Internationalisation and staff development

A study into support provided for international students by 33 Australian universities suggests that an internationalisation strategy should be accompanied by staff development support for those who interact with international students:

There is a need for staff development programs for both academic and support staff to facilitate communication and effective teaching or supervision of international students. There are considerable pressures exerted on university staff by the enrolment of a diverse student population. To ensure that international students feel welcomed and provided with high quality services and academic programs there is a need to address the training needs of staff. (Edmond, 1995, p. 59).

Not all staff who interact with international students do so within Australia. In many universities, there is an expectation that staff will deliver and market programmes off shore, both face-to-face and at a distance. Bradley (1998) stresses that a university needs to "develop its staff to enable them to manage diverse and multicultural groups of students at home and abroad" [emphasis added] (p. 137).

Academic staff development programmes, whether they be offered centrally or at the faculty or departmental level, need to be explicit about some of the implicit issues of internationalising the curriculum and the classroom. Some concerns that could be addressed in such programmes are outlined below.

If we accept the notion that professional courses at universities are about acculturating students into those professions then staff who are working with international students are faced with some of the following dilemmas. "Acculturation" for what? To work in this society? In their home society? In some other society? Are students going to be expected to preserve the status quo in their home countries? To challenge the status quo? Or even to change it when they return? How is a lecturer to determine this and what are they then to do about? Does it matter who pays for the student to come here? Does it matter what the political and social climate is like in the student’s country of origin? Does it matter if the student does not fully measure up to the same standards as those required of local students? Does it matter for the overseas students, and for the local students? … Staff are torn between a necessity to impose the "standards" and "rigour" of their discipline and the fear that any or all of what they are providing for the students may be at best irrelevant and at worst actually harmful to the societies and communities from which they come and to which they must eventually return. … How does an "international citizen" behave? What and how does one acculturate people into a profession whose boundaries are now fluid and which is being defined increasingly by people whose expectations may be different to one’s own? How indeed does one even determine if they are different? (Alderson, 1996).

While much of the focus on internationalisation in the area of teaching and learning is on how Australian teachers need to respond to international students, consideration also needs to be given to the staff development needs of new staff from overseas. As education systems and approaches to teaching and learning differ from country to country, international members of teaching staff are likely to need information about Australian, institutional, faculty and departmental systems and approaches, as well as access to local programmes for teachers new to higher education. In addition, like international students, international staff need to feel welcomed and their contributions and perspectives valued. Much can be done at the departmental level to facilitate the settling-in process for these staff through induction programmes, mentoring and less formal means.

How might staff development assist you, your colleagues and your students in meeting the challenges of internationalisation?

• Alderson, A. (1996). Internationalisation and academic staff development. Paper presented at AARE Conference, Singapore. <http://www.swin.edu.au/aare/96pap/parkl96a.194>.
• Bradley, G. (1998). The TQA and its impact on international education. Innovations in Education and Training International, 35(2), 133-139.
• Edmond, M. (1995). Quality support services for international students: AVCC code of ethical practice in the provision of education to overseas students by Australian higher education institutions. Journal of Tertiary Education Administration, 17(1), 51-62.