Upcoming conference on international education!

The project team are preparing a conference on themes relating to international education. Check out the website here! There is still time to submit an abstract too - June 3rd is the extension.

Generally we hope to discuss issues like:

• whether the nature of 'knowledge' in a degree program is perceived by students and staff as 'global'
• whether a 'global' curriculum is or can be informed by local contexts and conceptions of teaching and learning, and
• how educating the 'global citizen' implies a standardised 'delivery' of the same curriculum worldwide, emanating from Westernised education systems.

The conference aims to:

1. encourage inclusive practices in learning and teaching in the international context
2. critically examine opportunities for and barriers to collaborative research and funding
3. foster networks for research throughout the conference to encourage people to identify research areas and possible connections with likeminded others, and
4. identify and explore research methodologies and new ways of doing research.

Interested? Join the Conference Email list to receive updates and connect with others worldwide.

We hope you can make to Kuala Lumpur next February!

Universities and Globalisation - Sir Howard Davies, London School of Economics

On March 24, 2005, yoni and I attended a seminar titled 'Universities and Globalisation'(.pdf) in Melbourne presented by Sir Howard Davies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
[For project members, you can view full version of notes on our Yahoo Groups site.]

The seminar covered

• the international marketplace and current state of play of international higher education in brief,
• the risks in expanding into an international market, and
• LSE's strategy for expansion and development in an international sense.

Some questions which arose from the seminar you might find worth commenting on:

1. What opportunities or threats might emerging markets like China and India pose?
2. How is the 'student experience' mainatined along with rationalisation of resources and the 'brand identity'?
3. Is it worthwhile considering socio-political risks (such as the impact of September 11) in expanding and/or marketing internationally?
4. How do research universities reconcile and maintain a balance with teaching on an international level?
5. Where will internationalisation of higher education take us in 5-10 years from now?

Okay, the last question is a big one, but in terms of both the business angle and the future of academic institutions worldwide, we may well see such an impact internationally so as to change the face of higher education -- how does this grab you?

To end, I've included some links in reference to Sir Howard Davies and the current sitaution of the London School of Economics and comments made in papers, etc. This may provide more insight into the situation both in the UK and across the globe.

• Bahrain meet to discuss Islamic banking
• Article, reviews and lectures by Sir Howard Davies
• Disgracing the LSE (for something completely different!)
• You slay me: Davies gets point of Buffy slang

Global Knowledge and phenomenology

How will we express our findings using a phenomenlogical structure?

If we are to consider the 'Seven Widely Accepted Features of the Phenomenological Approach', we then must think about:

1. the unobservable matters and grand systems erected in speculative thinking;
2. how we will/should oppose naturalism (also called objectivism and positivism), which is the worldview growing from modern natural science and technology;
3. how we will justify our perceptions (and also evaluation and action) with reference to what Edmund Husserl called Evidenz, which is awareness of a matter itself as disclosed in the most clear, distinct, and adequate way for something of its kind;
4. how we will justify the beliefthat not only objects in the natural and cultural worlds, but also ideal objects, such as numbers, and even conscious life itself can be made evident;
5. how our inquiry ought to focus upon what might be called "encountering" as it is directed at objects and, correlatively, upon "objects as they are encountered". This terminology may not be widely shared, but the emphasis on a dual problematics and the reflective approach it requires IS;
6. how we will incorproate the role of description in universal, a priori, or eidetic terms as prior to explanation, especially in disscussing our findings; and
7. whether or not what Husserl calls the transcendental phenomenological epochê and reduction is useful or even possible, in the context of our project (CARP, January 13, 2005)

In beginning to frame our findings we need to be sure of the structure used for such an undertaking.

Reflection through imagery...

Kaya and Marg spent sometime together, with Marie-Louise, after
returning from Malaysia to try to capture their experinces and thoughts
about their time in KL, using imagery to do so.

It helped to draw out the finer aspects of their experiences,
especially the intangible aspects often not conscious in the usual
discussion setting.

The visual stimuli helped to deepen the reflective rpocess, by tapping
into other parts of the brain, in order to bring to the surface the
more unconscious feelings and perceptions which marked their Malaysia
visit.

