A practical look at the why and how of supporting international students: A checklist of teaching tips

Friday 5 July: Conference day three, 10:30am – 11:00am parallel session

Venue

Room 7 – 301-G053 Med Chem

Presenter

Associate Professor Shelley Beatty
Edith Cowan University, Australia
s.beatty@ecu.edu.au

Background

The number of international students at Australian universities continues to rise. In 2018, there were almost 400,000 international students enrolled at Australian institutions (Australian Government, Department of Education and Training, 2018). As well as making an obvious economic contribution to universities, the trend of increasing international enrolment has numerous benefits to domestic students as they learn with international students, are therefore exposed to multicultural perspectives on local and global topics and hence enhance their employability (Andrade, 2006). For these benefits to continue, universities need to be aware of and accommodate the adjustment and educational needs of international students. For the purpose of this abstract, the term ’international students’ refers to those who have done the majority of their previous education in countries where English is not the main medium of instruction (Arkoudis, 2006).

The Issue

The majority of courses offered in the School of Medical and Health Sciences (SMHS) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Western Australian contain international students and the retention and success rates of this subgroup of students are problematic and below University targets (Cook, 2019). As a response, in 2019 a School-wide strategy was implemented to address this issue. This showcase will summarise the strategies which included a checklist of 10 teaching tips to be implemented by academics. The tips were evidence-based and designed to assist academics to both internationalise their curriculum content and their curriculum delivery. The Checklist will be available at this session.

Intended Outcome

Providing additional targeted support for international students in the SMHS is a new initiative the impact of which on the self-reported perceptions of international students will be evaluated in June of 2019. Ethics approval to collect international students’ perceptions regarding the extent to which their lecturers have implemented the 10 teaching tips has been obtained and all international students will be invited to complete an on-line anonymous survey.

References

Andrade, M. (2006). International students in English-speaking universities: Adjustment factors. Journal of Research in International Education, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/1475240906065589
Arkoudis, S. (2006). Teaching International Students: Strategies to enhance learning. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne.
Australian Government, Department of Education and Training. (2018). International Student data 2018. Retrieved from https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/International-Student-Data/Pages/InternationalStudentData2018.aspx
Cook, E. (2019). School of Medical and Health Sciences International Onshore Student Retention and Success. Perth, Western Australia: Centre for Learning and Teaching, Edith Cowan University.

Presentation topic

Students – Well-being and success