Introduction

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students from around the world pack their suitcases, say goodbye to family and friends and embark on what they hope to be an adventure of a lifetime—overseas higher education. They carry with them a host of expectations, personal, academic, social and financial. On arrival and in the months that follow they seek to develop a sense of belonging (Baker 2010), and adapt and integrate into their new surrounds (Berry 2002). However, research has shown that many international students will experience bouts of “culture shock” (Cameron and Kirkman 2010), a mix of excitement and feelings of isolation and despair (THEA 2011). Such experiences pose challenges for higher education institutions involved in sending students overseas and those who host international students.

For many, the international Education experience will be a life changing one (Dwyer 2004). For others, it will not live up to expectations as they struggle to make friends (Hendrickson et al. 2011) or interact with home students (Leask 2009), and so will return dissatisfied with their experience. Equally, parents, who sometimes have made large personal, family and economic sacrifices to support the experience, will wonder about the value and return on their international Education investment (Zhou 2012). Such concerns with the higher education experience are not restricted to international students.

Researchers (such as Appleby 2005) highlight the problems that domestic students experience in making the transition and adjusting to study and life in higher education. The challenges of transition in an academic and social sense are magnified for those students from different cultural backgrounds (Baker 2010; Ramburuth and Tani 2009). These students may also suffer acculturative stress associated with differences in language, in academic expectations and teaching methods, and in their capacity to fit in socially (Berry 2002; Mak and Kim 2011). As researchers and senior academics responsible for different facets of internationalisation within our respective institutions, we set about exploring ways in which we could improve the acculturative stresses and involvement of international students on our campuses. Two questions guided our research. How can higher education institutions help international students in their academic and social acculturation? At the same time, how can these institutions maximise the benefit of having a wide range of international students on campus and, in so doing, ensure that their knowledge and experience contribute to the educational benefit of all?

In an effort to answer these questions, this paper examines three different approaches to the internationalisation of teaching and learning adopted at higher education institutions in Hong Kong and Australia. It demonstrates how each institution tackled the challenges posed by both hosting and leveraging the benefits of enrolling international students, to benefit the learning experience of all students. The paper will begin with a review of teaching and learning in higher education and the movement toward internationalising the curriculum (IoC) in higher education. The case studies then follow. Case study analysis identifies five conditions which support IoC development and implementation. The final section of the paper looks at creating the conditions in a higher education context.

Internationalisation of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Altbach and Knight (2007) provide a comprehensive review of the reasons that motivate universities around the world to pursue an internationalisation policy agenda. These include the commercial and financial rewards on offer, to strengthen research and knowledge, to develop political soft power and advance intercultural understanding and skills of students. Traditional views on internationalisation and policy rarely reflected “for profit” motives. Instead, the focus was on enriching academic studies by providing international perspectives or study areas, and/or it was on status building through international alliances. Originally, internationalisation was reserved for the more prestigious and often most wealthy institutions. However today, internationalisation has become a fundamental policy component of most higher education institutions and countries alike. This is driven, in part, by decreased funding from governments and consequent pressure to recruit full fee paying international students to fill the financial void.

In 2003, Knight redefined internationalisation as “the process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions and delivery of post-secondary Education” (p. 2). This definition continues to hold currency in the strategic planning of contemporary higher education institutions, though front-line academics have different views of what internationalised teaching and learning practices might look like (Stella and Liston 2008).

Related movements such as the IoC and the closely linked “internationalisation at home” (IaH) approach reflect Knight’s (2003) conceptualisation of internationalisation. In essence, both movements aim to develop the intercultural and global competence of all students, domestic and international (see Beelen 2011; Crowther et al. 2003; Leask 2008; Wächter 2003). In practice, the internationalisation of the higher education curriculum goes beyond student mobility, adopting the position that international perspectives can be developed through a strong emphasis on teaching and learning in culturally diverse or enriched settings (Wächter 2003). Such movements continue to be debated worldwide and pose challenges for higher education policy makers and practitioners.

The three case studies that follow show how institutions in different cultural and disciplinary contexts have responded to the challenges of internationalising their curricula. They provide insights into the benefits of encouraging intercultural interactions and engagement in three distinctly different iterations of formal internationalised curricula and their related tasks.

