the latter?
- Do we need policies regulating partnerships and collaboration and/or policies that prohibits cooperation with institutions and/or nations complicit in systematic rights abuses?
- What is the role of universities and academics to mitigate conflict, human rights abuses?
- What can individual academics and institutions do to support academics and students in contexts where higher education is under attack or non-functioning?
- Is there support from university leadership to take action and/or to allow for individual academics to do so?
15:45 – 16:15 | Refreshment Break |
Side Event
16:15 – 18:15 | SANORD Meeting |
Venue: Duduza |
19:00 – 21:00 | Welcome Function |
Venue: Foyer Area |
07:00 – 14:00 | Registration Desk Open |
Plenary Session
08:30 – 08:45 | Welcome Normah Zondo, IEASA Deputy President |
08:45 – 09:45 |
Topic: Launch of the Research Report: Exploring Internationalisation of Higher Education at Public Universities in South Africa: Intentions, Practices, Opportunities and Constraints |
Panellists:
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Chairperson: Dr Samia Chasi, IEASA |
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Venue: Auditorium |
This session is the formal launch of the research report titled “Exploring Internationalisation of Higher Education at Public Universities in South Africa: Intentions, Practices, Opportunities and Constraints”. It is based on a national research study jointly commissioned by IEASA and the British Council in 2021. As the first of its kind, it aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the current state of higher education internationalisation in South Africa and to assess the implementation readiness of the country’s public universities regarding the first national internationalisation policy framework, which was formally promulgated by the Department of Higher Education and Training in late 2020.
10:00 - 11:00 Parallel Session 4
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: Internationalisation in resource-constrained environments: challenges and possibilities | Topic: Black Beyond Borders: Exploring and Strengthening U.S. American HBCU Study Abroad Programs in South Africa | Topic: Leveraging Regional Qualifications Frameworks (Regional and Continental) to Drive Internationalisation in Higher Education | Topic: COIL systems effectiveness and efficiency in ensuring sustainable engagements in Global South institutions. |
Elvis Tarkang, University of Health and Allied Sciences | Stephanie Tilley, University of Johannesburg | Nolusindiso Kayi, South African Qualifications Authority | Thembani Nosipho Hoho, University of the Free State |
Keshia Abraham, Abraham Consulting | Tafadzwa Ruzive, University of the Free State | ||
Phiwokuhle Mnyandu, Howard University | Atlehang Bokaba , University of the Free State | ||
Boitshoko Monnamorwe, University of the Free State | |||
Chairperson: Jabu Makhubela, University of Fort Hare | Chairperson: Chevon Slambee, University of the Free State | Chairperson: Asanda Tele, University of Fort Hare | Chairperson: Nyarai Simbarashe, Women’s University in Africa |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: Internationalisation in resource-constrained environments: challenges and possibilities | Topic: Black Beyond Borders: Exploring and Strengthening U.S. American HBCU Study Abroad Programs in South Africa |
Elvis Tarkang, University of Health and Allied Sciences | Stephanie Tilley, University of Johannesburg |
Keshia Abraham, Abraham Consulting | |
Phiwokuhle Mnyandu, Howard University | |
Chairperson: Jabu Makhubela, University of Fort Hare | Chairperson: Chevon Slambee, University of the Free State |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 |
PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: Leveraging Regional Qualifications Frameworks (Regional and Continental) to Drive Internationalisation in Higher Education | Topic: COIL systems effectiveness and efficiency in ensuring sustainable engagements in Global South institutions. |
Nolusindiso Kayi, South African Qualifications Authority | Thembani Nosipho Hoho, University of the Free State |
Tafadzwa Ruzive, University of the Free State | |
Atlehang Bokaba , University of the Free State | |
Boitshoko Monnamorwe, University of the Free State | |
Chairperson: Asanda Tele, University of Fort Hare | Chairperson: Nyarai Simbarashe, Women’s University in Africa |
Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema |
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Internationalisation is the process of an institution’s engagement with other international institutions in the areas of teaching, research and service for academic, cultural, political, and economic reasons. This might entail the physical mobility of students and staff, curriculum remodeling and research. Higher education is becoming more and more internationalised, which is seen as a transformative process and strategy that helps institutions to raise and enhance their standards and become more competitive on a national, regional, international, and global scale. They become more visible as collaborative spaces for knowledge and innovation creation and enhance their instruction and services.
There are multiple possibilities for internationalisation in environments with limited resources. These include forming strategic partnerships; leveraging technology; integration of global perspectives into existing curricula; scholarship and grantsmanship; capacity building; and engaging local communities. However, these possibilities are not without challenges. The challenges that institutions in resource-constrained settings encounter in their internationalisation strategy are diverse. Establishing strategic alliances with foreign universities can be a very effective way for higher education with limited resources to make a global impact. To improve the academic environment, collaborative activities can take many forms, such as cooperative research projects or teacher and student exchange programmes.
There are several challenges that higher education institutions in resource-constrained settings face in the process of internationalisation. These include lack or inefficient organizational structures for internationalization; lack of clear policies and guidelines on internationalization; financial and physical resources challenges; research and publishing; quality of curriculum, and language policy; inadequate information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure; socio-cultural challenges; unequal and non-reciprocal relationships; weakness in scientific competencies; corruption; and brain drain. To overcome these challenges, there should be clear policies and strong organisational structures; improved economic conditions; a strong politico-legal framework; enhanced financial, physical resources and technological capabilities.
Studying abroad engages the next generation of leaders by strengthening their intellectual capabilities, deepening their global consciousness and enriching their personal understanding. The purpose of this workshop is to explore the significance of Historically Black Universities & Colleges (HBCU) institutions and students participating in and leading study abroad programs in South Africa. The workshop will elicit traditional lecturing, storytelling, open dialogue, and group discussion to engage the audience.
the session will begin with a comprehensive literature review. The literview review will include a comparative analysis of Historically Disadvantaged Universities in South Africa (formerly classified as Historically Black Universities) and Historically Black University College and University in the United States of America, a historical overview of the presence and experiences of Black Americans traveling to South Africa and a will review study abroad statistics in South Africa.
Will proceed with personal scholarly narratives from HBCU educators and professors who have worked with or led study abroad programs to South Africa; they will share the learning outcomes which their students experienced. The workshop will conclude with a small group discussion and explore ways in which HBCU study abroad programs in South Africa can be improved and strengthened.
The internationalisation of Higher Education is an important priority in an era characterized by globalization and the growing mobility of students and scholars. In this context, Regional Qualifications Frameworks (RFQs) are reference frameworks that are regional and in some instances continental, and have been developed to facilitate recognition, comparability and alignment of qualifications across borders. The paper examines the key role played by these frameworks in driving higher education institutions’ internationalisation programmes.
RQFs are a common reference point, which enables stakeholders to see the level and content of qualifications in various education systems. RQFs improve the comparability of qualifications, thus promoting student and staff mobility as they give a clear framework for descriptions of educational outcomes and skills. The paper highlights initiatives like the Southern African Community Development Qualifications Framework (SADCQF), African Continental Qualifications Framework (ACQF), and to a lesser European Qualifications Framework (EQF).
This paper uses the SADCQF and ACQF case studies to discuss the impact of RQFs on internationalization efforts in higher education in South Africa and the African continent. It examines how RQFs facilitate the recognition of foreign qualifications and improve student and academic mobility. Additionally, this paper will also explore RQF’s role in fostering lifelong learning and professional development and fostering a culture of continuous training and upskilling in an increasingly global world of work.
In today’s globalised world, higher education internationalisation has become a key priority for many countries in the Global South. Participation in international collaborations provides these countries benefits from trade, knowledge exchange and enhanced innovative capabilities. It also accelerates the achievement of critical SDGs (sustainable development goals). Engaging in international collaboration can be challenging, especially for countries in the Global South that may face resource constraints, limited access to technology and knowledge, fragmented innovation systems, and adverse economic shocks that may affect education systems. Global health security risks, such as COVID-19 can render physical collaboration unfeasible.
COIL was adopted as a response to these challenges and many countries in the Global South implemented Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL from henceforth) systems as a strategy, marking a shift from physical to virtual collaboration, ensuring sustained participation in internationalisation. These systems overcome barriers such as distance and constrained resources by leveraging technologies for group collaboration and distance learning. The usage of online platforms and learning management systems like COIL, provides access to previously inaccessible academic resources. Additionally, COIL provides opportunities for international collaboration and real-world projects, allowing students to develop effective communication skills and gain technical and cultural benefits.
However, while COIL has assisted with international collaboration, there are certain risks that emerge when transitioning from physical collaboration to virtual collaboration. Through a COIL lens, these risks have not been examined in previous literature. Therefore, this paper assesses the impact of transitioning from physical to virtual collaboration on perceptions of student engagement and participation in COIL programmes. The paper critically analyses changes in the perception of the quality of engagement and participation when transitioning from physical to virtual collaboration.
The analysis will be conducted qualitatively as well as quantitatively, hence following a mixed methods approach. Combining quantitative analysis of participation and engagement surveys and secondary qualitative online reports, a comparative analysis will be conducted on the participation and engagement of stakeholders from COIL projects over the period of 2018 – 2023.
Purposive sampling is used to target institutions to be included in analysis. The key criteria utilized is a university that participated in a COIL project and published its experiences on the institutional website. Data collection will consist of accessing and organising secondary sources that outline the COIL experiences of Higher Education Institutions. Content analysis is used to form and analyse perceptions of changes in participation and engagement through a shift from physical to virtual collaboration.
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Internationalisation is the process of an institution’s engagement with other international institutions in the areas of teaching, research and service for academic, cultural, political, and economic reasons. This might entail the physical mobility of students and staff, curriculum remodeling and research. Higher education is becoming more and more internationalised, which is seen as a transformative process and strategy that helps institutions to raise and enhance their standards and become more competitive on a national, regional, international, and global scale. They become more visible as collaborative spaces for knowledge and innovation creation and enhance their instruction and services.
There are multiple possibilities for internationalisation in environments with limited resources. These include forming strategic partnerships; leveraging technology; integration of global perspectives into existing curricula; scholarship and grantsmanship; capacity building; and engaging local communities. However, these possibilities are not without challenges. The challenges that institutions in resource-constrained settings encounter in their internationalisation strategy are diverse. Establishing strategic alliances with foreign universities can be a very effective way for higher education with limited resources to make a global impact. To improve the academic environment, collaborative activities can take many forms, such as cooperative research projects or teacher and student exchange programmes.
There are several challenges that higher education institutions in resource-constrained settings face in the process of internationalisation. These include lack or inefficient organizational structures for internationalization; lack of clear policies and guidelines on internationalization; financial and physical resources challenges; research and publishing; quality of curriculum, and language policy; inadequate information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure; socio-cultural challenges; unequal and non-reciprocal relationships; weakness in scientific competencies; corruption; and brain drain. To overcome these challenges, there should be clear policies and strong organisational structures; improved economic conditions; a strong politico-legal framework; enhanced financial, physical resources and technological capabilities.
Studying abroad engages the next generation of leaders by strengthening their intellectual capabilities, deepening their global consciousness and enriching their personal understanding. The purpose of this workshop is to explore the significance of Historically Black Universities & Colleges (HBCU) institutions and students participating in and leading study abroad programs in South Africa. The workshop will elicit traditional lecturing, storytelling, open dialogue, and group discussion to engage the audience.
the session will begin with a comprehensive literature review. The literview review will include a comparative analysis of Historically Disadvantaged Universities in South Africa (formerly classified as Historically Black Universities) and Historically Black University College and University in the United States of America, a historical overview of the presence and experiences of Black Americans traveling to South Africa and a will review study abroad statistics in South Africa.
Will proceed with personal scholarly narratives from HBCU educators and professors who have worked with or led study abroad programs to South Africa; they will share the learning outcomes which their students experienced. The workshop will conclude with a small group discussion and explore ways in which HBCU study abroad programs in South Africa can be improved and strengthened.
The internationalisation of Higher Education is an important priority in an era characterized by globalization and the growing mobility of students and scholars. In this context, Regional Qualifications Frameworks (RFQs) are reference frameworks that are regional and in some instances continental, and have been developed to facilitate recognition, comparability and alignment of qualifications across borders. The paper examines the key role played by these frameworks in driving higher education institutions’ internationalisation programmes.
RQFs are a common reference point, which enables stakeholders to see the level and content of qualifications in various education systems. RQFs improve the comparability of qualifications, thus promoting student and staff mobility as they give a clear framework for descriptions of educational outcomes and skills. The paper highlights initiatives like the Southern African Community Development Qualifications Framework (SADCQF), African Continental Qualifications Framework (ACQF), and to a lesser European Qualifications Framework (EQF).
