Search

In international education, climate change is an increasingly prominent consideration. International mobility contributes to global carbon emissions yet provides students with skills and knowledge to address climate change. Based on interviews with 17 individuals working in international education, this qualitative study illuminates how international educators view climate change: both as a threat and an opportunity for the field. When considering and mitigating international education's carbon emissions, interviewees reported mostly negative emotions: feeling stuck, frustrated, and overwhelmed. Interviewees also noted difficulties in logically and ethically reconciling the relationship, especially with student mobility as a key component of international education, providing several rationales for expanding international education to promote social and environmental justice. Notably, interviewees called for a reimagining of the field with more virtual exchanges and less air travel. Findings aim to inform higher education internationalization efforts -- and student mobility specifically -- in a time of climate crisis.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals include an explicit commitment to ''substantially expand'' the study abroad scholarships available to developing countries (Target 4b). Although this Target indicates a level of consensus about the benefits of scholarship programmes, it is made ambiguous by assuming coherence among many types of scholarship programme with different aims, approaches, and undergirding theories. In this paper, we examine the potential consequences of underpinning Target 4b through three theories: human capital, human rights, and human capabilities. Through the lenses of these three theories, we find significantly different outcomes projected for the ways that scholarship programs are linked to sustainable development. Additionally, failing to comprehend the theoretical frames that undergird scholarship programs creates an opportunity for diverse (and sometimes perverse) outcomes that may not serve the world's compact for a sustainable future. We propose a way forward through a human capabilities approach.

The Sustainable Development Goals call for a "substantial increase" of international scholarships. However, the links between international student mobility and sustainable development remain unclear. By examining the perceived outcomes of a closed higher education scholarship program, this study explores the ways that alumni perceive their contributions to the development of their home countries of Ghana and Nigeria. Findings indicate that scholarship alumni from Ghana and Nigeria value and advocate for education as a mechanism for social change and view both formal and informal education as significant mechanisms for development. Specifically, Ghanaian and Nigerian alumni noted two discrete ways that education leads to social change: (1) university teaching; and (2) citizenship, voter, and human rights education. This research aims to contribute to literature about the influence of scholarship program alumni on their home countries and to contribute to understanding of international higher education's role in the sustainable development agenda.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore what new knowledge is gained at academic and professional conferences by describing how this knowledge complements or contradicts campus-based learning and previous experiences of graduate students. Through gaining insights into conference-based learning, researchers and policymakers can create more complex and dynamic graduate student learning experiences and design conferences that welcome and encourage graduate student perspectives and voices. Design/methodology/approach: Rooted in transformative learning theory, this qualitative study explores what and how master's level graduate students learn at professional and academic conferences. Findings: Findings point to four categories of learning through conferences: students acquired empirical knowledge, gained insights into professional and scholarly trends and values, explored diversity of the conference body and their own belonging and benchmarked their knowledge in relationship to scholars and professionals. Interviewees gained this knowledge by linking conference-based learning to their graduate school curriculum and previous knowledge and experiences. Practical implications: Findings suggest considerations for educators, policymakers and administrators to enhance learning in graduate programs through in-person and virtual conference attendance. Originality/value: This study adds to minimal existing research on graduate student learning beyond the campus that contributes to holistic learning at the master's level. The findings on conference-based learning for graduate students go beyond the common notion of conferences as places of socialization for graduate students. These findings are increasingly relevant as academic and professional conferences are being reconsidered in the shift to the virtual space.

This systematic literature review maps an emerging subfield in educational research: international scholarships for students from the Global South. To untangle the multiple and sometimes competing rationales for scholarship programs, this study identified and reviewed 105 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters published from years 2010 to 2019. From the findings, six primary and distinguishable program rationales emerge: scholarships to develop skills development and human capital, to enhance diplomatic relations, to promote social change, to spur sustainable development, to internationalize universities, and to increase students' access to higher education. In the analysis, complements and contradictions among the rationales are explored, thereby emphasizing the importance of clarifying programs' goals and designs. The goal of this review is to highlight variances, opportunities, and omissions within the literature to inform scholars, administrators, and policymakers in the field of international higher education.

The UK Open University has a large, highly distributed workforce, particularly within its part-time teaching staff who work mainly from home and who live across the UK and Ireland. In these circumstances it is a challenge to provide professional development which allows for situated learning, peer interaction and community building. In this paper we describe a case study of an online initiative which allows distance staff easily to participate in one-day professional development events focussing on specific topics of relevance to particular groups. Event design incorporates a combination of near-synchronous sessions, synchronous sessions and web-based content. The short duration of the event enhances a sense of presence and can help to create an intense and stimulating development experience. A particular advantage of the design is in providing space which can be used to encourage informal situated learning, peer interaction and community building. The format also can easily bring together a diverse range of colleagues across geographic or subject boundaries. We describe and evaluate three different types of event which have run in this space, showing that the online format encouraged attendance, and the design afforded opportunities for peer engagement, reflection and social learning. The main drawback was the large message base in the event forum, which we mitigated by providing summaries of the discussion topics.