Case Studies

Hong Kong Institute of Education

The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) is a university-level institution offering teacher education and complimentary discipline programs at bachelor, master and doctoral levels. Key strategic areas focus on the transformation of students and graduates, schools and the region landscape. This is achieved in part through a broad integrated curriculum framework that acknowledges and develops global understanding. A curriculum that provides national and international experiences through:

  • Academic content

  • Opportunities for student mobility,

  • The recruitment of non-local students, and

  • Collaborations with Mainland Chinese and International universities.

The HKIEd provides mobility programs for 100 % of students at undergraduate level. International or, as referred to in Hong Kong, “non-local” students, account for up to 20 % of undergraduate enrolments. HKIEd has partnerships with more than 120 leading universities which provide students with opportunities for exchange, immersion, internships and volunteer programs.

This case study is based on two articulations of mandatory course for 45 incoming “non-local” undergraduate students enrolled as either full-time or exchange students. The course was developed within an adapted comprehensive approach to internationalisation (see Hudzik 2011). Features of this policy include international student recruitment; domestic student mobility programs such as student exchange, language immersion, international internships, study tours, service learning and volunteer abroad programs. To ensure that all students had opportunities to explore international perspectives and develop intercultural skills during their academic study, the policy forced changes in curriculum content. These changes included developing international and intercultural competency outcomes for all graduates. The focus of the course was a comparative study of Hong Kong society and Chinese culture, with an emphasis on issues about youth. Students were expected to:

  • Explore, from a comparative perspective, key aspects of cultures, intercultural communication and understandings; and

  • Actively work together, learn from one another, and develop working friendships that transcend the classroom.

The course content included set topics such as: fitting in; visible and invisible cultures; individualism versus collectivism; language, communication and courtesy; friendship building; education; and a range of broader social issues. Such topics were mixed with those suggested by students, e.g., family—honour, authority and dealing with conflict; race and racism; politics and patriotism; humour; religion; fashion; art; music; technology and gaming; crime; festivals and funerals; work and play. As part of the course, a small number (15) of domestic students were invited to be involved in the course. They also were responsible for designing and leading several classes which introduced international students to the local Cantonese language and culture.

The course was coordinated by domestic (Hong Kong born) and international academic staff, who provided academic content which was supplemented by domestic students and community members. The course used an adapted problem-based experiential approach to learning (Kolb and Fry 1975). This involved staff providing students with experiential intercultural problems. This needed domestic and “non-local” students to work in pairs or small collaborative groups to resolve the problems. Students needed to read, examine local artefacts, and to conduct field-based research. This involved interviewing international visitors to Hong Kong, and discussions with domestic students and local community members. The pairs and small groups also engaged in small group seminars with academic staff and shared their understandings and findings with the larger class group. In so doing, students made comparisons of different socio-cultural interpretations of the problems, which were then tested and often retested in real-life contexts.

Student and staff course appraisals reflected positively on the course content, teaching method and problem-based nature of the course. Students praised the intercultural nature of the problem design, focus and approach to problem solving. Positive relations between such elements stimulate student involvement and engagement (Hung et al. 2013). Following the course, program office staff signalled a significant decline in the number of international students seeking help from counsellors and staff in resolving intercultural problems. Eighty-eight per cent of student appraisals reported an increase in the number of active intercultural friendships developed.

The credit bearing mandatory nature of the course ensured student involvement and provided a heightened status to the internationalisation of the curriculum initiative. For staff, the course strengths were its unique blend of culture general and culture specific topics, its focus on inclusivity and overt respect for diversity of values, understandings and practices. For students, the opportunity and emphasis on developing intercultural understandings, skills and attitudes in a real world context, and their empowerment were listed as positive course qualities. Ninety-eight per cent of students highly recommended the course with 100 % indicating it be open to domestic students. This recommendation was at the rime of writing being considered by the respective undergraduate program management committee.

