Internationalising the curriculum – major report from Monash

Glenda Crosling, Ron Edwards and Bill Schroder in the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management about their project researching an institutional approach to internationalising the curriculum based on their work at Monash university in Australia. This programme involved paid release for course leaders to take their programmes through an institution-wide programme of internationalisation.

This report has been summarised in the University World News.  The highlights that they draw out include issues for the management of change, the importance of ownership of the change process and autonomy for course leaders to decide the extent to which they internationalise their curriculum.

We will be asking all strands of discussion to consider such agendas.  For example in relation to the academic leadership:

1.    What are the national and institutional research agendas?
2.    What is the research expertise in your institution?
3.    What are the research questions where we can make a research contribution as individuals or in groups?
4.    How might we explore these research possibilities further/ take these research projects forward (to funding?)?

Ideally we would like to think that a group might find an interest in this research theme and a common interest that is strong enough to want to take things forward, possibly collaborating on future research proposals.

Kenny

Kenny

The Challenge of Leadership in HE: graduate trainees?

Allan Bolton, General Manager of Leeds University Business School, writes in a report called Graduate trainee schemes in higher education in the University World News website on his views on the challenge of preparing the future leaders of universities and the idea that they may take a leaf out of commercial and other public sector graduate recruiters – after all: aren’t universities keen on getting their graduates into these schemes elsewhere?

However, is it the answer to the challenge of academic leadership in higher education insitutions?  In fact Bolton is talking largely about profressional support staff rather than academic staff.  But it does raise the question of how we prepare for the academic leadership requirements of 21st Century universities?   Are PhDs in fact graduate training for academic posts?  Are there other models of leadership development and capacity building that focus on academic leadership?  Is this an avenue of potential research collaboration?

Kenny