This paper uses the SADCQF and ACQF case studies to discuss the impact of RQFs on internationalization efforts in higher education in South Africa and the African continent. It examines how RQFs facilitate the recognition of foreign qualifications and improve student and academic mobility. Additionally, this paper will also explore RQF’s role in fostering lifelong learning and professional development and fostering a culture of continuous training and upskilling in an increasingly global world of work.
In today’s globalised world, higher education internationalisation has become a key priority for many countries in the Global South. Participation in international collaborations provides these countries benefits from trade, knowledge exchange and enhanced innovative capabilities. It also accelerates the achievement of critical SDGs (sustainable development goals). Engaging in international collaboration can be challenging, especially for countries in the Global South that may face resource constraints, limited access to technology and knowledge, fragmented innovation systems, and adverse economic shocks that may affect education systems. Global health security risks, such as COVID-19 can render physical collaboration unfeasible.
COIL was adopted as a response to these challenges and many countries in the Global South implemented Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL from henceforth) systems as a strategy, marking a shift from physical to virtual collaboration, ensuring sustained participation in internationalisation. These systems overcome barriers such as distance and constrained resources by leveraging technologies for group collaboration and distance learning. The usage of online platforms and learning management systems like COIL, provides access to previously inaccessible academic resources. Additionally, COIL provides opportunities for international collaboration and real-world projects, allowing students to develop effective communication skills and gain technical and cultural benefits.
However, while COIL has assisted with international collaboration, there are certain risks that emerge when transitioning from physical collaboration to virtual collaboration. Through a COIL lens, these risks have not been examined in previous literature. Therefore, this paper assesses the impact of transitioning from physical to virtual collaboration on perceptions of student engagement and participation in COIL programmes. The paper critically analyses changes in the perception of the quality of engagement and participation when transitioning from physical to virtual collaboration.
The analysis will be conducted qualitatively as well as quantitatively, hence following a mixed methods approach. Combining quantitative analysis of participation and engagement surveys and secondary qualitative online reports, a comparative analysis will be conducted on the participation and engagement of stakeholders from COIL projects over the period of 2018 – 2023.
Purposive sampling is used to target institutions to be included in analysis. The key criteria utilized is a university that participated in a COIL project and published its experiences on the institutional website. Data collection will consist of accessing and organising secondary sources that outline the COIL experiences of Higher Education Institutions. Content analysis is used to form and analyse perceptions of changes in participation and engagement through a shift from physical to virtual collaboration.
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11:00 – 11:30 | Refreshment Break |
11:30 - 12:30 Parallel Session 5
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D | PRESENTATION E |
Topic: African Higher Education Qualifications: Global Mobility, Trends, Opportunities, and Outcomes | Topic: Navigating the Challenges of Postdoctoral fellows in South Africa: Towards Advancing Internalisation Experiences | Topic: Addressing challenges, and opportunities relating to international partnerships at University of Pretoria, South Africa | Topic: Internationalisation and the Development of Intercultural Competencies: Catalysts for Societal and Educational Transformation. | Topic: Global asymmetries in International Doctoral Education: An examination of dissertations on Education Development in Africa at Finnish Universities |
Esther Benjamin, World Education Services | Oluwatobi Owojori, University of Johannesburg | Nivrithi Ragubeer, University of Pretoria | Tasmeera Singh, Cape Peninsula University of Technology | Elizabeth Agbor Eta, University of Helsinki |
Makhapa Makhafola, South African Qualifications Authority | Emem Anwana, Durban University of Technology | Chika Sehoole, University of Pretoria | Dingaan Booi, Cape Peninsula University of Technology | Hanna Kontio, University of Helsinki |
Oumar Sanga, World Education Services | Elina Lehtomäki, University of Oulu | |||
Chairperson: Navin Vasudev, SAQA | Chairperson: Nazlie Daniels, Stellenbosch University | Chairperson: Helin Bäckman Kartal, South Africa Swedish Forum | Chairperson: Refilwe Molyane, Central University of Technology | Chairperson: Lebethe Malefo, University of Johannesburg |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: African Higher Education Qualifications: Global Mobility, Trends, Opportunities, and Outcomes | Topic: Navigating the Challenges of Postdoctoral fellows in South Africa: Towards Advancing Internalisation Experiences |
Esther Benjamin, World Education Services | Oluwatobi Owojori, University of Johannesburg |
Makhapa Makhafola, South African Qualifications Authority | Emem Anwana Durban University of Technology |
Oumar Sanga, World Education Services | |
Chairperson: Navin Vasudev, SAQA | Chairperson: Nazlie Daniels, Stellenbosch University |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 |
PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: Addressing challenges, and opportunities relating to international partnerships at University of Pretoria, South Africa | Topic: Internationalisation and the Development of Intercultural Competencies: Catalysts for Societal and Educational Transformation. |
Nivrithi Ragubeer, University of Pretoria | Tasmeera Singh, Cape Peninsula University of Technology |
Chika Sehoole, University of Pretoria | Dingaan Booi, Cape Peninsula University of Technology |
Chairperson: Helin Bäckman Kartal, South Africa Swedish Forum | Chairperson: Refilwe Molyane, Central University of Technology |
Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema |
PRESENTATION E |
Topic: Global asymmetries in International Doctoral Education: An examination of dissertations on Education Development in Africa at Finnish Universities |
Elizabeth Agbor Eta, University of Helsinki |
Hanna Kontio, University of Helsinki |
Elina Lehtomäki, University of Oulu |
Chairperson: Lebethe Malefo, University of Johannesburg |
Venue: Tsakane |
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The proposed session aims to provide a comprehensive exploration of the evaluation, accreditation, and recognition of African educational qualifications within the global context. Facilitated by esteemed organizations such as the World Education Services (WES), the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), and an additional regional partner (TBC), this session will focus on elucidating the pathways available to African graduates seeking international educational, professional recognition, and/or skills-based immigration.
Key Focus Area
- Evaluation and Recognition: The session will delve into the mechanisms and standards employed in evaluating and recognizing African educational
qualifications on a regional and global scale. Through the lens of WES’s extensive expertise in global credential evaluation and SAQA’s authoritative role in setting qualification standards in South Africa, participants will gain insights into the recognition and acceptance of African credentials worldwide. - Trends and Demographics: An examination of trends, demographic profiles, top credentials, and fields of study for African graduates will be conducted. This analysis will shed light on the evolving landscape of African higher education qualifications and their relevance in the international arena.
- Outcomes and Opportunities: By highlighting the outcomes for African graduates pursuing further international opportunities leveraging their qualifications, the session will underscore the tangible benefits and opportunities available to individuals with African educational backgrounds.
Utilizing a blend of presentation methods, analysis of historical data, and real-world examples, the session aims to provide participants with a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities encountered by African graduates in the global mobility landscape. Interactive discussions and Q&A segments will facilitate engagement and enable attendees to gain firsthand insights and strategies for navigating the complexities of international mobility.
Participants can expect to:
- Gain insights into the recognition and acceptance of African educational qualifications globally.
- Understand the trends and demographics shaping African higher education qualifications.
- Identify opportunities for further international engagement and professional development leveraging African qualifications.
- Engage with leading organizations in the field and access firsthand insights and strategies for navigating international mobility.
In conclusion, the proposed session offers a unique opportunity to explore African higher education qualifications within the global context, providing invaluable insights, strategies, and opportunities for individuals and organizations invested in international mobility and recognition of qualifications. Through collaboration with esteemed partners and engagement with industry leaders, this session promises to be a platform for meaningful dialogue and knowledge exchange.
This proposal also requests the assessment committee to consider the submission for a plenary at the IEASA conference.
Introduction: Amidst the global call for diversity and inclusivity in higher education, the experiences of postdocs present a multifaceted narrative. Internationalisation efforts often lack a nuanced understanding of the distinctive challenges encountered by postdoctoral researchers. In response to the global goal of improving the global landscape of internalization in higher education, scholarly works emphasize the pivotal role of cultural integration in academic success (Rienties and Tempelar 2013) and the impact of funding support on the overall academic experience (Mayne, 2019). Studies also underscore the need for robust mental health services for international scholars (Okoro et al., 2022) and the crucial role of mentoring in facilitating a positive academic journey (Okoro et al., 2022). While acknowledging the broader call for inclusivity, the focus here is to unravel the intricacies that uniquely shape the experiences of these scholars, with a specific lens on South Africa.
Problem statement: Despite global aspirations for diversity and inclusivity, the experiences of international scholars in South Africa reveal nuanced hurdles in international integration and support structures. This proposal aims to address these challenges, advocating for a more robust framework to facilitate the successful career journey of postdocs.
Objective: This proposal aims to review and analyze the experiences of international students and postdocs in South Africa, comparing them with global best practices. The primary objective is to identify challenges, successes, and innovative solutions, offering valuable insights to improve internalization experiences in South African academic institutions.
Methods: Utilizing a systematic literature review approach, this study synthesizes existing research, institutional reports, and policy documents related to the experiences of postdocs. The comparative analysis will focus on key themes, including cultural integration, visa processes, mental health, funding support, and professional development.
Expected Outcomes: The paper contributes to the:
- Understanding of challenges faced by international scholars in South Africa.
- Identification of best practices for academic and internalisation.
- Recommendations for institutions and policymakers to enhance the internationalization experience.
Conclusion: By unraveling the complexities of internationalization in South Africa, this research aspires to catalyze transformative measures, fostering an environment that nurtures the academic and cultural integration of postdocs. The research aims to offer actionable recommendations for institutions and policymakers to foster a more inclusive and supportive environment.
References
Mayne, D. (2019). How funding sources affect academic experiences and involvement: Gulf Arab international students in the US across the disciplines. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Higher Education, 4(1), 55-73.
Rienties, B., & Tempelaar, D. (2013). The role of cultural dimensions of international and Dutch students on academic and social integration and academic performance in the Netherlands. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2), 188-201.
Okoro, C., Owojori, O. M., & Umeokafor, N. (2022). The developmental trajectory of a decade of research on mental health and well-being amongst graduate students: A bibliometric analysis. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(9), 4929.
University of Pretoria (UP) uses international partnerships to achieve its mission to be research-intensive and globally competitive. There is a need to examine these international partnerships in terms of challenges and opportunities, in order to build long-term transformational and mutual partnerships with institutions both in the Global North and the Global South.
The paper aims to examine the challenges and opportunities that were experienced in these international partnerships at UP with particular focus on the policies and strategies used by UP leadership and staff who sought international partnerships with mutual outcomes.
The research question it addresses is: “What are the challenges and opportunities that were experienced in these partnerships and with what outcomes?”
The paper used transformational partnerships as its theoretical framework. This theory highlights the importance and differences between transactional and transformational partnerships.
A qualitative research methodology that employed documentary analysis of national and institutional policies and interviews with staff from UP was used in the development of this paper.
The findings reveal the importance of communication between partners at all levels – from leadership to academics to professional support staff. In addition, how challenges were addressed and overcome.
In an era characterized by global interconnectedness, the imperative to cultivate intercultural competencies as a key graduate attribute has become integral for both societal and educational transformation within the higher education landscape. Intercultural competencies are even more relevant in a context such as South Africa as higher education institutions still grapple with the issues of transformation 30 years later. This abstract explores the intricate relationship between internationalization initiatives and the development of intercultural competencies to the larger transformation agenda of South African higher education institutions. The paper attempts to shed light on the collective impact of Internationalisation and intercultural competencies as a graduate attribute that is core to the transformation agenda of higher education.
The Internationalisation of higher education is a dynamic, constantly evolving space that emphasizes partnerships and relationships beyond geographical boundaries. As institutions engage in diverse collaborative endeavors, the need to foster intercultural competencies becomes evident in a truly imagined global space. This paper examines the multifaceted dimensions of intercultural competencies at a higher education institution encompassing cultural awareness, communication skills, and adaptability, among others. By delving into the symbiotic relationship between Internationalisation and intercultural competencies, this paper seeks to uncover the mechanisms through which cross-cultural interactions contribute to societal and educational transformation.
It is argued that societal transformation is intricately linked to the development of a global mindset that transcends cultural divides and boundaries. Internationalization activities and opportunities act as catalysts, exposing individuals to diverse perspectives and multifaceted learning environments with a view to fostering mutual understanding, respect, tolerance, and nurturing a sense of shared responsibility. Furthermore, within the context of higher education, the integration of international perspectives into the curriculum and the facilitation of cross-cultural exchanges are pivotal in shaping the next generation of global citizens, thereby preparing them for an increasingly interconnected world. Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), as both a mode of delivery of the curriculum as well as a tool that facilitates global classrooms and pedagogy across diverse contexts, can be utilized in creative ways to drive educational transformation through internationalization.
