Hollings Nasr S1
1Arizona State University
How one becomes globally competent is widely debated, as is the notion of global competence itself. Some argue that such ideologies must be “caught, not taught” (Thompson, 1998, p. 287) while others argue it must be “taught, not caught” (Walker, 2006, p. 8). Yet, others such as Beek (2017) assert that global competence must be “taught in order to be caught” (p. 24). Nevertheless, what this presentation argues is that regardless of which assertion is correct, there is a growing imperative for global competence to be both taught and caught in all realms of international education in particular educational endeavors that involve international cooperation. While these endeavors could take many forms, this presentation will focus on joint-university initiatives.
International cooperation and initiatives between universities in different countries with vastly varied cultures, histories, priorities and realities are becoming increasingly more common. For example, the growing prominence of Australian universities in Southeast Asia. However, this presentation will present a case study of the author’s personal experience of being a teacher at a brand-new joint university initiative between a Chinese university and an American university.
This quasi-autoethnography will highlight the numerous challenges that arose during the first year of this cooperation as both universities struggled with diverse desires including intended outcomes for the students, potential benefits to both universities (including some neo-liberal and some more ideological) and most importantly the oft-ignored underlying question of how to prepare the staff (who generally all had spent time abroad) and students for such international endeavors.
Biography:
Stephanie Hollings is a graduate of Beijing Normal University having completed her PhD in Comparative Education/Educational Leadership and Policy. Her dissertation topic was focused on international students’ perceptions of global competence. Besides global competence, her research interests include global citizenship, international education, international student mobility and the recent lack thereof, although she has published articles on other areas within the field of Education. Currently, she is lecturing at Arizona State University after having spent the past two years working with different universities in China.