Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) National Teaching Fellowship: ‘IoC in action’

The Fellowship project focussed on engaging faculty in the process of exploring, making explicit and disseminating the meaning of internationalisation of the curriculum (IoC) in different disciplines. It also focused on identifying how staff working in different disciplinary and institutional contexts can best be prepared and supported to do this. The approach taken was to work intensively with a number of teams of 3-5 academic staff in different universities and disciplines and an academic developer from the same university. This work was written up as case studies of the IoC process in four disciplines stiuated in three different universities. There was a strong emphasis on building capacity for the future to address critical issues and key questions associated with internationalisation of the curriculum within and across disciplines and institutions. A range of stakeholders in institutions and disciplines across Australia were involved in various ways – as informants, advisers, consultants and active participants. Data for the case studies were collected from interviews and observations.

A Reference Group invited recognised national and international experts working in the area of both internationalisation in higher education as well as internationalisation of the curriculum to act as consultants; their role was informing, influencing and responding to the work being undertaken. Project activities also involved interactions, conversations and collaboration with groups of staff and individuals in the UK, The Netherlands, South Africa and the US. An evaluator and internationally recognised scholar in the field, Professor Fazal Rizvi, from The University of Melbourne, also significantly influenced the approach taken as the project progressed. Hence the project was informed by state of the art international research and leading thinkers in the field as well as being grounded in the reality of life for academic staff working in different disciplines and programs in universities.

Meetings with program teams and program leaders took place in 15 universities across Australia. Intensive work was undertaken, and continues, in the disciplines of accounting, applied science, art, journalism, law, medicine, nursing, public relations and social sciences in nine universities. Four detailed case studies were developed and a ‘Guide to the process of IoC’ with supporting resources, including a ‘conceptual framework of IoC’ were developed.

In 2013-14, the work of the Fellowship was extended with further support from the Australian Government’s Office of Learning and Teaching. The second project, ‘Embedding the IoC in Action Framework’, led by Craig Whitsed and Wendy Green produced additional resources that support the process of internationalising the curriculum within whole degree programs.