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Internationalizing the Curriculum

Annual report 2017-18

Entering tertiary education is a critical developmental task during emerging adulthood when exploration of life meaning becomes salient. A strong sense of meaning in life (MIL) plays a key role in smooth transition to college. However, little is known about how MIL develops in the first year of college, and even less is studied about the extent to which such development is a function of social relationships and predicts subsequent adjustment outcomes in college freshmen. This three-wave longitudinal research aims to address these underexplored questions, collecting data from Chinese college freshmen regarding their MIL, social relationships with parents, peers, and teachers, and a range of adjustment outcomes (i.e., life satisfaction, adaptation, procrastination, and smartphone addiction) at the second (T1), fourth (T2), and eighth (T3) months upon entry into college (i.e., higher vocational training institute; T1 N = 1,578). Results of latent growth models unravelled that Chinese college freshmen’s MIL showed a slight, but significant, decrease over the first year of college. Positive relationships with mother and teachers were related to higher levels of initial MIL and a positive teacher-student relationship mitigated the decline of MIL over time. In addition, results of path analysis revealed that MIL was concurrently related to better adjustment at both T2 and T3 and that T2 MIL also predicted better adjustment at T3. Mediation analyses further revealed that T2 MIL mediated the associations between T1 teacher-student relationship quality and T3 adjustment, even after controlling for T1 MIL and T2 adjustment. These findings bear important implications for college freshmen’s positive transition to college.

On the development of meaning in life among college freshmen: Social relationship antecedents and adjustment consequences

Developing academics’ capacity for internationalizing the curriculum (IoC) is essential but challenging. There is a lack of understanding of how the IoC framework can be implemented in reality and ...

Developing Academics’ Capacity for Internationalizing the Curriculum: A Collaborative Autoethnography of a Cross-Institutional Project:

Informed by multiple disciplines, theories, and methods, higher education scholars have developed a robust and diverse literature in many countries. Yet, some important (organizational) sociological perspectives, both more established and more recent, are insufficiently linked. In particular, we identify two theoretical strands – institutional and relational – that, when joined, help to explain contemporary developments in global higher education and yield new organizational insights. We review relevant literature from each perspective, both in their general formulations and with specific reference to contemporary higher education research. Within the broad institutional strand, we highlight strategic action fields, organizational actorhood, and associational memberships. Within the relational strand, we focus on ties and relationships that are especially crucial as science has entered an age of (inter)national research collaboration. Across these theories, we discuss linkages between concepts, objects, and levels of analysis. We explore the methodological approach of social network analysis as it offers great potential to connect these strands and, thus, to advance contemporary higher education research in a collaborative era.

Higher Education Organizations as Strategic Actors in Networks: Institutional and Relational Perspectives Meet Social Network Analysis

Internationalisation of the curriculum (IoC) is on the agenda of many higher education (HE) institutions worldwide. Typically seen as associated with a top-down strategy, IoC often meets resistance from university teachers, many of whom struggle to understand its relevance to teaching practice. This phenomenographic study investigates university teachers’ conceptions of IoC. Five conceptions ranging in sophistication have been identified. The least sophisticated focuses on making the curriculum content internationally relevant, whereas the most sophisticated centres around developing self-awareness, awareness of others, and a change in mindset in students. The latter is realised by embracing reflexivity and criticality and, more importantly, utilising societal and political issues as learning opportunities for identity development. Situated in the Hong Kong context, the findings not only suggest the need for teachers to shift their focus from curriculum content to value-based development but also for educators to reflect on their role in helping students to reconcile their identity in relation to their counterparts regionally and globally.

Vienne Lin

Papers

University teachers’ conceptions of internationalisation of the curriculum: a phenomenographic study

Developing Academics’ Capacity for Internationalizing the Curriculum: A Collaborative Autoethnography of a Cross-Institutional Project: