Chris Shiel: Keynote presentation - Contributing to a learning planet

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Contributing to a learning planet?
What do we need to understand about the planet and what do we mean by global education?


Chris Shiel’s keynote speech delivered an inspirational and passionate view of internationalisation and sustainable development. She started us thinking by asking if anyone was wearing anything that was sourced and made exclusively in the UK, which neatly led into the issues to be covered – Internationalisation and Sustainable Development – ‘HUGE AND HIGHLY COMPLEX SUBJECTS’, as she put it (her caps).

A key issue was the strong link between internationalisation and employability. HE is a global industry but – in the UK – how are we ensuring our students have a global awareness? Nowadays many employers are more interested in knowledge and awareness of the wider world than in A-level results and there is evidence that they feel graduates’ horizons are not broad enough. The UK, she argued, will be left behind by fast-growing countries such as China, India and Brazil unless we really start to educate our young people to think globally.

Chris pointed out that although Educational Sustainable Development (ESD) was signed up to by most Vice-Chancellors, the awareness of this policy at the ‘chalk face’ was low (a point she supported by asking for a show of hands from us). Chris also questioned the myth of student mobility, asking whether UK students can actually meet the challenge of moving to another country. She suggested we need support to weave the global perspective into the curriculum and gave examples of how this is being achieved at Bournemouth University through embedding global and international perspectives throughout the learning experience. On the wider stage, her important considerations are: curriculum, pedagogy, mobility, extra-curricular, and social entrepreneurship.

It was a challenging presentation, asking a lot of questions of us: Do we assume we know everything? Do we ask often enough what we can learn from our overseas colleagues?

She feels we should be contributing to a learning planet by connecting agendas and balancing the regional with the global. She left us with a quote: “The global economy demands global thinking. We are preparing learners for a future that is evolving, uncertain and global – that future needs to be sustainable” and a YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6eTr4ldDYg&feature=fvwrel

Celia Cozens, CLTE
 

Keynote1 Chris Shiel

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David Law: Keynote Presentation - Internationalisation - a crowded world?

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Internationalisation - a crowded world?


David Law, from Edge Hill University, gave a fascinating keynote to close the conference. He struck a good balance between entertaining and informing, keeping the audience engaged after what had been a long day.

He started by outlining the increasingly competitive nature of the competition of the global HE field, and immediately noting that there was no one recipe for success if pursuing internationalisation. What worked for his (and our) institution wouldn’t work for, say, a Russell Group University.

Devising and delivering an appropriate strategy was a major consideration for institutions trying to operate more globally. This strategy may have many strands though. David proposed that this strategy should include an enabling leadership, and encompass academic practice, student support and cultural inclusivity.

David ran through traditional models of importing students, exporting students, and even partnerships, before suggesting that a networked model might be the way forward (even between institutions). He concluded that “universities must operate in a consistent and consciously co-operative way (even though there are many features of a competitive market)”.

Steve Chilton, CLTE

Introduced by Dr Nicky Torrance, Director of Learning and Teaching, MDX

Keynote2 D Law

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