University of Canberra, Faculties of Business and Health, Australia

The University of Canberra (UC) recognises the importance of preparing all graduates for communicating across cultural boundaries (as specified in one of its graduate attributes), and supporting international students’ academic and personal adjustment in a culturally and linguistically different environment. The University’s strategic plan (2008–2012) includes “internationalisation” as a strategic area, under which IoC represents an important strategic action plan. Approximately one in five of the onshore UC students was international in 2011; this proportion was comparable to the Australia-wide proportion of 21.3 % (Australian Education International 2012).

With funding support from UC’s Education Committee, a cross-faculty teaching project called the Internationalising the Student Experience Project (ISEP) was instigated. The project aims were to improve the intercultural awareness of academic staff and that of their domestic and international students (Mak and Kennedy 2012). This project involved the professional development of academics from several disciplines in the use of the Alliance Building and Cultural Mapping tools of the international Excellence in Cultural Experiential Learning and Leadership (EXCELL) Program (Mak et al.1998). These were to provide a base for institutionalised support for internationalising the curriculum.

Alliance Building aims to confirm individual students’ original culture and promote sharing of personal experiences and observations in a supportive group environment. A relevant activity is the Name Game, which involves students from different cultural backgrounds pairing up and sharing the meanings and origins of their names, initially with their partners. Then the partners will introduce each other in the larger group while the student being introduced writes his or her name in its original script on the board.

Cultural Mapping provides a schematic framework for describing a sequence of micro-behaviours—both words and body language—for use when engaging in intercultural interactions. For example, the tool can help a new international student from a culturally diverse background to seek help, to ask for advice or to request the re-marking an assignment from an Australian academic (Mak and Kennedy 2012).

Building on the ISEP pilot, a priority project funded by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching, called IaH was undertaken (Mak and Barker 2013). The aims of the two-year project were to improve the intercultural capacities of tertiary teachers and students in Business and Health, and to develop adaptable curriculum resources. The resources would help staff and both international and domestic students to be more culturally competent in multicultural educational and work settings (see https://sites.google.com/site/internationalisationathome).

In the first year of this project, the project team at UC consulted seven stakeholder groups to assess needs for intercultural competence development in educational and work settings in Business and Health. These groups included academics, clinical placement supervisors, international students and domestic students. These consultations and the ISEP training underpinned the design and delivery of a one-day faculty-specific professional development workshop called “Building Intercultural Competencies”. Senior academics then set up faculty-specific learning circle meetings to support colleagues to adapt workshop resources designed to embed cultural diversity awareness and intercultural competence development in their curriculum. The IaH curricular changes promoted cooperative culturally mixed group work and included an assignment topic with an international perspective in three Business courses.

Project appraisals show that both domestic and international students welcome the IaH intervention (Mak and Barker 2013). At an end-of-semester survey, IaH Business students (n = 188) reported a significantly higher level of cultural learning (with a 12-item measure adapted from MacNab and Worthley 2012), than a comparison group of students (n = 59) who were in non-IaH Business courses, t = 3.71, p < 0.001. Moreover, the IaH students reported a significantly higher level of culturally inclusive educational climate in classes (with a 7-item measure adapted from Ward and Masgoret 2004), than the non-IaH students, t = 3.72, p < 0.001. For example, among 58 postgraduate IaH students, 79 % of students pointed to a greater awareness of cultural diversity. A majority agreed that they had gained awareness of the role of culture in their chosen field of study (88 %) and that their course had helped them develop a better understanding of cross-cultural interpersonal skills (71 %). Many cited that they had become more confident when communicating (81 %) and making social contact with cultural others (83 %), and more comfortable when engaging in multicultural groups (85 %).

The ISEP and IaH initiatives at UC, which had involved over 40 academic staff members and over 1,300 students by the end of 2011, embedded intercultural competence development in the curriculum. Academic teaching staff in accounting, management, nursing, politics and psychology were supported through professional development in the use of active intercultural learning methods—in this case using EXCELL tools. Depending on individual academics’ preferences, the curricular changes implemented over a semester included components of course outlines, lecture content, tutorial activities and/or assessment tasks. Such approaches to internationalising the curriculum can increase intercultural communication and engagement in different disciplines of both academics as well as international and domestic students. The “curriculum development” approach ensured, at least to some extent, the continual inclusion of intercultural competence development in future semesters.

