International Environments and Practices of Higher Education

Authentic learning or learning by doing involves real-world problems and their solutions using role-play, problem-based actions, case studies, and engagement with communities of practice in a multicultural environment by its very nature (Lombardi, 2007). Authentic learning will be explored through the lenses of an international postgraduate programme in International Tourism Management and mainly through a module that is team coached and underpins the degree. The reflective chapter examines two journeys: (i) master students who take ownership of their learning in a team setting environment; and (ii) tutor/s who take the role of team coach and facilitate student’s abilities to self-manage and take responsibility of their own learning and development. The journey is discussed from the perspective and characteristics of authentic learning activities employed in the design, implementation, and assessment of the module and, overall, the postgraduate programme. Drawing on the experiences of authentic activities presented, learnings can be applied to various modules and degrees given the broad context of tourism in a global context.

Our higher education cohorts are becoming increasingly diverse. Providing beneficial formative and summative feedback for highly diverse groups of students is difficult. Three key aspects of the feedback process are required to ensure benefits: (i) suitable feedback components; (ii) suitable embedding of feedback in the learning context; and (iii) active engagement in the feedback process. In order to explore these three aspects, this chapter investigates: (a) relevant literature; (b) learning and teaching activities in Warwick Business School’s Distance Learning MBA; and (c) data from an internal committee report that presented the NVivo-processed findings of a review of 173 DLMBA students’ reflections on impactful feedback. The observations and recommendations given here reveal insights that can be applied to other student groups beyond the MBA sphere and ensure an impactful learning and teaching experience for all stakeholders. Thus, the purpose of the chapter is to assist colleagues and students in engaging more fruitfully in feedback processes and in adding tried and tested approaches to their learning and teaching repertoires.

The types of employability skills and how to infuse employability skills into education is increasingly clear in theory, but in practice, these are proving difficult for the higher education (HE) system in developing countries. A key question is why and how can HE system focus on graduate outcomes? It could be argued that the African debilitating unemployment crisis has been mainly because of the low levels of skills and low standard of education. Building on ‘postcolonial theory’, this chapter focuses on graduate outcomes to examine the current unemployment situation in Africa, causes and solutions to the challenges. By exploring issues related to over-reliance on outdated curriculum, poor teaching pedagogy, low government expenditure on education and ineffective education policies, we hope to contribute to the knowledge of ways to improve HE, labour force and sustainable development. This conceptual contribution argues that HE policies focus should be on skills development, vocational education, digital innovations and less emphasises on degree qualifications.

This chapter will investigate the philosophical perspective and practical drivers of teacher development programmes delivered by a UK university to serving teachers in China. This chapter will highlight the evolution of the professional development programmes as they were delivered, considering cultural diversity and subsequent impact upon practice. The impact from the participant’s perspective is themed around ‘changing thinking in teaching and learning’. While a significant majority of teacher participants stated that the programmes had changed their thinking, there were several cultural barriers that ultimately constrained the impact of the professional development. The different learning environment in the UK and China led some participants to perceive that it was impossible to implement the strategies in their context. Insight of this nature can support institutions in adapting their international continued professional development programmes, both in content and mode of delivery, to address both teacher perceptions and changing global landscapes.

Research on sojourn experiences appears to indicate that temporarily living abroad interrupts and redirects peoples’ cultural identity as they negotiate and shift their identities to better fit with the new environment within which they are operating (Dickens, Womack, & Dimes, 2019; Zhang & Xaio, 2021). In this chapter, a biographical reflexivity lens is used to explore events that were captured from a living abroad life: firstly, as an international student from mainland China attending university in the UK, and secondly as an international academic following a move from being a student to being a full-time member of the teaching staff at the same university. The shifting of my cultural identity to one more reflective of those found in my host country was subtle, and one which I was not conscious of until challenges by Chinese students provoked reflection about my ‘Chineseness’ since they had expected me to conform to their understanding of Chinese ways of teaching with its emphasis on rote learning and memorisation (Ai & Wang, 2017; Wang, 2018). Where ‘I’ is used in the chapter, it refers to the first author whose experience forms the basis for the chapter.

Over the past few years synchronous and hybrid classes have become necessary, more common and increasingly popular in higher education. They have changed the art of the possible and are seen as the new normal. However, despite the opportunities this pedagogical method offers, it also presents several challenges, as academics accustomed to in-person teaching may find it difficult to adapt and thrive in this new environment. Based on a case study of best practices in three triple-accredited (Equis-AMBA-AACSB) business schools operating in the USA, Europe and Asia, this chapter presents a collection of best teaching practices in classes that combine in-person and virtual modes of study, where students participate together in real-time class activities. Gaining insights into the merits and limitations of teaching synchronous and hybrid classes can help academics and schools towards enhancing excellence in the student experience and promote greater collaboration among academics and between faculty and students. This chapter explores what excellence looks like, from the perspectives of academics who have successfully adopted this pedagogy. Practices include course design, technology, student engagement, class delivery, student assessment and institutional cooperation.

Based on a two-country (Nigeria and South Africa) case study, this chapter examines the national policies and practices to promote human capital development and cross-border mobility of labour and their effects on specific and overall quality of educational outcomes. The higher education sector of the African continent has witnessed phenomenal changes over the past century and more significantly so in the last three decades. As the role of the higher education sector in human capital development has been increasingly recognised, policies for internationalisation have become more diffuse and multisectoral, leading to far-reaching contradictions that have adverse consequences for the mobility of prospective students and academics. There is evidence that the production of human capital has faced serious challenges over the years and the World Bank that has been tracking these issues globally is supporting governments to enhance their human capital development efforts. At the same time, Covid-19 has become a major and enduring threat to human capital development. Efforts to sustain and maintain internationalisation and reap its positive benefits are required in order to enhance the contribution of the higher education system to development of human capital and beneficial exchange of knowledge and skills across the continent.

In this chapter, we reflect on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on an Innovation and Entrepreneurship educational programme by comparing two editions of the Start-up Lab, a three-month hands-on laboratory organised at the University of Trento (Italy), focused on the development of entrepreneurial ideas by international students. The 2019 edition of the course, before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, was held in attendance, whereas the 2021 edition was held online. For the latter, the authors decided to introduce a self-directed learning approach, assuming it could better support remote teamwork and the acquisition of transversal skills. In this chapter, the authors critically question the effectiveness of remote working and the self-directed learning approach in innovation and entrepreneurship education programmes. The authors provide early evidence about some critical aspects of online and distance learning and teamwork, mostly related to self-efficacy skills, such as the ability to motivate others to work together and collaborative work. Despite the negative effects of distance working on some entrepreneurial skills, the authors demonstrate that the ability to reflect on learning experience is a driver for improving specific entrepreneurial and innovation skills. Students who have had the opportunity to reflect on their learning experiences feel more confident about becoming entrepreneurs or working in companies with a stronger entrepreneurial mindset.

As universities operate in a global environment, internationalisation is inevitable for higher education (HE), as it is driven externally by political, economic, and socio-cultural globalisation forces. Through decoding and deconstructing the English language proficiency of international students and the international student experience at universities in the UK, this chapter investigates how university academics should consider employing both scaffolding strategies and cultural intelligence in their teaching and learning to enhance the international student experience and bridge the gap in educational attainment between home and international students. This calls for academics to re-assess and re-conceptualise what teaching, and learning means in a culturally and linguistically diverse context. It also aims to encourage further research around the convergence of English language and the disciplines, as well as the internationalisation and equality, diversity and inclusivity of HE policies and strategies.