Rethinking the Needs of International Students: Critical Perspectives on the Internationalisation of UK Higher Education Institutions

ESRC small research grants scheme. Dr Michele Schweisfurth (PI), Univ of Birmingham. Involving the Universities of Bath, Birmingham & Nottingham (2008-2009)

The project aimed to provide a forum in which a number of groups concerned with the education of international students at UK universities could meet to share perspectives: international students and their representatives, both as advocates and researchers; academics conducting research in this area; academics involved in planning educational provision for international students; social work and social policy researchers; teaching and learning officers in universities; international offices at universities; and government and other official bodies promoting the internationalisation of UK higher education through such programmes as the Prime Minister’s Initiatives for International Education (PMI 1 and 2).

The project facilitated better-informed practice at universities and encourage a balanced policy perspective. Specifically, it: i) developed our understanding of the complexity and dynamism of the intercultural relations in British HE; ii) identified, described and explained variations in the impact of critical personal, pedagogical, social and situational influences on international higher education students’ intercultural experiences over time; iii) examined key aspects of the participants’ intercultural awareness over time and in a range of different domains; iv) opened new channels of communication between international students and British host institutions; v) provided research-informed data which will enable British universities to respond more effectively to the challenges and opportunities of internationalisation; vi) added to the repertoire of research methods for inquiries into international students’ intercultural experiences.