University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australian School of Business

The University of New South Wales is one of the most highly internationalised universities in Australia. International students from more than 80 countries account for over 25 % of total student enrolments. Furthermore, approximately 42 % of all domestic and international students speak a language other than English at home. For “outbound” domestic students seeking international learning, UNSW partnerships with 221 leading universities across the world provide students with opportunities for exchange, international placements and internships. Through its Global Education strategy, the University seeks to ensure that its students are globally literate, and that its curricula incorporate the development of intercultural competence, as advocated by Knight (2003) and others.

The University’s strategic intent (B2B Blueprint to Beyond: UNSW Strategic Intent 2012 p. 10) defines the objective of the UNSW student experience as being to “Develop globally focused graduates who are rigorous scholars, capable of leadership and professional practice in an international community” (p. 10). Delivery of this objective is through “setting progressive, rigorous and internationally relevant curricula” (p. 10). The institutional focus on international perspectives to student learning has filtered down to the curricula courses and programs.

In response to these objectives, the Business Faculty developed and tried out an “Integrated Framework for Developing Cross-Cultural Competence” (IFDCC) in a postgraduate course: Cross-Cultural Management. This course drew both domestic and international students from Business and non-Business disciplines (Ramburuth and Welch 2005a). A special feature of the framework was that it used the “inherent diversity” of students in the classroom as a “real life context for culture learning and teaching”. The framework comprised three phases of learning: awareness raising, learning application and learning extension—with each phase involving a different set of tasks to develop international and intercultural competencies.

At the awareness raising phase, information was gathered using a specially devised questionnaire on “student diversity” to understand the students’ cultural backgrounds, comparative learning styles and English language competence. Such background information provided the basis for the adjustment of teaching methods, and provision of learning and language support for both international students and others from diverse cultural backgrounds. A second awareness exercise comprised three group tasks. Students considered and explored: (a) How different are we? (focus on cultural differences); (b) How different are they? (focus on “otherness”, i.e. the notion of “us and them”); (c) Perceptions and assumptions (focus on understanding misperceptions). Discussion of these perspectives facilitated intercultural interactions and understanding, and helped to break down cultural and linguistic barriers.

At the learning application phase, students applied their intercultural awareness, including perceptions of and bias towards cultural others, to work in cross-cultural teams to actively research topics in Cross Cultural Management. Research findings garnered from international students’ home countries were merged with the contributions of their domestic student peers. As they built their confidence and acculturated to their new higher education learning environment, students not only worked in case-based learning groups, but also collaboratively wrote authentic case studies based on intercultural learning experiences in their home countries. Several outstanding cases were subsequently published and used as teaching resources on the course (see Ramburuth and Welch 2005b).

At the learning extension phase, cross-cultural student groups (comprising domestic and international students) were linked electronically with students studying similar topics in other countries, such as the University of Colorado, Denver and the University of Hawaii in the United States. Over several weeks, the UNSW students participated in virtual teams, engaged in case-based analysis and discussion, brought different culturally diverse perspectives to problem solving, and learned from one another. This provided experiences of working in “international teams” and authentic cross-cultural learning experiences.

The IFDCC highlights how diversity of culture, language and learning styles can be used as source of learning in the higher education classroom. It confirms one approach that universities can adopt to facilitate students’ intercultural skills development, intercultural interactions and understanding of Global Education “at home” (Guo and Chase 2011).

Internationalisation of the Higher Education Curriculum: Developing Capacity

The case studies presented are not about excellence or end points in themselves. Rather, they are examples of different efforts to enable in all students (domestic and international) the opportunities to attain international knowledge, skills and attitudes required to achieve maximum benefit from their educational experiences. Collectively, the case studies suggest five conditions underlying staff involvement and engagement in the development and implementation of IoC in a higher education context. These conditions, while common, vary across the different cultures and contexts.

A supportive Policy Environment (see Cases #1, 2 and 3)

From the case studies presented, support was provided by institutional and discipline-based policy. A supportive policy environment ensured that internationalisation of the curriculum initiatives had status within the organisation. Having an internationalisation policy helped in defining and making clear key ideas and understandings about an internationalised curriculum. In the case studies, an internationalisation policy provided a vision and a pathway to achieve the competencies for all students (Dunne 2011).

