Presenter profile - Track E: Lois Smith

The view from over here: Branch campuses and their role in the development of Middlesex as a global education provider

Lois Smith

Lois Smith moved to Dubai from the UK in 1994, which prompted a career change from nursing to teaching. Starting as an English language teacher, she soon moved into higher education to teach academic skills, and then worked on developing a university Foundation programme. At the same time she completed a Masters degree in Adult Education and Training as a distance student. After that, she pursued her interests in adult education through her role as an educational developer at the offshore campus of an Australian university. She introduced the University’s tertiary teaching qualification for academic staff at the  offshore campus, and successfully ran this programme for 5 years. At the same time she continued to work in academic development through various initiatives to support student learning.

After completing a PhD in Educational Research from Lancaster University, UK, she  joined Middlesex University’s offshore campus in 2008 where she has taught on a range of programmes and has worked towards bringing new programmes to that  campus. She is currently the campus Teaching and Learning Coordinator and the Programme Coordinator for the MA Education (Leadership, Management and Change) and the PGCertHE. Her main research interests lie in transnational higher education, particularly in its impact on academic work practices and identities.

The conference session will present the branch campus perspective on Middlesex as a global university, and it will be centred around 2 short videos featuring academics and students at the Dubai and Mauritius campuses talking about how they see Middlesex in global terms. They also talk about what being part of Middlesex means to them and how academic standards are maintained across campuses, which is a key factor in the success of a global university. Participants in the session will be given the opportunity to reflect on their own understanding of being part of a ‘global’ university and how that affects their academic work practices.