Coventry University: Good International Partnerships Start at Home Barbara Howell and Patrick Blessinger Coventry University and International HETL Association If universities want to develop a portfolio of inter-institutional partnerships around the world, they need to adopt not only a transparent and collaborative approach abroad, but a holistic philosophy that starts at home. Coventry University's partnership model uses link tutors, subject specialists, staff development, staff and student exchanges, knowledge transfer and collaborative research. Using this model Coventry has created 18 highly successful partnerships around the world in 14 different countries. Here, we explain how and why we believe this model is successful and we invite other universities to share what is working and not working for them. The partnership model adopted by Coventry University works because considerable time and effort is put into understanding the partners' needs and ensuring it's a relationship that benefits both institutions. Each partner is assigned a...
Is Malaysia the Regional Leader in International Higher Education? Patrick Blessinger and Enakshi Sengupta International HETL Association and University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus While restructuring its educational policies in the 1990s, the Malaysian government realised it would not be able to provide higher education to a significant proportion of its population through its own public institutions. In 1995, the Malaysian government was faced with a situation where 20% of Malaysian students studied abroad. This cost the country an estimated $800 million USD, nearly 12% of Malaysia’s current account deficit. Malaysia became one of the top countries sending its own students to study abroad. Faced with such a predicament the Malaysian government embarked on a program to turn Malaysia into a fully developed knowledge based economy. To that end, the Malaysian government sought to partner with foreign higher educational institutions to offer more educational opportunities for Malaysians on their own soil. The ultimate aim was...
Higher education needs to build global learning communities Patrick Blessinger and Olga Kovbasyuk International HETL Association Globalisation in the 21st century continues to bring about many new political, economic, social, and technological developments. Today’s students therefore tend to be more digitally savvy, mobile and transitory, socially connected, and more democratic in their worldview. This new reality has placed greater demands on educators in all countries to create more contemporary learning environments that reflect the pluralistic nature of life on our planet. To that end, we believe that virtual global learning communities have the potential to create more authentic and experiential learning spaces for students. Global learning is the cultivation of multiple, diverse, and global perspectives. It allows one to develop the intercultural competencies necessary to become a global citizen who can understand issues from multiple perspectives and gain a deeper appreciation of and tolerance for diversity of all types (cultural,...