In conclusion, this paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on the transformative potential of Internationalisation initiatives on both societal and educational levels. Using student accounts of their experiences and exposure to intercultural education, this paper attempts to elucidate the intricate interplay between Internationalisation and transformation with the aim of providing valuable insights for educators and researchers striving to create a more inclusive and interconnected global landscape within higher education.
This presentation reports on the outcomes of a network analysis focusing on key contributors to PhD dissertations (supervisors, co-authors of article-based dissertations, examiners) conducted in internationalised settings. Specifically, we map and analyse their global representation in relation to the progression and completion of doctoral dissertations on education development in African countries completed in Finnish universities between 2000-2021.
Data for the analysis was derived from 100 doctoral dissertations, sourced from completed dissertations available on the webpages of nine Finnish universities, as well as through interactions with doctoral program coordinators and the dissertation writers themselves. Our preliminary analysis of dissertation mapping and institutional network analysis, reveals a predominant reliance on contributors from the global North throughout various phases.
These findings are scrutinised in light of critical discourses surrounding internationalisation and decoloniality. We delve into the complexities of expertise, power dynamics in knowledge creation and distribution processes, contextual relevance, and the applicability of these findings in both the global South and the global North within the context of education development.
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The proposed session aims to provide a comprehensive exploration of the evaluation, accreditation, and recognition of African educational qualifications within the global context. Facilitated by esteemed organizations such as the World Education Services (WES), the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), and an additional regional partner (TBC), this session will focus on elucidating the pathways available to African graduates seeking international educational, professional recognition, and/or skills-based immigration.
Key Focus Area
- Evaluation and Recognition: The session will delve into the mechanisms and standards employed in evaluating and recognizing African educational
qualifications on a regional and global scale. Through the lens of WES’s extensive expertise in global credential evaluation and SAQA’s authoritative role in setting qualification standards in South Africa, participants will gain insights into the recognition and acceptance of African credentials worldwide. - Trends and Demographics: An examination of trends, demographic profiles, top credentials, and fields of study for African graduates will be conducted. This analysis will shed light on the evolving landscape of African higher education qualifications and their relevance in the international arena.
- Outcomes and Opportunities: By highlighting the outcomes for African graduates pursuing further international opportunities leveraging their qualifications, the session will underscore the tangible benefits and opportunities available to individuals with African educational backgrounds.
Utilizing a blend of presentation methods, analysis of historical data, and real-world examples, the session aims to provide participants with a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities encountered by African graduates in the global mobility landscape. Interactive discussions and Q&A segments will facilitate engagement and enable attendees to gain firsthand insights and strategies for navigating the complexities of international mobility.
Participants can expect to:
- Gain insights into the recognition and acceptance of African educational qualifications globally.
- Understand the trends and demographics shaping African higher education qualifications.
- Identify opportunities for further international engagement and professional development leveraging African qualifications.
- Engage with leading organizations in the field and access firsthand insights and strategies for navigating international mobility.
In conclusion, the proposed session offers a unique opportunity to explore African higher education qualifications within the global context, providing invaluable insights, strategies, and opportunities for individuals and organizations invested in international mobility and recognition of qualifications. Through collaboration with esteemed partners and engagement with industry leaders, this session promises to be a platform for meaningful dialogue and knowledge exchange.
This proposal also requests the assessment committee to consider the submission for a plenary at the IEASA conference.
Introduction: Amidst the global call for diversity and inclusivity in higher education, the experiences of postdocs present a multifaceted narrative. Internationalisation efforts often lack a nuanced understanding of the distinctive challenges encountered by postdoctoral researchers. In response to the global goal of improving the global landscape of internalization in higher education, scholarly works emphasize the pivotal role of cultural integration in academic success (Rienties and Tempelar 2013) and the impact of funding support on the overall academic experience (Mayne, 2019). Studies also underscore the need for robust mental health services for international scholars (Okoro et al., 2022) and the crucial role of mentoring in facilitating a positive academic journey (Okoro et al., 2022). While acknowledging the broader call for inclusivity, the focus here is to unravel the intricacies that uniquely shape the experiences of these scholars, with a specific lens on South Africa.
Problem statement: Despite global aspirations for diversity and inclusivity, the experiences of international scholars in South Africa reveal nuanced hurdles in international integration and support structures. This proposal aims to address these challenges, advocating for a more robust framework to facilitate the successful career journey of postdocs.
Objective: This proposal aims to review and analyze the experiences of international students and postdocs in South Africa, comparing them with global best practices. The primary objective is to identify challenges, successes, and innovative solutions, offering valuable insights to improve internalization experiences in South African academic institutions.
Methods: Utilizing a systematic literature review approach, this study synthesizes existing research, institutional reports, and policy documents related to the experiences of postdocs. The comparative analysis will focus on key themes, including cultural integration, visa processes, mental health, funding support, and professional development.
Expected Outcomes: The paper contributes to the:
- Understanding of challenges faced by international scholars in South Africa.
- Identification of best practices for academic and internalisation.
- Recommendations for institutions and policymakers to enhance the internationalization experience.
Conclusion: By unraveling the complexities of internationalization in South Africa, this research aspires to catalyze transformative measures, fostering an environment that nurtures the academic and cultural integration of postdocs. The research aims to offer actionable recommendations for institutions and policymakers to foster a more inclusive and supportive environment.
References
Mayne, D. (2019). How funding sources affect academic experiences and involvement: Gulf Arab international students in the US across the disciplines. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Higher Education, 4(1), 55-73.
Rienties, B., & Tempelaar, D. (2013). The role of cultural dimensions of international and Dutch students on academic and social integration and academic performance in the Netherlands. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2), 188-201.
Okoro, C., Owojori, O. M., & Umeokafor, N. (2022). The developmental trajectory of a decade of research on mental health and well-being amongst graduate students: A bibliometric analysis. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(9), 4929.
University of Pretoria (UP) uses international partnerships to achieve its mission to be research-intensive and globally competitive. There is a need to examine these international partnerships in terms of challenges and opportunities, in order to build long-term transformational and mutual partnerships with institutions both in the Global North and the Global South.
The paper aims to examine the challenges and opportunities that were experienced in these international partnerships at UP with particular focus on the policies and strategies used by UP leadership and staff who sought international partnerships with mutual outcomes.
The research question it addresses is: “What are the challenges and opportunities that were experienced in these partnerships and with what outcomes?”
The paper used transformational partnerships as its theoretical framework. This theory highlights the importance and differences between transactional and transformational partnerships.
A qualitative research methodology that employed documentary analysis of national and institutional policies and interviews with staff from UP was used in the development of this paper.
The findings reveal the importance of communication between partners at all levels – from leadership to academics to professional support staff. In addition, how challenges were addressed and overcome.
In an era characterized by global interconnectedness, the imperative to cultivate intercultural competencies as a key graduate attribute has become integral for both societal and educational transformation within the higher education landscape. Intercultural competencies are even more relevant in a context such as South Africa as higher education institutions still grapple with the issues of transformation 30 years later. This abstract explores the intricate relationship between internationalization initiatives and the development of intercultural competencies to the larger transformation agenda of South African higher education institutions. The paper attempts to shed light on the collective impact of Internationalisation and intercultural competencies as a graduate attribute that is core to the transformation agenda of higher education.
The Internationalisation of higher education is a dynamic, constantly evolving space that emphasizes partnerships and relationships beyond geographical boundaries. As institutions engage in diverse collaborative endeavors, the need to foster intercultural competencies becomes evident in a truly imagined global space. This paper examines the multifaceted dimensions of intercultural competencies at a higher education institution encompassing cultural awareness, communication skills, and adaptability, among others. By delving into the symbiotic relationship between Internationalisation and intercultural competencies, this paper seeks to uncover the mechanisms through which cross-cultural interactions contribute to societal and educational transformation.
It is argued that societal transformation is intricately linked to the development of a global mindset that transcends cultural divides and boundaries. Internationalization activities and opportunities act as catalysts, exposing individuals to diverse perspectives and multifaceted learning environments with a view to fostering mutual understanding, respect, tolerance, and nurturing a sense of shared responsibility. Furthermore, within the context of higher education, the integration of international perspectives into the curriculum and the facilitation of cross-cultural exchanges are pivotal in shaping the next generation of global citizens, thereby preparing them for an increasingly interconnected world. Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), as both a mode of delivery of the curriculum as well as a tool that facilitates global classrooms and pedagogy across diverse contexts, can be utilized in creative ways to drive educational transformation through internationalization.
In conclusion, this paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on the transformative potential of Internationalisation initiatives on both societal and educational levels. Using student accounts of their experiences and exposure to intercultural education, this paper attempts to elucidate the intricate interplay between Internationalisation and transformation with the aim of providing valuable insights for educators and researchers striving to create a more inclusive and interconnected global landscape within higher education.
This presentation reports on the outcomes of a network analysis focusing on key contributors to PhD dissertations (supervisors, co-authors of article-based dissertations, examiners) conducted in internationalised settings. Specifically, we map and analyse their global representation in relation to the progression and completion of doctoral dissertations on education development in African countries completed in Finnish universities between 2000-2021.
Data for the analysis was derived from 100 doctoral dissertations, sourced from completed dissertations available on the webpages of nine Finnish universities, as well as through interactions with doctoral program coordinators and the dissertation writers themselves. Our preliminary analysis of dissertation mapping and institutional network analysis, reveals a predominant reliance on contributors from the global North throughout various phases.
These findings are scrutinised in light of critical discourses surrounding internationalisation and decoloniality. We delve into the complexities of expertise, power dynamics in knowledge creation and distribution processes, contextual relevance, and the applicability of these findings in both the global South and the global North within the context of education development.
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12:45 - 13:45 Parallel Session 6
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: The Impact of Staff and Student Networks in Fostering Inclusion: shared practices from the UK, USA and SA | Topic: Humanising and decolonising pedagogy through virtual exchange. Internationalisation of higher education pedagogy through decolonial humanising teaching and learning in the space of international virtual exchange. | Topic: NHI and the value of the medical aid project | Topic: The Perceptions of Senior International Officers on Internationalization Strategies at U.S. Research Universities |
Sheena Lucas, University of Birmingham, UK (Online) | Divinia Jithoo, Durban University of Technology | Mrs Rikki Wooding, Head: Student Segment Momentum Health Solutions | Iyonka Strawn-Valcy, Georgia Institute of Technology |
Fhatuwani Legege, University of Johannesburg, SA | Alia Gilbrecht, Debate Education | Mr Josua Joubert, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Officer CompCare Medical Scheme | |
Sammer Saleh Jones, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, USA | An Najah, National University | ||
Huba Boshoff, Durban University of Technology | |||
Chairperson: Anisa Khan, University of Johannesburg | Chairperson: Jody Felton, IES Abroad | Chairperson: Mr Brandon de Jager, Senior Healthcare Consultant Simeka Health | Chairperson: Chevon Slambee, University of the Free State |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: The Impact of Staff and Student Networks in Fostering Inclusion: shared practices from the UK, USA and SA | Topic: Humanising and decolonising pedagogy through virtual exchange. Internationalisation of higher education pedagogy through decolonial humanising teaching and learning in the space of international virtual exchange. |
Sheena Lucas, University of Birmingham, UK (Online) | Divinia Jithoo, Durban University of Technology |
Fhatuwani Legege, University of Johannesburg, SA | Alia Gilbrecht, Debate Education |
Sammer Saleh Jones, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, USA | An Najah, National University |
Huba Boshoff, Durban University of Technology | |
Chairperson: Anisa Khan, University of Johannesburg | Chairperson: Jody Felton, IES Abroad |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Duduza |
PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: NHI and the value of the medical aid project | Topic: The Perceptions of Senior International Officers on Internationalization Strategies at U.S. Research Universities |
Mrs Rikki Wooding, Head: Student Segment Momentum Health Solutions | Iyonka Strawn-Valcy, Georgia Institute of Technology |
Mr Josua Joubert, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Officer CompCare Medical Scheme | |
Chairperson: Mr Brandon de Jager, Senior Healthcare Consultant Simeka Health | Chairperson: Chevon Slambee, University of the Free State |
Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
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This session is an adaptation of a similar session taking place as part of the University of Birmingham’s (UoB’s) EDI week. UoB and UJ are partners in the U21 network. The U21 network has a new strategic focus on JEDI and as part of these engagements, UoB and UJ will be working more closely together to share experiences and to develop shared models. The model of creating Staff Networks for inclusion could also benefit the wider IEASA community and this session will engage the session participants to discuss modes for starting this at our home universities and what some of the challenges and solutions could be in implementing similar models.
UoB believes that staff networks are a powerful mechanism to enable organizations to understand the complexities of a diverse workforce. They offer a safe environment in which staff can discuss their experiences and help shape the culture and behaviours of their organisations.
The University of Birmingham supports 5 staff EDI networks representing Women, LGBTQ+, Disability, Parents and Carers and Race Equality. Each network is managed by members of staff who have a desire to foster an inclusive environment and help make positive changes in the organization. Join staff network leads at the University of Birmingham, as well as colleagues from the University of Johannesburg on a discussion panel event to understand how to benefit from the power staff networks can offer. Other U21 partner universities may also join the panel (TBC)
The decolonisation of higher education argument has been diversely explored within the global higher education sector, resulting in divergent perspectives. Within the South African context, it is a call to end domination in the curriculum by Western, capitalist and Euro-American worldviews. It has also been put forth as an endeavour to counter the reproduction of epistemological hierarchies wherein the Western knowledge is privileged over non-western bodies and traditions of knowledge and knowledge-making.
To counter the epistemic othering of the Eurocentric curriculum globally, curriculum that organises counter-hegemonic learning suitable to challenge dominant hegemonic discourse may be necessary. Pedagogy through dialogue and problem- or inquiry-based learning allows for critical consciousness while actively including students in the knowledge creation.
International Virtual Exchange (IVE) as a pedagogy enhances the learning experience by exposing students to different perspectives, including those that may have been traditionally excluded from the curriculum. Furthermore, IVE, such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), positions students as the drivers of the learning while participating cross-cultural exchange of ideas.
International Virtual Exchange such as COIL provides a platform for humanising pedagogy through the student-centered approach and in practice encourages students to reflect on their own realities, contextual knowledge and histories to contribute to the knowledge creation within a COIL project. This, of course, depends on the intention of the academics developing the COIL project and their willingness to be critical, embrace humanising pedagogy, and encourage students to meaningfully participate and reflect with others.
The session will explore a COIL partnership between the Durban University of Technology in South Africa and An Najah National University in Palestine. We will focus on the institutional approaches to IVE while highlighting the unique outcomes of the student collaboration and the designed pedagogical interventions. Through the showcasing of various IVE practices, each institution will highlight successful partnerships and include practical examples of the IVE approaches that value the decolonial internationalised objectives.
Twenty-first-century universities throughout the United States are intentionally engaging in internationalization strategies to support institutional missions (Knight, 2004). For U.S. research universities, these strategies serve as a contemporary internationalization agenda to enhance student preparedness for a globalized world, foster innovation, align teaching and research and engagement towards an institutional global vision, and integrate internationalization across the institution’s colleges and departments. A university’s Senior International Officer (SIO) is deeply involved in the internationalization strategic planning process and is charged with leading an internationalization strategic plan that represents the institution’s mission and goals (Cruz, 2019; Heyl et al., 2019; Olson et al., 2006). The SIO’s role in strategic planning for internationalization at a research university could inform our understanding of institutional strategies and operations in support of internationalization while offering insights into the future of internationalization at a time of intensified global changes. Contemporary global issues that threaten to complicate internationalization strategies include political obstacles stemming from geopolitical concerns or world events; health and safety issues, particularly those caused by climate change; increased scientific and technological competitiveness; concerns about the theft of intellectual property; and circumscribed academic freedom (Altbach & de Wit, 2017; Mace & Pearl, 2021). If we want to understand the power dynamics involved in internationalization, and better understand how education can be a catalyst for change, we need to understand the role of the SIO. U.S. research university internationalization.
This study contributes to our understanding of how institutions strategize for internationalization, how collaborations are formed with key stakeholders, which principles and theories of strategy are employed by SIOs, and how internationalization processes are assessed. A more comprehensive understanding of these factors can expand opportunities for university engagement and service internationally, enhance transnational collaborative activities, support education policies, and counter political and economic trends which threaten greater transnational engagement. A second goal of this study is to better understand how SIOs at research universities describe their motivations and rationales for implementing internationalization activities. These data can inform emerging conceptual and theoretical ideas about effective SIO leadership and institutional decision-making processes which effect international engagement.
Preliminary findings indicate that Senior International Officers (SIOs) indeed play a crucial role in strategizing and leading internationalization efforts in research universities. Data from this study also highlighted the importance of the following internationalization strategies:
- Partnerships and Collaborations: SIOs continue to actively seek and cultivate international partnerships with universities, organizations, and international entities worldwide, even in environments where academic freedom might be curtailed. The primary lures of transnational collaboration are revenue, resources, and international talent.
- Recruitment: SIOs emphasized an entrepreneurial approach to internationalization, engaging in market research to identify target regions for international student recruitment in collaboration with enrollment management units.
- Advocacy and Communication: As ambassadors and advocates for their institution’s internationalization efforts, SIOs invest considerable time and resources in communicating achievements, initiatives, and opportunities to various audiences.
- Flexibility: Given today’s environment of political uncertainty, SIOs oversee offices that must remain nimble to effectively support students, staff, and faculty in vulnerable positions.
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This session is an adaptation of a similar session taking place as part of the University of Birmingham’s (UoB’s) EDI week. UoB and UJ are partners in the U21 network. The U21 network has a new strategic focus on JEDI and as part of these engagements, UoB and UJ will be working more closely together to share experiences and to develop shared models. The model of creating Staff Networks for inclusion could also benefit the wider IEASA community and this session will engage the session participants to discuss modes for starting this at our home universities and what some of the challenges and solutions could be in implementing similar models.
UoB believes that staff networks are a powerful mechanism to enable organizations to understand the complexities of a diverse workforce. They offer a safe environment in which staff can discuss their experiences and help shape the culture and behaviours of their organisations.
The University of Birmingham supports 5 staff EDI networks representing Women, LGBTQ+, Disability, Parents and Carers and Race Equality. Each network is managed by members of staff who have a desire to foster an inclusive environment and help make positive changes in the organization. Join staff network leads at the University of Birmingham, as well as colleagues from the University of Johannesburg on a discussion panel event to understand how to benefit from the power staff networks can offer. Other U21 partner universities may also join the panel (TBC)
The decolonisation of higher education argument has been diversely explored within the global higher education sector, resulting in divergent perspectives. Within the South African context, it is a call to end domination in the curriculum by Western, capitalist and Euro-American worldviews. It has also been put forth as an endeavour to counter the reproduction of epistemological hierarchies wherein the Western knowledge is privileged over non-western bodies and traditions of knowledge and knowledge-making.
To counter the epistemic othering of the Eurocentric curriculum globally, curriculum that organises counter-hegemonic learning suitable to challenge dominant hegemonic discourse may be necessary. Pedagogy through dialogue and problem- or inquiry-based learning allows for critical consciousness while actively including students in the knowledge creation.
International Virtual Exchange (IVE) as a pedagogy enhances the learning experience by exposing students to different perspectives, including those that may have been traditionally excluded from the curriculum. Furthermore, IVE, such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), positions students as the drivers of the learning while participating cross-cultural exchange of ideas.
International Virtual Exchange such as COIL provides a platform for humanising pedagogy through the student-centered approach and in practice encourages students to reflect on their own realities, contextual knowledge and histories to contribute to the knowledge creation within a COIL project. This, of course, depends on the intention of the academics developing the COIL project and their willingness to be critical, embrace humanising pedagogy, and encourage students to meaningfully participate and reflect with others.
The session will explore a COIL partnership between the Durban University of Technology in South Africa and An Najah National University in Palestine. We will focus on the institutional approaches to IVE while highlighting the unique outcomes of the student collaboration and the designed pedagogical interventions. Through the showcasing of various IVE practices, each institution will highlight successful partnerships and include practical examples of the IVE approaches that value the decolonial internationalised objectives.
Twenty-first-century universities throughout the United States are intentionally engaging in internationalization strategies to support institutional missions (Knight, 2004). For U.S. research universities, these strategies serve as a contemporary internationalization agenda to enhance student preparedness for a globalized world, foster innovation, align teaching and research and engagement towards an institutional global vision, and integrate internationalization across the institution’s colleges and departments. A university’s Senior International Officer (SIO) is deeply involved in the internationalization strategic planning process and is charged with leading an internationalization strategic plan that represents the institution’s mission and goals (Cruz, 2019; Heyl et al., 2019; Olson et al., 2006). The SIO’s role in strategic planning for internationalization at a research university could inform our understanding of institutional strategies and operations in support of internationalization while offering insights into the future of internationalization at a time of intensified global changes. Contemporary global issues that threaten to complicate internationalization strategies include political obstacles stemming from geopolitical concerns or world events; health and safety issues, particularly those caused by climate change; increased scientific and technological competitiveness; concerns about the theft of intellectual property; and circumscribed academic freedom (Altbach & de Wit, 2017; Mace & Pearl, 2021). If we want to understand the power dynamics involved in internationalization, and better understand how education can be a catalyst for change, we need to understand the role of the SIO. U.S. research university internationalization.
This study contributes to our understanding of how institutions strategize for internationalization, how collaborations are formed with key stakeholders, which principles and theories of strategy are employed by SIOs, and how internationalization processes are assessed. A more comprehensive understanding of these factors can expand opportunities for university engagement and service internationally, enhance transnational collaborative activities, support education policies, and counter political and economic trends which threaten greater transnational engagement. A second goal of this study is to better understand how SIOs at research universities describe their motivations and rationales for implementing internationalization activities. These data can inform emerging conceptual and theoretical ideas about effective SIO leadership and institutional decision-making processes which effect international engagement.
Preliminary findings indicate that Senior International Officers (SIOs) indeed play a crucial role in strategizing and leading internationalization efforts in research universities. Data from this study also highlighted the importance of the following internationalization strategies:
- Partnerships and Collaborations: SIOs continue to actively seek and cultivate international partnerships with universities, organizations, and international entities worldwide, even in environments where academic freedom might be curtailed. The primary lures of transnational collaboration are revenue, resources, and international talent.
- Recruitment: SIOs emphasized an entrepreneurial approach to internationalization, engaging in market research to identify target regions for international student recruitment in collaboration with enrollment management units.
- Advocacy and Communication: As ambassadors and advocates for their institution’s internationalization efforts, SIOs invest considerable time and resources in communicating achievements, initiatives, and opportunities to various audiences.
- Flexibility: Given today’s environment of political uncertainty, SIOs oversee offices that must remain nimble to effectively support students, staff, and faculty in vulnerable positions.
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13:45 – 14:45 | Lunch |
14:45 - 15:45 Parallel Session 7
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: Internationalisation’s role in the principled and ethical engagement of incoming study abroad students in South Africa. A holistic approach to engagement in South Africa. | Topic: Monitoring and humanising climate change: student experiences in a COIL project exploring engineering and media roles between the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) and University of West Indies (Jamaica) | Topic: Lived experiences of international students and staff in South African institutions of Higher Education: An ongoing conversation | Topic: Lived Experiences: A Journey of global exploration and learning, a case study of two cut students. |
Jody Felton, IES Abroad Cape Town | Maud Blose, University of Johannesburg | Seithati Ramonaheng, University of the Free State | Thabang Mkhize, Central University of Technology |
Devonne Dimumbi, IES Abroad Cape Town | Lebogang Mercy Kekana, Central University of Technology | ||
Ashleigh Brown, IES Abroad | Martina Moss, Central University of Technology | ||
Chairperson: Busi Ngutshane, Central University of Technology | Chairperson: Divinia Jithoo, Durban University of technology | Chairperson: Johan Mashayamombe, Nelson Mandela University | Chairperson: Orla Quinlan. Rhodes University |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: Internationalisation’s role in the principled and ethical engagement of incoming study abroad students in South Africa. A holistic approach to engagement in South Africa. | Topic: Monitoring and humanising climate change: student experiences in a COIL project exploring engineering and media roles between the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) and University of West Indies (Jamaica) |
Jody Felton, IES Abroad Cape Town | Maud Blose, University of Johannesburg |
Devonne Dimumbi, IES Abroad Cape Town | |
Ashleigh Brown, IES Abroad | |
Chairperson: Busi Ngutshane, Central University of Technology | Chairperson: Divinia Jithoo, Durban University of technology |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Duduza |
PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: Lived experiences of international students and staff in South African institutions of Higher Education: An ongoing conversation | Topic: Lived Experiences: A Journey of global exploration and learning, a case study of two cut students. |
Seithati Ramonaheng, University of the Free State | Thabang Mkhize, Central University of Technology |
Lebogang Mercy Kekana, Central University of Technology | |
Martina Moss, Central University of Technology | |
Chairperson: Johan Mashayamombe, Nelson Mandela University | Chairperson: Orla Quinlan. Rhodes University |
Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
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Colleagues from IES Abroad Cape Town will share insights into their approach to empowering students to engage with South Africa holistically. We will reflect on our engagements in various spaces, including academic, service learning, community engagement sites and general day-to-day life. The session will include a discussion around student expectations and perceptions. and how South Africa’s history and present-day impacts on them.
