Higher Education Commons^™

Building Global Skills: Broader Concepts Of Internationalization In An Ontario College, Mariam Raza

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The Canadian federal government, national associations, and internationalization scholars have identified the need and demand for Canadian students to acquire global skills and competencies during their post-secondary education. Opportunities to acquire global skills can be offered through a wide variety of global engagement programs, such as study-abroad exchange programs, faculty-led excursions abroad, and other programs that allow students to interact with the global world. However, these programs are costly and do not consider the significant financial resources students require to participate in such activities. Most at-home students are left out of global engagement programming and therefore do not have the …

Better Together: Fostering Student-Level Intercultural Competence Through Collaborative Online International Learning (Coil) And A Collaboratively Created Assessment Tool, Wes Armstrong

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Many Japanese universities have been undergoing processes of internationalization to mitigate demographic realities that conspire against robust student enrolments. These internationalization initiatives often attract students from other Confucian-based contexts who are expected to move away from their homeland and fully integrate into an unfamiliar, Japanese environment. Resultantly, international student needs are often camouflaged by cultural similarities that favour group harmony and collectivism over more equitable approaches to learning. Therefore, this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to serve student needs by fostering the development of intercultural competencies through a pilot collaborative online international learning (COIL) project open to all students, and …

University-Wide Internationalization Of Curriculum: An Organizational Improvement Plan, Ayesha Mushtaq Ms

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In the past few decades, higher education institutions have witnessed a greater interest in the way international perspectives including political, social, cultural, economic and technological perspectives impact graduates’ global competency. The rationale behind this view is to develop a more relevant understanding in graduates of global cultures, global knowledges, and global problems so that they are better prepared for the world of work that awaits them outside the university campus, regionally or internationally. This OIP problematizes the lack of international perspectives in curriculum and proposes a university-wide solution to incorporate internationalization of curriculum. It draws from the theoretical concepts of …

Advancing Employee Engagement With Internationalization Through Networked Leadership Approaches At A Canadian Community College, Inga Wheeler

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This organizational improvement plan, undergirded by social network theory, addresses the lack of engagement by many organizational members with an ambitious internationalization goal at Sky College (a pseudonym). The institutional climate is one in which day-to-day challenges prevail and motives for internationalization are questioned. Drawing on system and adaptive leadership, and within the functionalist paradigm, the case is made for advancing 4 factors to increase engagement with internationalization: a shared vision and understanding of internationalization, improving internal communication systems, fostering knowledge creation and sharing, and increasing connections in the network. The proposed solution is a 12-month series of focus on …

Implementing Internationalization In Ontario In A Public-Private Partnership, Junie Facey

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Abstract

The goal of Canada’s International Education Strategy: Harnessing our Knowledge Advantage to Drive Innovation and Prosperity (Global Affairs Canada, 2014) is to target the best and brightest international students to study in the country’s higher education institutions, mutually benefiting the student and the country’s economy. However, internationalization has created a new reality, with students graduating ill-equipped for the global society and a demand for approaches that embrace the complexities of diversity and changing environments (Dailey-Hebert & Dennis, 2015). Absent from the internationalization agenda are the considerations of impact on students and what they need in an organization’s culture to …