Academic Support for Overseas Students (2005/06)
During this year’s Good Practice Discussions, the following aspects of good practice have been identified:
Policy and Strategy
- An International Committee, headed by a Director of International Relations, reviews and develops the School of Management’s International Strategy
- The Division for Lifelong Learning has proposed a statement on International Student Support which it proposes to apply to all its provision, together with a model for the provision of support and guidance at each stage of contact with prospective and current students
Marketing and Information:
- The Department of Chemical Engineering has a designated Overseas Admissions Tutor who represents both the Department at international recruitment visits, mainly to the Far East which is a target market for international students
- The Science Faculty Office has, for many years, written to the schools of international students who have graduated with a good honours degree to inform them and congratulate them on their former student’s success
- Departments in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences aim to provide prompt responses to enquiries from potential overseas applicants
- The MA programme in Interpreting and Translating has concentrated upon providing clear and detailed information on the departmental website for overseas applicants
- The School for Health has developed an online virtual open day aimed at part-time distance learning applicants, which contains near-synchronous discussion events – providing an opportunity for students who are unable to attend University events to discuss their particular needs.
Academic Support:
- Several departments in the Faculty of Science have their own International Students’ Tutor. The Departments of Social and Policy Sciences, Education and ESML have an international student tutor to act as personal tutor for all undergraduate students. Within the School of Management, personal tutors for postgraduates resourced at the same level as for undergraduate students
- The Department of Biology & Biochemistry has recently appointed a Postgraduate Co-ordinator, part of whose role supports the demands relating to challenging recruitment targets for postgraduate international students
- The School of Management has dedicated staff resource for exchange/visiting students
- Support for postgraduate part-time distance learners in the School for Health is provided via the virtual learning environment.
Induction:
- The School of Management supplements University arrangements for the induction of international students with comprehensive induction arrangements at School level.
- SPS undertakes an international student welcome as part of the induction sessions for new students.
- One Department in the Faculty of Science ensures that all of their international students receive the International Office information in the Departmental Induction packs.
English Language Provision:
- The School of Management undertakes early testing of English language proficiency after arrival at Bath. Where needed, overseas students can then access small classes on ELC courses to develop English language skills.
Integration and Interaction:
- Overseas students on the MA in Interpreting and Translating undertake a compulsory pre-sessional course to help them acclimatise to life in a British University
- The Department of Biology & Biochemistry has developed an informal system of ‘buddies’ for its undergraduate international students
- The Department of Computer Science, which has large groups of international students, deliberately mixes its tutorial and project groups as much as possible on ethnic and gender grounds. The Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology also makes great efforts to ensure that international students are distributed evenly across all the tutorial groups and personal tutors in the Departments. Departments in the Faculty of Engineering and Design actively tries to integrate students via group activity work and by not pairing off students of the same nationality with each other in year 1. It should be noted, however, that the Faculty of Science considers that there are some good arguments for clustering female students together so that they can support each other. Conscious efforts are also made in the School of Management to ensure mixture of nationalities in class/assessment groups
- The School of Management cites the high percentage of undergraduates who spend part of their degree abroad as important to encouraging mutual international understanding in the School
Programme and Academic Culture:
- The School of Management provides special briefings for international students about British educational culture – essay writing, revision and examination skills. Workshops and one-to-one sessions have been held to deal with raising awareness of plagiarism, academic writing etc.
- The Departments of Social and Policy Sciences and Economics and International Development offer a writing course for overseas postgraduate students
- The Department of Economics and International Development offers a conversion programme of one year full-time study for students wising to enrol on the MSc in Economics who do not have an appropriate equivalent to a first degree in the subject.
- Part-time overseas students on the Education MA and EdD programmes are offered a flexible range of study options including distance learning, face-to-face teaching at overseas study centres, intensive study weeks at Bath and work-based research projects
- Particular account is taken by the School for Health of cultural and contextual issues when considering course design for postgraduate part-time distance learning students. The School is also mindful of the international relevance of course resources to ensure that students have equity of access and understanding to the resources.
Student Feedback:
- The School of Management has a special feedback questionnaire for international students
- The School for Health uses online discussion events to discuss the learning experiences if part-time distance learning students.
Other Resources
Jude Carroll & Janette Ryan (eds.), Teaching International Students (SEDA, 2005) Christine Talbot, Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity: Curriculum Matters (SEDA)
http://www.seda.ac.uk/
Higher Education Policy Institute review of Internationalism in Higher Education:
http://www.hepi.ac.uk/downloads/12Internationalism%20in%20Higher%20Education%20A%20Review.pdf
The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education:
http://www.obhe.ac.uk/
Higher Education Academy (Hospitality Leisure Sport Tourism subject centre) bibliography
http://www.hlst.heacademy.ac.uk/Resources/link16/link_16_references.pdf
UKCOSA – the Council for International Education:
http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/pages/visitors.htm
Universities UK resources page on International issues:
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/international/