Digitalization has presented academics in higher education institutions with new and innovative ways of delivering curricula that is not abstract, but practical by looking at global issues and presenting local solutions. This interdisciplinary collaborative project epitomises the decolonization of journalism education. Through the lens of decolonization and the marrying of natural and social sciences, the communicative project titled Monitoring and humanizing climate change: Exploring Engineering and Media Roles looked at climate change as a global issue and how it affects countries in the global South by focusing on media awareness and engineering solutions. This collaboration, between Journalism Applied students at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) and Civil Engineering students at the University of West Indies (Jamaica), prompted lecturers from both institutions to reflect on their module content and the relevance of the curricula in providing realistic meaning to students. We used the transformative learning theory by Jack Mezirow (1991) which affirms the principle of personal experience being an integral part of the learning process. The theme was Climate Change and sub-themes were explored looking at flooding effects, structural issues following natural disasters, drought, and food shortage. We focused on the student’s interpretation of the main theme, the sub-themes created, and narrated experiences of how students’ involvement in such a project changed their behaviour, mindsets, and beliefs. The project was embedded into existing modules from both academic institutions and students were assessed based on their online participation, engagement with each other and their production of a television news content. In addition to regular meetings on Zoom, students also made use of social media platforms to communicate with one another. Deliverables included a television news broadcast production and posters created using the Padlet application. Final productions were submitted using WeTransfer and shared among all project participants. The collaborative project was not only a platform for students to define problems and locate them within their own lives and context, but they shared solutions within a decolonial framework and documented stories using various storytelling techniques. Findings showed the importance of collaborative interdisciplinary projects in understanding and solving global issues within a local context thereby exhibiting the ethos of a global village. Through their virtual engagements, students learned to embrace intercultural dynamics, engage in a global experience whilst based in their local universities, use innovative technological ways to communicate a cross-cultural learning environment and to engage in local climate change challenges by observing global trends and providing local solutions.
Among many different visions of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP, 2020), is to make efforts to internationalize the higher education system of the country. The main purpose of the internationalization of universities is to achieve global recognition through rankings, publications, and pedagogies. The internationalization of the South African HE system has involved a significant increase in the number of international students that the South African universities have enrolled. In the same breath, these institutions have also witnessed a rise in international staff who mostly work in academia as postdocs and researchers. The rise in the number of international students and staff has come with several challenges that they encounter, ranging from immigration, labor-related matters, xenophobia, and intercultural communication among others. Post-COVID-19, we witnessed a backlog at the Department of Home Affairs regarding the issuing of visas for students and staff. There are also dynamics of low remuneration for student-related work because of the hourly ratio as per the Immigration Act, and the struggle to bring spouses and the rest of the family to South Africa. These challenges not only affect the academic performance of students but also the work productivity of academics and postdocs as well as how they integrate into society. Through a close examination of this demographic, the study meticulously considers the nuanced impact of variables such as visa types, socioeconomic status, marital status, and gender.
To comprehensively understand the multifaceted dimensions of lived experiences, this research employs a methodological approach centered on in-depth interviews and comparative case studies. The comparative case study method enhances the depth of the research by juxtaposing the experiences of individuals in a foreign academic setting. This approach enables a nuanced examination of commonalities and distinctions, shedding light on the contextual factors contributing to the diversity of experiences. The study seeks to discern patterns, identify challenges, and uncover strategies that have proven effective in enhancing the overall experience of the international community in diverse academic environments looking at the Policy Framework for Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa. The use of interviews allows for a rich exploration of individual narratives, providing insights into the personal and subjective aspects of their journeys. By embracing intersectionality, the study aims to unravel the interconnected layers of identity and acknowledging that the experiences of international students and staff are shaped not only by their nationality but also by a confluence of factors.
Education today transcends national borders and provides students with life-changing experiences through global exchange programs. This is possible because of the growing global interconnection of people. This paper aims to present the lived experiences of two students from the Central University of Technology (CUT) who participated in exchange studies at prestigious international institutions, namely, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and Uppsala University, Sweden. This study explores their academic and cultural interactions through qualitative research, revealing the significant effects of global education on their personal growth, cultural awareness, and the formation of a more expansive worldview. The study further advances knowledge of the wider significance of international education by evaluating the experiences of these two students.
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Colleagues from IES Abroad Cape Town will share insights into their approach to empowering students to engage with South Africa holistically. We will reflect on our engagements in various spaces, including academic, service learning, community engagement sites and general day-to-day life. The session will include a discussion around student expectations and perceptions. and how South Africa’s history and present-day impacts on them.
Digitalization has presented academics in higher education institutions with new and innovative ways of delivering curricula that is not abstract, but practical by looking at global issues and presenting local solutions. This interdisciplinary collaborative project epitomises the decolonization of journalism education. Through the lens of decolonization and the marrying of natural and social sciences, the communicative project titled Monitoring and humanizing climate change: Exploring Engineering and Media Roles looked at climate change as a global issue and how it affects countries in the global South by focusing on media awareness and engineering solutions. This collaboration, between Journalism Applied students at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) and Civil Engineering students at the University of West Indies (Jamaica), prompted lecturers from both institutions to reflect on their module content and the relevance of the curricula in providing realistic meaning to students. We used the transformative learning theory by Jack Mezirow (1991) which affirms the principle of personal experience being an integral part of the learning process. The theme was Climate Change and sub-themes were explored looking at flooding effects, structural issues following natural disasters, drought, and food shortage. We focused on the student’s interpretation of the main theme, the sub-themes created, and narrated experiences of how students’ involvement in such a project changed their behaviour, mindsets, and beliefs. The project was embedded into existing modules from both academic institutions and students were assessed based on their online participation, engagement with each other and their production of a television news content. In addition to regular meetings on Zoom, students also made use of social media platforms to communicate with one another. Deliverables included a television news broadcast production and posters created using the Padlet application. Final productions were submitted using WeTransfer and shared among all project participants. The collaborative project was not only a platform for students to define problems and locate them within their own lives and context, but they shared solutions within a decolonial framework and documented stories using various storytelling techniques. Findings showed the importance of collaborative interdisciplinary projects in understanding and solving global issues within a local context thereby exhibiting the ethos of a global village. Through their virtual engagements, students learned to embrace intercultural dynamics, engage in a global experience whilst based in their local universities, use innovative technological ways to communicate a cross-cultural learning environment and to engage in local climate change challenges by observing global trends and providing local solutions.
Among many different visions of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP, 2020), is to make efforts to internationalize the higher education system of the country. The main purpose of the internationalization of universities is to achieve global recognition through rankings, publications, and pedagogies. The internationalization of the South African HE system has involved a significant increase in the number of international students that the South African universities have enrolled. In the same breath, these institutions have also witnessed a rise in international staff who mostly work in academia as postdocs and researchers. The rise in the number of international students and staff has come with several challenges that they encounter, ranging from immigration, labor-related matters, xenophobia, and intercultural communication among others. Post-COVID-19, we witnessed a backlog at the Department of Home Affairs regarding the issuing of visas for students and staff. There are also dynamics of low remuneration for student-related work because of the hourly ratio as per the Immigration Act, and the struggle to bring spouses and the rest of the family to South Africa. These challenges not only affect the academic performance of students but also the work productivity of academics and postdocs as well as how they integrate into society. Through a close examination of this demographic, the study meticulously considers the nuanced impact of variables such as visa types, socioeconomic status, marital status, and gender.
To comprehensively understand the multifaceted dimensions of lived experiences, this research employs a methodological approach centered on in-depth interviews and comparative case studies. The comparative case study method enhances the depth of the research by juxtaposing the experiences of individuals in a foreign academic setting. This approach enables a nuanced examination of commonalities and distinctions, shedding light on the contextual factors contributing to the diversity of experiences. The study seeks to discern patterns, identify challenges, and uncover strategies that have proven effective in enhancing the overall experience of the international community in diverse academic environments looking at the Policy Framework for Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa. The use of interviews allows for a rich exploration of individual narratives, providing insights into the personal and subjective aspects of their journeys. By embracing intersectionality, the study aims to unravel the interconnected layers of identity and acknowledging that the experiences of international students and staff are shaped not only by their nationality but also by a confluence of factors.
Education today transcends national borders and provides students with life-changing experiences through global exchange programs. This is possible because of the growing global interconnection of people. This paper aims to present the lived experiences of two students from the Central University of Technology (CUT) who participated in exchange studies at prestigious international institutions, namely, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and Uppsala University, Sweden. This study explores their academic and cultural interactions through qualitative research, revealing the significant effects of global education on their personal growth, cultural awareness, and the formation of a more expansive worldview. The study further advances knowledge of the wider significance of international education by evaluating the experiences of these two students.
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15:45 – 16:15 | Refreshment Break |
16:15 - 17:15 Poster Session
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D | PRESENTATION E |
Topic: The acculturative experiences of African international students in Germany. | Topic: The implications of coloniality of time for North-South partnerships’ equitability: insights from partnership stakeholders | Topic: International Partnerships in Higher Education: Challenges and Possibilities | Topic: Transformative, Visionary and decolonial education and internationalisation: Empowering critical thinking, inspiring action Justice, diversity, equity and inclusion in internationalisation of higher education – beyond the rhetoric | Topic: Towards Gender Sensitivity in Higher Education Institutions |
Tarynne Swarts, University of Tubingen | Anaïs Georges, University of Helsinki | Nyarai Simbarashe, Women’s University on Africa | Helin Backman Kartal, Uppsala University | Claudine Hingston, MANCOSA |
Hanna Kontio, University of Helsinki | Emma Elliott, Uppsala University | |||
Elina Lehtomäki, University of Oulu | ||||
Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: The acculturative experiences of African international students in Germany. | Topic: The implications of coloniality of time for North-South partnerships’ equitability: insights from partnership stakeholders |
Tarynne Swarts, University of Tubingen | Anaïs Georges, University of Helsinki |
Hanna Kontio, University of Helsinki | |
Elina Lehtomäki, University of Oulu | |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 |
PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: International Partnerships in Higher Education: Challenges and Possibilities | Topic: Transformative, Visionary and decolonial education and internationalisation: Empowering critical thinking, inspiring action Justice, diversity, equity and inclusion in internationalisation of higher education – beyond the rhetoric |
Nyarai Simbarashe, Women’s University on Africa | Helin Backman Kartal, Uppsala University |
Emma Elliott, Uppsala University | |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 |
PRESENTATION E |
Topic: Towards Gender Sensitivity in Higher Education Institutions |
Claudine Hingston, MANCOSA |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 |
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Research on African international students are scarce despite the increase of African international students globally through, funding programs such as DAAD and Erasmus. This research looks at the acculturative experience of African international students in Germany as a nonmain English-speaking destination. What are their challenges and why do they choose to study abroad and what are their acculturative experiences in a Western European country in Germany. This study also takes a look at higher education policy for international students abroad.
North-South academic partnerships have the potential to generate the innovative knowledge needed to develop education systems fostering economic, social and environmental sustainability. Ensuring that higher education internationalisation strategies do not reproduce colonial power imbalances is crucial to develop meaningful North-South collaboration. Coloniality of time is one of the patterns of power that contributes to perpetuating Global North dominance. It involves the imposition of the Global North conception of history as a linear progress towards modernity and the valorisation of the Global North definition of efficiency. Yet, so far, little research has been conducted on the time frames of North-South academic partnerships, such as funding and project durations, and their role in supporting or undermining equitable collaboration.
This study aims to develop an understanding of higher education institutions’ partnership stakeholders’ views on North-South academic partnerships’ time frames and their impact on partnership building and implementation. The study draws on data from an online seminar (May 2022) and six whiteboards on which academics and other higher education stakeholders from Finland and nine African countries collaboratively identified ingredients of good partnerships and actions to make them a reality. Thematic analysis of this data reveals that time frames in structuring partnerships have a crucial impact on partnerships’ equitability and meaningfulness. The analysis suggests a need to challenge and rethink dominant Global North definitions of quality and efficient partnerships and conceptions of partnerships’ evolution in time in order to better acknowledge qualitative processes that are essential to develop equitable partnerships and recognise the non-linear, complex and contextually bound nature of partnerships’ temporalities.