The policy environment in all 3 case studies supported the inclusion of international perspectives in the curriculum. Common policy objectives were to improve students’ acculturation into the culturally diverse higher education context, to increase cross-cultural communication and participation, and to enrich student understanding of diversity of thought and practice.

Professional Development for Teaching Staff (see Case #2)

Professional staff development and support is a fundamental condition for effective teaching in culturally diverse classrooms (McAllister and Irvine 2000). Teaching staff in the case studies needed to actively engage in the internationalisation of their curricula. However, many have different understandings about what makes up internationalisation, and ways of embedding intercultural competence development in the curriculum (Mak 2010; Ramburuth and Welch 2005a). To internationalise their curriculum and teaching, they needed professional development.

Freeman et al. (2009) recommend the use of intercultural training resources as part of the professional development for academics. They recommend a shared leadership and communities of practice approach. This involved program leaders in the case studies working with a small community of academics, sharing understandings and good teaching practices. Fundamental understandings provided through these in-house courses and meetings focused on ways to use the knowledge and experiences of all students. That is, to leverage the benefits of the existing diversity in their multicultural classrooms for the benefit of all. Internationalising the curriculum is a shared responsibility. However, time must be spent providing professional development support for program leaders and teaching staff.

A curriculum Emphasis on Cross-Cultural Awareness and Active Cultural Learning (see Cases #1, 2 and 3)

Central to all tasks in these case studies, is a focus on the deliberate development of cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity through active learning in all students. This was obvious in course content, methods and discussions that engaged domestic and international students. Issues in intercultural understanding and human affairs are so complex that no one cultural orientation or perspective can provide all the answers. Teachers in the courses used the different cultural mixes, as a forum for intercultural sharing and learning (Volet and Ang 1998). This encouraged the development and sharing of multiple perspectives and approaches to solving educational and societal issues. Domestic students reported new insights and empathy developed from intercultural interactions and perspectives presented. International student appraisals indicate that their involvement in turn assisted their adaptation to the new study context.

Creating Opportunities for Students to Develop Social Ties and Networks (Cases #1 and #3)

Research shows that a major influence on student transition and adjustment to university and a new culture is their ability to develop a support network of friends (Brown 2009; Williams and Johnson 2011), and to adjust socially (Berry 2002). In the case studies we found that personal ties with domestic and co-national students, staff and community members affected international students’ acculturation. Similarly, domestic students report the influence of student peers from diverse backgrounds on their adaptation to the higher education learning context. The case studies suggest that class-based and fieldwork tasks are needed to engage students, to help them develop personal social and academic ties or networks.

Recognition of Domestic and International Students as a Resource (Cases #1, 2 and 3)

Underlying the delivery of an internationalised curriculum is an understanding that all students—domestic and international—are learners of and contributors to international and intercultural skills development. Discipline-based teaching and learning tasks must focus on intercultural learning objectives. To develop such foci, there is a need to incorporate the knowledge, experience and skills of domestic and international students as a basis to develop intercultural understandings, attitudes and communications skills (Leask and Carroll 2011). The case studies illustrate how such objectives and learning can occur across disciplines and that there is value in recognising students as a rich source of cultural knowledge and perspectives.

Creating the Conditions

Meeting the challenges of internationalising the curriculum entails navigating and overcoming bureaucratic, academic and socio-cultural barriers (Beelen 2011). While each case study is in itself unique, no magical implementation solutions exist. However, in each institution, there is a notable high-level institutional policy position and staff commitment to internationalisation (Condition #1). There is also a need to stress understanding the theory and benefits of intercultural understanding. That is, how students in related disciplinary studies, and future vocations in different contexts could use it effectively. To develop such understandings, small groups of committed staff were established from different disciplines, under the leadership of one IoC champion.

There is also a need for curriculum flexibility. Curriculum content needs to be structured around the academic and cultural needs and expectations of domestic and international students (Conditions #2, 3, 4 and 5). For this to happen, it is important to develop staff understanding of and the skills needed to create and include different academic and intercultural tasks and experiences (Conditions #2, 3, 4 and 5).