This is a methodology we aim to employ in the project itself to assist
with the analysis of data collected during the Malaysia and the earlier
South Africa visit.

Update on the project for November 2004

We have just said goodbye to one of the project's 'critical friends', Dr Marie-Louise Annerblom, from the Lulea University of Technology, Sweden. Marie-Louise has been taking part in the Project as a ‘critical friend’ to encourage reflection on the progress of the project and to extend the discussion on internationalisation in a spirit of participation and collaboration.

Marie-Louise evaluated an international teacher exchange program and was also a participant in this program where she went to Curtin University, Perth WA. She has an interest in gender studies, particularly in the female-dominated sectors like teaching and nursing. Her interest in the Project includes creating connections with academics from both Lulea University and Monash University, to stimulate discussion and collaboration in research across a range of disciplines, and to do so thinking about new ways to do research.

Farewell, Marie-Louise, until next time! Thank you for your valuable input!

The possibility of De-globalisation?

I attended a seminar at Monash earlier today held by Lord Meghnad Desai, from the London School of Economics and a member of the UK House of Lords. He spoke about the possibility that one day the world might once again move to de-globalise, after articulating the history of economic movement from the late 1800s to the present day. Lord Desai offered us many scenarios based on his wealth of knowledge and understanding of world politics and international economic developments.

Much of his discussion and the ensuing questions from the floor centred on the economic climate of the past, to the present day and projections into the future. Although this economic focus was strong Lord Desai made a strong artgument that if not for economics and the will of economies to make a profit, self interest would be kept 'at home'! In other words, money talks and it does so globally!

Lord Desai asked the question: if de-globalisation was to occur, what factors would initiate this occurrence?

Perhaps on the ground movement by anti-globalisation groups might topple the global phenomena? Perhaps fundamentalist groups will destabilise governments and economies? What about the aging populations around the globe? How might that affect labour markets and capitalist forces? What might happen to the welfare state (particularly for UK and Australia with strong public service provision)?

This is an open question and is being asked at all levels. Here are some earlier thoughts from Lord Desai as interviewed on PBS (2000) ... What are your thoughts?

Links about Globalisation

Globalisation and Education, Rikowski (for House of Lords, UK)

Globalisation in Education: Process and discourse (Berlin, Germany)

The Survival Guide to Globalisation 2000 (Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia)

The Learning Business, trade in education (OECD Observer)

The UK paper examines globalisation as being 'capitalist' globalisation and looks at its consequences for education.

The Berlin paper talks about globalisation and internationalisation almost in the same breath. It discusses the internationalisation of educational knowledge in societies. It brings this together with a comparative analysis of the phenomena that is 'globalisation' (as not being just the domain of economics) and discusses the way in which we communicate globally and that knowledge is dependent on the language and discourse structures used to communicate knowledge, thus being 'semantically constructed'.

Flinders University, Adelaide South Australia, runs a Globalisation program. This consists of papers written by students which have subsequently been published in book form. Some articles are avaialbel to read on the web.

In the words of the progam itself:

Globalisation students learn traditional skills, in a modern context, with an eye to the future. Particular emphasis is placed on developing an awareness of cultural diversity, and on communication skills. (online)

And again here:

The Globalisation program draws on expertise from across the university and all topics are taught by a team of staff from different disciplines.

Among other areas, it examines the economic, technological, sociological, legal, environmental, political, cultural and historical aspects of globalisation.

Within this framework students address issues as diverse as changing ideas of national sovereignty, moves towards the global regulation of economic activity, changes in the global environment, and the policy challenges of global diversity and inequality. (online)

The OECD Observer presents a telling article about the international trade of education and asks whether trade in international education works. It fosues on student mobility as the table below illustrates. An interesting look at transnational flows!



Source: OECD Observer

What do these varying sources tell us about the notion of globalisation? How can we discuss the concept of globalisation as generating a shared understanding?

I'm also really curious about how (or if) the notion of 'glocalisation' connects with globalisation and in what ways. See the June 17 post on "Glocalisation".