Many students from low- and middle-income countries seek scholarship support to pursue higher education overseas. Often scholarship programs mandate that recipients "give back" to their home countries following their studies so scholars "apply" their experiences to aid their countries of origin. In this comparative qualitative study, 40 Georgian and Moldovan scholarship alumni who studied in the United States were asked how alumni networks assist their ability to influence social and economic change in their home countries. The comparative findings point to the value of alumni networks in terms of graduates backing each other's activism projects and feeling part of a community of like-minded individuals who seek change. Where these networks were not present, alumni desired a supportive association to assist in their attempts to influence reform. Findings suggest the development of alumni networks facilitate individual scholarship participants' efforts to "give back" to their countries of origin.

International higher education student mobility can lead to social change in the students' home countries. This article examines the case of the Ford Foundation's International Fellowship Program Alumni Association in Ghana and how it has organized to affect change. Findings show that this association has assimilated many of the attributes of Wenger's community of practice (CoP) model. These characteristics include building strong communication systems, learning together in workshops, and solving problems through regular communication: activities that have improved their "practice" of social justice advocacy. The study also challenges the CoP model in three key ways relevant to international higher education, including highlighting how graduates incorporate their overseas education in their social justice practice and the limitations of diaspora engagement. Findings aim to inform administrators and participants of international higher education schemes, with a particular focus on international scholarship programs and those seeking to promote social justice.

This qualitative study explores how graduates of Western higher education view their contributions to their home country's social and economic development by comparing groups of international scholarship alumni who have returned to live in Moldova and expatriate alumni. Results indicate that country of residency influences one's perceived contributions to the home country: alumni regard those living in Moldova as being more effective in creating change and that living abroad diminishes one's influence. Notably, some graduates equate daily life contending with Moldova's difficult conditions with contributing to national development. Moreover, 'cyclical mobility' -- short-term engagements in Moldova -- is proposed as a promising approach to affect change from abroad. Finally, respondents report that mobility decisions are strenuous, as they consider multiple factors other than desire to 'give back'. Findings provide insight and nuance to the long-term efficacy of international higher education, and scholarship programmes specifically, to spur development in low- and middle-income countries.

As part of a wider study into perceptions that different university stakeholders have of tutorials, we investigated the UK Open University model for tuition through a process of semi-structured interviews with a self-selecting set of STEM tutors. The aim of the study was to elucidate perceptions that tutors have of the role and purpose of tutorials, and their perceptions of student expectations of group tuition. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts using a grounded theory approach identified several key themes. These include perceptions of the tutor role in group tuition: facilitating academic learning and skills; and supporting the building of confidence, motivation, social interaction and collaborative group-work skills. Difficulties were identified in encouraging student interaction in online synchronous tuition. In addition, mismatches became apparent between tutors' perceptions of student expectations of tuition and their own preferred approaches, with suggestions that students expect a didactic rather than interactive experience.

Many international scholarship programs expect that graduates will return home to apply their education for socioeconomic development, yet national contextual factors shape these anticipated outcomes. Through comparing Georgia and Moldova, this research examines how one contextual factor--the home government's reforms--influenced U.S. higher education graduates' pathways. Notably, the decade-old, pro-democratic revolutions in each country were identified as "critical moments" that shaped how international scholarship alumni estimated their role and responsibility in their country's progress. Findings contribute to nuanced understanding of how student mobility influences change in post-Soviet countries, leading to improved international education programs.

This study explores the effects of traditional beliefs, Confucian ideology, Chinese government policy and western influences on China's inclusion of people with a disability in the Chinese community in the 21st century. Using visual ethnography and an auto-ethnographic approach, the study examines data obtained over a period of five years to analyse the impact of recent initiatives of the Chinese government in disability policy and planning on attitudes towards people with a disability and the accommodation of people with a disability within the community. Findings from the study suggest that a series of positive legislative and administrative policies that guarantee equal rights for people with disabilities in China have had some positive outcomes, and that social attitudes towards the disabled are gradually changing, mainly as a result of the active advocacy of the disability community. However, despite these initiatives and changes in attitude, there is little evidence of the impact of Chinese disability policy on the built environment in China outside the major cities, and the disabled are still largely invisible in public spaces. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)