As shown in the three case studies, these tasks and experiences focus largely on comparative study of academic content with an acknowledgement of intercultural cultural perspectives and understanding. A secondary focus was to develop through such tasks, ways to bring together international and domestic students in dialogue (Conditions #3 and 4). Combinations of tasks involving paired and mixed cultural and linguistic groups were used in different ways. This approach helped students to develop common understanding and topics of interest both inside and outside the formal needs of the specific task. Student appraisals of the courses show the time spent working together on such tasks in these groups heightened their awareness and applied understanding and appreciation of different approaches to learning and cultural perspectives (Condition #5).

For some international students, confidence in using English is reported as an acculturation obstacle in their daily and academic life (Andrade 2009). Formal multidisciplinary-based coursework tasks and group arrangements as highlighted in the case studies, heightened domestic student sensitivities to the language and communication needs of international students. The students actively supported the international students’ use of language, which helped build their confidence. In addition, the academic and fieldwork tasks enhanced international student confidence in using English for a wide variety of structured and unstructured purposes. It provided authentic opportunities to work and communicate with native and near native English speakers on and off campus.

Finally, the credit bearing nature of the courses presented in the case studies, along with the problem-based approaches and open-ended comparative examination of content in the courses, could help to overcome barriers that normally prevent building social relations between domestic and international student. So too did the on- and off-campus fieldwork tasks such as those described in case study 1. Both international and domestic students reported that these tasks helped not only to develop social interactions but also genuine friendships.

Conclusion

Making the transition to university study and life is a challenge for many students, a challenge aggravated by cultural difference for most international students. The failure of students to adjust and adapt to this new academic and social environment can have a debilitating affect on their ability to study, and achieve their personal and academic goals. Intercultural interactions and friendships may aid students’ transition and adjustment to a culturally diverse university environment. But this may not be achieved if domestic students have little time or interest in developing relationships with international students, or if both parties lack the intercultural understanding and communication skills needed to make the connections needed (Brown 2009; Williams and Johnson 2011). We contend that one effective way of overcoming such barriers and to help international students in their academic and social acculturation is to engage international students with domestic students through formal tasks designed around an internationalised curriculum. The case studies presented provide examples of efforts to achieve this result.

All three case studies reveal positive student and program results from the different IoC approaches used. The different approaches show how the knowledge and experience of international and domestic students can inform one another. Importantly, changes to the curriculum content and assessment tasks ensure the continuity of such benefits and the IoC focus remains in curricular plans. For the HKIEd, there were substantive increases in student friendships developed, a lowering of requests for assistance in dealing with acculturation and resolving intercultural problems. There was unanimous support that the course be opened to include larger numbers of domestic students. For UC, students enrolled in courses where intercultural competency development was embedded, reported significantly higher levels of cultural learning and more culturally inclusive educational climate in classes.

For the UNSW course in Cross Cultural Management, the IFDCC became firmly embedded in the approach to facilitating IoC and was introduced into the undergraduate course in Managing Across Cultures, in a simplified format. The strategies associated with the IFDCC enabled students to gain confidence in their intercultural interactions and venture further out of their comfort zones. An example of the change in behaviours is the fact that by the second iteration of the postgraduate Cross Cultural Management course, UNSW students engaging in the online learning task with students from the US increased from 10 % (8 students) to 25 % (20 students).

Nurturing a positive intercultural environment and relations between students, curriculum content and society is critical to the development, management and effects of an internationalised curriculum. Conversely, such an environment enables educational innovations and movements such as the IoC (Zhu 2013). However, the challenge for higher education policymakers, managers and practitioners remains to refine the IoC policies, courses and associated teaching and learning innovations through continuing discourse and evaluation research.

Highlights

  • Based on multidisciplinary experiences in Australia and Hong Kong and related literature

  • Contends that formal opportunities for all students to engage in an internationalised curriculum provides opportunities for better cross-cultural mixing, intercultural competency development and facilitates the adaptation of all students to Higher Education

  • Identifies five conditions conducive to the development of an internationalised higher education curriculum