The purpose of internationalisation in institutions of higher learning is quite broad and diverse. Various stakeholders including governments, businesses and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have pursued internationalisation for various reasons. As a result, Internationalisation of HEIs can take on various forms spanning across strategic partnerships in research, teaching, student and staff exchange programmes and Collaborative Online Learning (COIL). Therefore, in order to understand the challenges and opportunities of internationalisation, there is a need to examine this at national, institutional and individual levels. This thought piece sought to examine the challenges and possibilities of internationalisation based on the author’s lived experiences as a member of an international partnership and through an exploration of existing literature. In 2023, selected Faculty from countries within the SADC region namely Zimbabwe and South Africa were part of a collaborative effort with an American institution of Higher Learning. The aim was to enhance knowledge and cultural exchange in teaching and research. The challenges were immediately pronounced from the onset. At national level, the lack of funding towards internationalisation can be noted as one of the key barriers as there is a dependency on sourcing grants from other governments. The challenge is that African institutions may unintentionally drive the agenda of other governments who fund internationalisation efforts. There are myriad of challenges observed at institutional level which also include inadequate funding, inadequate infrastructure to facilitate elements such as COIL and lack of staff competence to manage internationalisation efforts. At the individual level, the challenges were evidently steeped in cultural differences. It was apparent that the economic and institutional conditions had a profound effect on the motivation of some staff to participate in Internationalisation efforts. Faculty from more conservative cultures seemed to lack the confidence to share ideas which seemed in itself an inferiority complex. Such a mindset greatly impedes internationalisation efforts as partnerships ought to be built on co-creation of value. Despite the challenges, leaders press on with the internationalisation strategies due to the possibilities that it can unlock for governments, Institutions of higher learning and for individuals. For governments, the possibilities are vast and include bridging the knowledge and skills gaps required for economic development through innovation. The possibilities of truly global economies can be realised with less strict regulations or political interference around the transference of scientific or technological knowledge. For institutions of Higher Learning, particularly in the SADC region, HEIs can improve their student and staff diversity by attracting foreign students and staff. In addition, instead of seeing each other as competitors, HEIs become interconnected to provide access to each other’s key competencies. At the individual level, the concept of global citizens can be realised by exposing students and staff to various cultures and ways of thinking. These possibilities can be realised by effectively addressing the challenges through efforts such as improving government and institutional expenditure towards internationalisation, HEIs creating the culture that accommodates internationalisation efforts and creating awareness of the value of internationalisation for governments, institutions and individuals.
With our poster, we would like to give inspiring examples of how Uppsala University works with inclusion and diversity within selected key areas:
- Erasmus ICM (International Credit Mobility)
a. Internationalisation, inclusion and diversity during the COVID-19 pandemic: solving problems and offering solutions to Erasmus ICM grantees
b. Fewer opportunities. Within the Erasmus ICM programme, it is possible to apply for extra funds for grantees with various backgrounds, to help with challenging situations.
c. Inclusion and diversity in the Erasmus ICM application: In order to write a good application for EU funds, it is necessary to motivate how Uppsala University and its partners will work in these areas.
d. The International Staff Week at Uppsala University – how to integrate internationalisation, inclusion and diversity in the agenda - SASUF (The South Africa-Sweden University Forum)
a. Aims to strengthen ties in research, education, and innovation
b. Addresses UN Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 through innovative approaches. - SANORD (Southern Africa-Nordic Centre)
a. Leadership. To bring together the leadership of Nordic and Southern African institutions of higher education and research for dialogue, planning and joint endeavours.
b. Scholars. To bring together scholars of Nordic and Southern African institutions of higher education and research to jointly address relevant research issues pertaining to the SANORD mission.
c. Activities. To ensure that in most SANORD activities at least 30% of the participants from southern institutions are women.
Resources:
To offer relevant resources and information services, including virtual and physical meeting places, and to facilitate and stimulate cooperation with the media. Facilitate. To facilitate members’ relationships with relevant academics.
This study explores the importance of transforming Higher Education Institutions (HEI) into gender-sensitive spaces that foster inclusivity, equity, and diversity. Whilst acknowledging that some HEI’s have adopted gender-sensitive practices, the reality is that gender biases and disparities are still persistent in higher education environments. This study thus emphasizes the need for Higher Education Institutions to take proactive measures to address implicit gender biases and advocates for a shift towards policies, practices, and norms that prioritize gender sensitivity. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review, multifaceted gender challenges in higher education institutions are examined, including underrepresentation, discriminatory practices, and gender-based violence. The primary focus, however, is to identify strategies and best practices to create gender-sensitive HEI’s, that encompass curriculum development, recruitment, leadership roles, and institutional policies. The importance of creating safe and supportive environments that address gender-based harassment and discrimination is also emphasized. Ultimately, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on gender equity in academia by proposing actionable steps for higher education institutions to become more inclusive and responsive to the diverse needs of students and faculty. By adopting a gender-sensitive approach, higher education institutions can cultivate an environment that not only reflects the principles of equality but also nurtures the intellectual and personal development of all individuals within the academic community.
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Research on African international students are scarce despite the increase of African international students globally through, funding programs such as DAAD and Erasmus. This research looks at the acculturative experience of African international students in Germany as a nonmain English-speaking destination. What are their challenges and why do they choose to study abroad and what are their acculturative experiences in a Western European country in Germany. This study also takes a look at higher education policy for international students abroad.
North-South academic partnerships have the potential to generate the innovative knowledge needed to develop education systems fostering economic, social and environmental sustainability. Ensuring that higher education internationalisation strategies do not reproduce colonial power imbalances is crucial to develop meaningful North-South collaboration. Coloniality of time is one of the patterns of power that contributes to perpetuating Global North dominance. It involves the imposition of the Global North conception of history as a linear progress towards modernity and the valorisation of the Global North definition of efficiency. Yet, so far, little research has been conducted on the time frames of North-South academic partnerships, such as funding and project durations, and their role in supporting or undermining equitable collaboration.
This study aims to develop an understanding of higher education institutions’ partnership stakeholders’ views on North-South academic partnerships’ time frames and their impact on partnership building and implementation. The study draws on data from an online seminar (May 2022) and six whiteboards on which academics and other higher education stakeholders from Finland and nine African countries collaboratively identified ingredients of good partnerships and actions to make them a reality. Thematic analysis of this data reveals that time frames in structuring partnerships have a crucial impact on partnerships’ equitability and meaningfulness. The analysis suggests a need to challenge and rethink dominant Global North definitions of quality and efficient partnerships and conceptions of partnerships’ evolution in time in order to better acknowledge qualitative processes that are essential to develop equitable partnerships and recognise the non-linear, complex and contextually bound nature of partnerships’ temporalities.
The purpose of internationalisation in institutions of higher learning is quite broad and diverse. Various stakeholders including governments, businesses and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have pursued internationalisation for various reasons. As a result, Internationalisation of HEIs can take on various forms spanning across strategic partnerships in research, teaching, student and staff exchange programmes and Collaborative Online Learning (COIL). Therefore, in order to understand the challenges and opportunities of internationalisation, there is a need to examine this at national, institutional and individual levels. This thought piece sought to examine the challenges and possibilities of internationalisation based on the author’s lived experiences as a member of an international partnership and through an exploration of existing literature. In 2023, selected Faculty from countries within the SADC region namely Zimbabwe and South Africa were part of a collaborative effort with an American institution of Higher Learning. The aim was to enhance knowledge and cultural exchange in teaching and research. The challenges were immediately pronounced from the onset. At national level, the lack of funding towards internationalisation can be noted as one of the key barriers as there is a dependency on sourcing grants from other governments. The challenge is that African institutions may unintentionally drive the agenda of other governments who fund internationalisation efforts. There are myriad of challenges observed at institutional level which also include inadequate funding, inadequate infrastructure to facilitate elements such as COIL and lack of staff competence to manage internationalisation efforts. At the individual level, the challenges were evidently steeped in cultural differences. It was apparent that the economic and institutional conditions had a profound effect on the motivation of some staff to participate in Internationalisation efforts. Faculty from more conservative cultures seemed to lack the confidence to share ideas which seemed in itself an inferiority complex. Such a mindset greatly impedes internationalisation efforts as partnerships ought to be built on co-creation of value. Despite the challenges, leaders press on with the internationalisation strategies due to the possibilities that it can unlock for governments, Institutions of higher learning and for individuals. For governments, the possibilities are vast and include bridging the knowledge and skills gaps required for economic development through innovation. The possibilities of truly global economies can be realised with less strict regulations or political interference around the transference of scientific or technological knowledge. For institutions of Higher Learning, particularly in the SADC region, HEIs can improve their student and staff diversity by attracting foreign students and staff. In addition, instead of seeing each other as competitors, HEIs become interconnected to provide access to each other’s key competencies. At the individual level, the concept of global citizens can be realised by exposing students and staff to various cultures and ways of thinking. These possibilities can be realised by effectively addressing the challenges through efforts such as improving government and institutional expenditure towards internationalisation, HEIs creating the culture that accommodates internationalisation efforts and creating awareness of the value of internationalisation for governments, institutions and individuals.
With our poster, we would like to give inspiring examples of how Uppsala University works with inclusion and diversity within selected key areas:
- Erasmus ICM (International Credit Mobility)
a. Internationalisation, inclusion and diversity during the COVID-19 pandemic: solving problems and offering solutions to Erasmus ICM grantees
b. Fewer opportunities. Within the Erasmus ICM programme, it is possible to apply for extra funds for grantees with various backgrounds, to help with challenging situations.
c. Inclusion and diversity in the Erasmus ICM application: In order to write a good application for EU funds, it is necessary to motivate how Uppsala University and its partners will work in these areas.
d. The International Staff Week at Uppsala University – how to integrate internationalisation, inclusion and diversity in the agenda - SASUF (The South Africa-Sweden University Forum)
a. Aims to strengthen ties in research, education, and innovation
b. Addresses UN Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 through innovative approaches. - SANORD (Southern Africa-Nordic Centre)
a. Leadership. To bring together the leadership of Nordic and Southern African institutions of higher education and research for dialogue, planning and joint endeavours.
b. Scholars. To bring together scholars of Nordic and Southern African institutions of higher education and research to jointly address relevant research issues pertaining to the SANORD mission.
c. Activities. To ensure that in most SANORD activities at least 30% of the participants from southern institutions are women.
Resources:
To offer relevant resources and information services, including virtual and physical meeting places, and to facilitate and stimulate cooperation with the media. Facilitate. To facilitate members’ relationships with relevant academics.
This study explores the importance of transforming Higher Education Institutions (HEI) into gender-sensitive spaces that foster inclusivity, equity, and diversity. Whilst acknowledging that some HEI’s have adopted gender-sensitive practices, the reality is that gender biases and disparities are still persistent in higher education environments. This study thus emphasizes the need for Higher Education Institutions to take proactive measures to address implicit gender biases and advocates for a shift towards policies, practices, and norms that prioritize gender sensitivity. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review, multifaceted gender challenges in higher education institutions are examined, including underrepresentation, discriminatory practices, and gender-based violence. The primary focus, however, is to identify strategies and best practices to create gender-sensitive HEI’s, that encompass curriculum development, recruitment, leadership roles, and institutional policies. The importance of creating safe and supportive environments that address gender-based harassment and discrimination is also emphasized. Ultimately, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on gender equity in academia by proposing actionable steps for higher education institutions to become more inclusive and responsive to the diverse needs of students and faculty. By adopting a gender-sensitive approach, higher education institutions can cultivate an environment that not only reflects the principles of equality but also nurtures the intellectual and personal development of all individuals within the academic community.
PRESENTATION A LINKS:
PRESENTATION A LINKS:
19:00 – 22:30 | Gala Dinner |
Venue: Auditorium |
07:00 – 08:30 | Registration Desk Open |
09:00 - 10:00 Parallel Session 8
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D | PRESENTATION E |
Topic: Enacting Internationalisation through Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships: Reflections drawn from Stellenbosch University Japan Centre | Topic: Feminist Decoloniality as Care: Transnational Feminist Resistance In Higher Education Spaces | Topic: Protecting the voices in the commons: Exploring the current state of academic freedom and how to strengthen key partnerships to protect scholars at risk and freedom of expression and speech in South Africa. | Topic: Institutional partnerships and research collaborations: a misalignment or waste of resources? | Topic: Integration of work-integrated learning (WIL) in student exchange program: a case study of radiography students from Hanze University of Applied Science, The Netherlands |
Thami Mahlobo, Stellenbosch University Japan Centre | Relebohile Moletsane, University of KwaZulu-Natal | Clarissia Bourdeau, Scholars at Risk | John Mashayamombe, Nelson Mandela University | Katleho Pakose, Central University of Technology |
Sarah Van der Westhuizen, Stellenbosch University Japan Centre | Assata Zerai, University of New Mexico | Martina Moss, Central University of Technology | ||
Saajidha Sader, University of KwaZulu-Natal | ||||
Nonhlanhla Mthiyane, University of KwaZulu-Natal | ||||
Prof Ronell Carolissen, Stellenboch University | ||||
Chairperson: Dingaan Booi, Cape Peninsula University of Technology | Chairperson: Chevon Slambee, University of the Free State | Chairperson: Savo Heleta, Durban University of Technology | Chairperson: Seithati Ramonaheng, University of the Free State | Chairperson: Jody Felton, IES Abroad |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 | Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema | Venue: Tsakane |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: Enacting Internationalisation through Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships: Reflections drawn from Stellenbosch University Japan Centre | Topic: Feminist Decoloniality as Care: Transnational Feminist Resistance In Higher Education Spaces |
Thami Mahlobo, Stellenbosch University Japan Centre | Relebohile Moletsane, University of KwaZulu-Natal |
Sarah Van der Westhuizen, Stellenbosch University Japan Centre | Assata Zerai, University of New Mexico |
Saajidha Sader, University of KwaZulu-Natal | |
Nonhlanhla Mthiyane, University of KwaZulu-Natal | |
Prof Ronell Carolissen, Stellenboch University | |
Chairperson: Dingaan Booi, Cape Peninsula University of Technology | Chairperson: Chevon Slambee, University of the Free State |
Venue: Ekurhuleni 4 | Venue: Ekurhuleni 5 |
PRESENTATION C | PRESENTATION D |
Topic: Protecting the voices in the commons: Exploring the current state of academic freedom and how to strengthen key partnerships to protect scholars at risk and freedom of expression and speech in South Africa. | Topic: Institutional partnerships and research collaborations: a misalignment or waste of resources? |
Clarissia Bourdeau, Scholars at Risk | John Mashayamombe, Nelson Mandela University |
Chairperson: Savo Heleta, Durban University of Technology | Chairperson: Seithati Ramonaheng, University of the Free State |
Venue: Duduza | Venue: Kwa-Thema |
PRESENTATION E |
Topic: Integration of work-integrated learning (WIL) in student exchange program: a case study of radiography students from Hanze University of Applied Science, The Netherlands |
Katleho Pakose, Central University of Technology |
Martina Moss, Central University of Technology |
Chairperson: Jody Felton, IES Abroad |
Venue: Tsakane |
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Higher education, inherently, operates as a cooperative endeavour, entailing alliances among various participants, including policy and decision-makers, educators, researchers, curriculum designers, university leaders, the community, and the labour market (Kebede, 2016). Collaboration on an international and bilateral scale has been a longstanding practice spanning centuries. Nevertheless, the emphasis on achieving sustainable development, precisely quality education through multi-stakeholder partnerships gained prominence in the early 1990s. Reflecting on the above assertion on multi-stakeholder partnerships lends substance to the approach to collaboration taken by the Stellenbosch University Japan Centre (SUJC).
This presentation attempts to assess the role of multi-stakeholders in the internationalisation of higher education, using as a point of reference SUJC. There is a limited scholarly investigation concerning the involvement of multi-stakeholder partnerships in the internationalisation of higher education. The purpose of this IEASA presentation is to shed light on the potential impact of multi-stakeholder collaboration and broaden our understanding of its possibilities.
“Transnational and border-crossing feminisms offer transformative options for disrupting oppression and advancing liberation in global and diverse cultural contexts. They embrace the complexity of massive 21st-century social changes and challenges and offer bridge-building options for working across and between multiple countries and regions of the world…They also encompass “border work” and communication across traditional global boundaries…” (Enns, et.al., 2021, p.11).
This paper draws introduces the panel and the collaborative transnational project, Neoliberalism, Gender and Curriculum Transformation in Higher Education: Feminist Decoloniality as Care (FemDAC). FemDAC involves three generations of early career scholars, mid-career scholars and senior professors, all women, located at three institutions in South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Stellenbosch (SU) and Durban University of Technology (DUT)) and at two in the US (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUCI) and University of New Mexico (UNM)). In the context of neoliberalism, universities globally have adopted corporate policies and practices that tend to encourage competition, self-promotion, and entrepreneurship (Burke, 2012; Harris, 2011). While globalisation and neoliberalism seek to create a homogeneity of the world politically, socially, economically, and culturally, many writers have argued that these trends tend to reinforce and create new forms of inequalities and marginalisation (Burke, 2012; Crozier, 2013). Neoliberal practices intersect with patriarchal socio-cultural expectations and other contextual factors in the academy, thereby reproducing gendered inequalities that privilege men (Burke, 2012). Due to the unequally gendered spaces in which they live and work, women often suffer misrecognition, misrepresentation, and marginalisation in the academic world. Such gender stereotypes tend to normatively ascribe particular identities to women, often characterising them as, among others, angry, incompetent and unable to perform scholarly tasks (Bamberg, et al., 2021). This undermines their participation and potential leadership in research and curriculum development and decision-making in their institutions, with negative consequences for social change in institutions and society. Aligned with transnational feminism, our project includes deliberate efforts to foster transnational solidarity, and collaboration among the participants from the two country contexts, while at the same time ensuring cultural humility, respect for differences and power differences between the Global North and South and making efforts to avoid silencing marginal voices in academic and geographic spaces (Enns, et.al., 2021). Specifically, located within decolonial research and praxis, FemDAC draws on a pedagogical methodology (Burke, Crozier and Misiaszek, 2017) that uses participatory visual methods to facilitate women’s engagement with different gender and feminist analytical tools to understand and respond to the influence of the competing demands of neoliberal institutions and the prevailing socio-cultural inequalities on their scholarship, teaching and community engagement. From an analysis of their visual and textual artifacts, the paper will reflect on the participatory visual methods the women use to contribute to decolonizing the research space, cultivate care and support and help promote their academic advancement. The presentation concludes with some policy implications for transnational collaboration in higher education practice.
For over two decades, Scholars at Risk (SAR) has collaborated with stakeholders throughout the higher education community to support collective movements, advocate for better protections on an international scale, and -more recently- use data to track and monitor academic freedom. These actions are a cornerstone to preserving, protecting, and expanding academic freedom, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech throughout the international higher education system. However, over the past decade, there has been a growing and troubling rise in attacks on academic freedom. In SAR’s annual Free to Think report, SAR documented 403 attacks on scholars, students, and their institutions in 66 countries and territories. As the growing trend to curtail academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and equitable access spreads throughout the higher education ecosystem, the ability for students, scholars, and institutions alike to have an environment that encourages the ability to freely think, question, and share ideas is vital to building, preserving, and protecting higher education communities throughout the world. Coalitions and networks dedicated to protecting academic freedom are essential in ensuring that the key principles required for healthy higher education communities are not only sustaining but thriving.
The goal of this parallel session is to discuss the current state of academic freedom and explore how networks and coalitions of higher education institutions (HEI) throughout the globe are working collaboratively to preserve academic freedom. The parallel session will highlight the work of the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Network, an international network of more than 600 universities from about 42 countries around the world that work in collaboration to not only promote academic freedom but also to defend the human rights of threatened scholars worldwide.
The presenter, a SAR-Secretariat staff member, will highlight and analyze SAR’s annual Free to Think report, discuss the role of advocacy in protecting institutional autonomy and threatened scholars, and discuss how the SAR Network can collaborate with HEI on the continent to promote academic freedom (from hosting threatened scholars and SAR Speaker Series on their campuses, to participating at SAR conferences, engaging with other SAR members in research and educational projects and serving on SAR committees and boards).
Universities across the world are shifting towards strategic partnerships from having many partnership agreements that often gather dust without much work being done. As part of internationalization efforts and the advancement of knowledge generation and sharing, researchers and academics are encouraged to collaborate with local and international partners through joint funding applications and research and publishing collaborations. One would think that if an institutional agreement has been developed organically, partner university researchers and academics become automatic co-researchers and co-authors on publications. Evidence from data reveals a different story. This paper and presentation drawing from official data drawn from Scopus critically examines the universities that the university under focus collaborate and publish with and compare with institutional partner universities. This process enables the questioning of the role and significance of institutional agreements and implications thereof in relation to how individual researchers choose who they want to collaborate with and the motivations behind such. Furthermore, this presentation will scrutinize the geography and individuals that each of the researchers collaborates with in the wake of the decolonization of higher education including research and research collaborations. It is envisaged that through this presentation, universities can be able to undertake comparative analysis, undertake self-examination as well as reduce the gap between theory and practice.
Key words: Internationalization, decolonization, international research collaboration, strategic partnerships, research funding.
The globalisation of education has intensified the need for programs that prepare students for a workforce that is increasingly international in scope. Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) has emerged as a critical strategy in enhancing the employability of graduates by bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Student exchange programs, which traditionally focused on academic enrichment, are now being scrutinised for their potential to incorporate WIL components, such as internships, to offer students real-world experience in their field of study. This study focuses on the integration of internships within exchange programs for radiography students from Hanze University of Applied Science in the Netherlands (HUAS), participating in exchanges with the Central University of Technology (CUT) in Bloemfontein, Free State. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of incorporating internships into student exchange programs to enhance the linkage between academic learning and practical work experience. Specifically, it seeks to evaluate the outcomes of such integration for radiography students from HUAS undergoing internships in public hospitals in Bloemfontein, including impact on professional development, academic achievement, and cross-cultural competencies. Employing a quantitative case study of 50 students from Hanze who have been successfully placed at selected public hospitals in Bloemfontein. Data collection focused on capturing the breadth of participants’ experiences, perceptions, and the perceived value of the internship component of their exchange program. Findings indicate that the integration of internships within student exchange programs significantly contributes to students’ professional development, enhances their employability skills, and fosters a deeper understanding of their academic subjects in practical settings. Moreover, students report improved intercultural communication skills and a greater appreciation for global healthcare practices. However, challenges such as logistical coordination, cultural adaptation, and aligning academic requirements with practical work experiences were also highlighted. Incorporating internships into student exchange programs offers a valuable opportunity to enhance the educational experience by combining academic learning with practical application. This study demonstrates that such integration is not only feasible but also beneficial for students, universities, and host organisations, despite the challenges that may arise. Future initiatives should focus on overcoming these barriers to maximize the potential of WIL in fostering globally competent professionals. The findings contribute to the discourse on enhancing the quality and relevance of higher education in a global context, advocating for a more holistic approach to student exchange programs.
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Higher education, inherently, operates as a cooperative endeavour, entailing alliances among various participants, including policy and decision-makers, educators, researchers, curriculum designers, university leaders, the community, and the labour market (Kebede, 2016). Collaboration on an international and bilateral scale has been a longstanding practice spanning centuries. Nevertheless, the emphasis on achieving sustainable development, precisely quality education through multi-stakeholder partnerships gained prominence in the early 1990s. Reflecting on the above assertion on multi-stakeholder partnerships lends substance to the approach to collaboration taken by the Stellenbosch University Japan Centre (SUJC).
This presentation attempts to assess the role of multi-stakeholders in the internationalisation of higher education, using as a point of reference SUJC. There is a limited scholarly investigation concerning the involvement of multi-stakeholder partnerships in the internationalisation of higher education. The purpose of this IEASA presentation is to shed light on the potential impact of multi-stakeholder collaboration and broaden our understanding of its possibilities.
“Transnational and border-crossing feminisms offer transformative options for disrupting oppression and advancing liberation in global and diverse cultural contexts. They embrace the complexity of massive 21st-century social changes and challenges and offer bridge-building options for working across and between multiple countries and regions of the world…They also encompass “border work” and communication across traditional global boundaries…” (Enns, et.al., 2021, p.11).
This paper draws introduces the panel and the collaborative transnational project, Neoliberalism, Gender and Curriculum Transformation in Higher Education: Feminist Decoloniality as Care (FemDAC). FemDAC involves three generations of early career scholars, mid-career scholars and senior professors, all women, located at three institutions in South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Stellenbosch (SU) and Durban University of Technology (DUT)) and at two in the US (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUCI) and University of New Mexico (UNM)). In the context of neoliberalism, universities globally have adopted corporate policies and practices that tend to encourage competition, self-promotion, and entrepreneurship (Burke, 2012; Harris, 2011). While globalisation and neoliberalism seek to create a homogeneity of the world politically, socially, economically, and culturally, many writers have argued that these trends tend to reinforce and create new forms of inequalities and marginalisation (Burke, 2012; Crozier, 2013). Neoliberal practices intersect with patriarchal socio-cultural expectations and other contextual factors in the academy, thereby reproducing gendered inequalities that privilege men (Burke, 2012). Due to the unequally gendered spaces in which they live and work, women often suffer misrecognition, misrepresentation, and marginalisation in the academic world. Such gender stereotypes tend to normatively ascribe particular identities to women, often characterising them as, among others, angry, incompetent and unable to perform scholarly tasks (Bamberg, et al., 2021). This undermines their participation and potential leadership in research and curriculum development and decision-making in their institutions, with negative consequences for social change in institutions and society. Aligned with transnational feminism, our project includes deliberate efforts to foster transnational solidarity, and collaboration among the participants from the two country contexts, while at the same time ensuring cultural humility, respect for differences and power differences between the Global North and South and making efforts to avoid silencing marginal voices in academic and geographic spaces (Enns, et.al., 2021). Specifically, located within decolonial research and praxis, FemDAC draws on a pedagogical methodology (Burke, Crozier and Misiaszek, 2017) that uses participatory visual methods to facilitate women’s engagement with different gender and feminist analytical tools to understand and respond to the influence of the competing demands of neoliberal institutions and the prevailing socio-cultural inequalities on their scholarship, teaching and community engagement. From an analysis of their visual and textual artifacts, the paper will reflect on the participatory visual methods the women use to contribute to decolonizing the research space, cultivate care and support and help promote their academic advancement. The presentation concludes with some policy implications for transnational collaboration in higher education practice.
For over two decades, Scholars at Risk (SAR) has collaborated with stakeholders throughout the higher education community to support collective movements, advocate for better protections on an international scale, and -more recently- use data to track and monitor academic freedom. These actions are a cornerstone to preserving, protecting, and expanding academic freedom, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech throughout the international higher education system. However, over the past decade, there has been a growing and troubling rise in attacks on academic freedom. In SAR’s annual Free to Think report, SAR documented 403 attacks on scholars, students, and their institutions in 66 countries and territories. As the growing trend to curtail academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and equitable access spreads throughout the higher education ecosystem, the ability for students, scholars, and institutions alike to have an environment that encourages the ability to freely think, question, and share ideas is vital to building, preserving, and protecting higher education communities throughout the world. Coalitions and networks dedicated to protecting academic freedom are essential in ensuring that the key principles required for healthy higher education communities are not only sustaining but thriving.
The goal of this parallel session is to discuss the current state of academic freedom and explore how networks and coalitions of higher education institutions (HEI) throughout the globe are working collaboratively to preserve academic freedom. The parallel session will highlight the work of the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Network, an international network of more than 600 universities from about 42 countries around the world that work in collaboration to not only promote academic freedom but also to defend the human rights of threatened scholars worldwide.
The presenter, a SAR-Secretariat staff member, will highlight and analyze SAR’s annual Free to Think report, discuss the role of advocacy in protecting institutional autonomy and threatened scholars, and discuss how the SAR Network can collaborate with HEI on the continent to promote academic freedom (from hosting threatened scholars and SAR Speaker Series on their campuses, to participating at SAR conferences, engaging with other SAR members in research and educational projects and serving on SAR committees and boards).
Universities across the world are shifting towards strategic partnerships from having many partnership agreements that often gather dust without much work being done. As part of internationalization efforts and the advancement of knowledge generation and sharing, researchers and academics are encouraged to collaborate with local and international partners through joint funding applications and research and publishing collaborations. One would think that if an institutional agreement has been developed organically, partner university researchers and academics become automatic co-researchers and co-authors on publications. Evidence from data reveals a different story. This paper and presentation drawing from official data drawn from Scopus critically examines the universities that the university under focus collaborate and publish with and compare with institutional partner universities. This process enables the questioning of the role and significance of institutional agreements and implications thereof in relation to how individual researchers choose who they want to collaborate with and the motivations behind such. Furthermore, this presentation will scrutinize the geography and individuals that each of the researchers collaborates with in the wake of the decolonization of higher education including research and research collaborations. It is envisaged that through this presentation, universities can be able to undertake comparative analysis, undertake self-examination as well as reduce the gap between theory and practice.
Key words: Internationalization, decolonization, international research collaboration, strategic partnerships, research funding.
The globalisation of education has intensified the need for programs that prepare students for a workforce that is increasingly international in scope. Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) has emerged as a critical strategy in enhancing the employability of graduates by bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Student exchange programs, which traditionally focused on academic enrichment, are now being scrutinised for their potential to incorporate WIL components, such as internships, to offer students real-world experience in their field of study. This study focuses on the integration of internships within exchange programs for radiography students from Hanze University of Applied Science in the Netherlands (HUAS), participating in exchanges with the Central University of Technology (CUT) in Bloemfontein, Free State. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of incorporating internships into student exchange programs to enhance the linkage between academic learning and practical work experience. Specifically, it seeks to evaluate the outcomes of such integration for radiography students from HUAS undergoing internships in public hospitals in Bloemfontein, including impact on professional development, academic achievement, and cross-cultural competencies. Employing a quantitative case study of 50 students from Hanze who have been successfully placed at selected public hospitals in Bloemfontein. Data collection focused on capturing the breadth of participants’ experiences, perceptions, and the perceived value of the internship component of their exchange program. Findings indicate that the integration of internships within student exchange programs significantly contributes to students’ professional development, enhances their employability skills, and fosters a deeper understanding of their academic subjects in practical settings. Moreover, students report improved intercultural communication skills and a greater appreciation for global healthcare practices. However, challenges such as logistical coordination, cultural adaptation, and aligning academic requirements with practical work experiences were also highlighted. Incorporating internships into student exchange programs offers a valuable opportunity to enhance the educational experience by combining academic learning with practical application. This study demonstrates that such integration is not only feasible but also beneficial for students, universities, and host organisations, despite the challenges that may arise. Future initiatives should focus on overcoming these barriers to maximize the potential of WIL in fostering globally competent professionals. The findings contribute to the discourse on enhancing the quality and relevance of higher education in a global context, advocating for a more holistic approach to student exchange programs.
PRESENTATION D LINKS:
PRESENTATION D LINKS:
10:15- 11:15 Parallel Session 9
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B | PRESENTATION C |
Topic: Challenges, possibilities and breakthroughs in North-South international collaboration | Topic: The role of the office of International Affaris at the University of Limpopo in improving local and international students’ experiences. | Topic: Internationalization as a Change Intervention |
Divinia Jithoo, Durban University of Technology | Tshepang Modipane, University of Limpopo | Courtney Temple, Institute of International Education |
Dr Savo Heleta, Durban University of technology | Buliswa Msana, University of Limpopo | |
Helin Bäckman Kartal, South Africa Swedish Forum | Malose Lebelo, University of Limpopo | |
Sven Botha, University of Pretoria | Vusi Makamu, University of Limpopo | |
Patricio Langa, University of Western Cape | ||
Chairperson: John Mashayamombe, Nelson Mandela University | Chairperson: Metsing Hlomelang, Central University of Technology | Chairperson: Orla Quinlan. Rhodes University |
Venue: Duduza | Venue: Tsakane | Venue: Ekhurhuleni 4 |
PRESENTATION A | PRESENTATION B |
Topic: Challenges, possibilities and breakthroughs in North-South international collaboration | Topic: The role of the office of International Affaris at the University of Limpopo in improving local and international students’ experiences. |
Divinia Jithoo, Durban University of Technology | Tshepang Modipane, University of Limpopo |
Dr Savo Heleta, Durban University of technology | Buliswa Msana, University of Limpopo |
Helin Bäckman Kartal, South Africa Swedish Forum | Malose Lebelo, University of Limpopo |
Sven Botha, University of Pretoria | Vusi Makamu, University of Limpopo |
Patricio Langa, University of Western Cape | |
Chairperson: John Mashayamombe, Nelson Mandela University | Chairperson: Metsing Hlomelang, Central University of Technology |
Venue: Duduza | Venue: Tsakane |
PRESENTATION C |
Topic: Internationalization as a Change Intervention |
Courtney Temple, Institute of International Education |
Chairperson: Orla Quinlan. Rhodes University |
Venue: Ekhurhuleni 4 |
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Challenges, possibilities and breakthroughs in North-South international collaboration in higher education. The panel discussion will feature representatives of African and European institutions to share scholarly and practitioner-informed perspectives about international collaboration. This includes academics and researchers providing perspectives about their own North-South research collaboration experiences; researchers studying international research collaboration trends, and African and global geopolitics and their intersections with higher education; practitioners involved in the design and delivery of collaborative online international learning (COIL) programmes between South and North; African academics working in Europe on South-North research collaboration; representatives of an African association working in the field of international education; and a representative of an association linking European and African universities encouraging and supporting collaboration between them.
Keywords: International collaboration, internationalisation, higher education, South-North collaboration
Internationalisation of higher education has become a critical component and a course for discourse, universities are becoming a globalised space as observed by scholars in internationalisation of Higher Education. This is made possible through developing and strengthening partnerships and collaborations with international institutions of higher learning. As stated by several scholars in the internationalisation of Higher Education space, internationalisation includes, amongst other aspects, mobility programmes that aim at enhancing and promoting students’ cross-cultural experiences through partnerships and collaborations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the office of the International Affairs at the University of Limpopo in ensuring the improvement of local and international students’ experience of internationalisation. To this end, the paper will employ qualitative methods of collecting both primary and secondary data. For primary data, the paper will conduct in-depth interviews. With regards to the secondary data, the paper will explore existing literature from scholarly books and articles from recognised organisations of internationalisation which will provide the opportunity to gather precise and meaningful data. In conclusion, the office of the International Affairs at the University of Limpopo plays a critical role in improving local and international students’ experiences of internationalisation by providing student mobility programmes that seek to promote intercultural exchanges. The paper recommends that Universities with intentional interests of internationalisation should offer support to their International Offices through the development of strategies and policies that speak to internationalisation.
The programming, partnerships, interplay of faculty, funding, and change management required to facilitate organizational culture change that supports internalization is both unique and complex. It’s necessary to identify and create a balance between transformational and transactional dimensions of organizational change within the context of internationalization. This topic will seek to explore/ present optional and tailored frameworks that align the dimensions. Also will explore how alignment (or lack thereof) of change interventions impact successful implementation of internationalization efforts. Lasty exploring how administrators and faculty can navigate these challenges through targeted change management interventions.
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Challenges, possibilities and breakthroughs in North-South international collaboration in higher education. The panel discussion will feature representatives of African and European institutions to share scholarly and practitioner-informed perspectives about international collaboration. This includes academics and researchers providing perspectives about their own North-South research collaboration experiences; researchers studying international research collaboration trends, and African and global geopolitics and their intersections with higher education; practitioners involved in the design and delivery of collaborative online international learning (COIL) programmes between South and North; African academics working in Europe on South-North research collaboration; representatives of an African association working in the field of international education; and a representative of an association linking European and African universities encouraging and supporting collaboration between them.
Internationalisation of higher education has become a critical component and a course for discourse, universities are becoming a globalised space as observed by scholars in internationalisation of Higher Education. This is made possible through developing and strengthening partnerships and collaborations with international institutions of higher learning. As stated by several scholars in the internationalisation of Higher Education space, internationalisation includes, amongst other aspects, mobility programmes that aim at enhancing and promoting students’ cross-cultural experiences through partnerships and collaborations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the office of the International Affairs at the University of Limpopo in ensuring the improvement of local and international students’ experience of internationalisation. To this end, the paper will employ qualitative methods of collecting both primary and secondary data. For primary data, the paper will conduct in-depth interviews. With regards to the secondary data, the paper will explore existing literature from scholarly books and articles from recognised organisations of internationalisation which will provide the opportunity to gather precise and meaningful data. In conclusion, the office of the International Affairs at the University of Limpopo plays a critical role in improving local and international students’ experiences of internationalisation by providing student mobility programmes that seek to promote intercultural exchanges. The paper recommends that Universities with intentional interests of internationalisation should offer support to their International Offices through the development of strategies and policies that speak to internationalisation.
The programming, partnerships, interplay of faculty, funding, and change management required to facilitate organizational culture change that supports internalization is both unique and complex. It’s necessary to identify and create a balance between transformational and transactional dimensions of organizational change within the context of internationalization. This topic will seek to explore/ present optional and tailored frameworks that align the dimensions. Also will explore how alignment (or lack thereof) of change interventions impact successful implementation of internationalization efforts. Lasty exploring how administrators and faculty can navigate these challenges through targeted change management interventions.
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11:15 – 11:45 | Refreshment Break |
Keynote Address
11:45 – 12:45 | Speaker: Dr Grace Naledi Pandor, Former Minister of International Relations and Cooperation |
Chairperson: Lavern Samuels, IEASA President 2023-2024 | |
Venue: Auditorium |
Closing Plenary
12:45 – 14:00 | Topic: Reflections on the conference |
Speakers:
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Chairperson: Dr Samia Chasi, IEASA | |
Venue: Auditorium |
14:00 – 15:00 | Closing Lunch |
Venue: Foyer Area |