International Students’ Experience Project (CLIP CETL, UAL): Some Lessons and Reflections Dr Silvia Sovic and Dr Margo Blythman Shaping Things to Come adm-hea annual forum 2011 RIBA 17 May 2011

Key Features Students interviewed in their own language 14 interviewers from 6 countries (postgraduates in social sciences, from University of London) Written questionnaire + semi structured interviews

1 st Year Students from Hong Kong India Japan South Korea Taiwan USA

1 st Year Students from No. interviewed Hong Kong26 India20 Japan34 South Korea22 Taiwan24 USA15 Total141

1 st Year Students from No. interviewed No. of 1 st years% Hong Kong267236% India206133% Japan % South Korea % Taiwan246338% USA154931% Total %

Benchmark 21 home students Total interviews = 162

Integration …I wanted to study at a place where it wasn’t all Koreans. If it’s all Koreans, then I feel like the point of studying abroad is lost. But here at UAL, there are variety of people from different backgrounds, and that’s why I like it here. South Korean student

Integration When I was in Taiwan, I expected that I may have many chances to make many friends from diverse cultural backgrounds. However, when I am physically attending a BA course here, I seem to find it a bit different and difficult for me to mix up with other students here. UK students are generally nice, but rather distant to me. Taiwanese student

Integration There is a big difference between English students and international students. English students stick together and international students are loners…For international students college is their social life. For the English students they already are in their home, near their families with their own school friends. We are away from our homes, families and school friends… Indian student

Integration British students have already made a group of friends because they have known already someone. It is difficult to join such a group but I need to have strong confidence to do this and I have to make myself to try to join that group. That’s the difficulty to make friends with British students. Japanese student

Integration They are shy, timid, or so proud. I think most British students have one of these three characters. They are also very young, so there are many UK students, who are reckless. They don’t care for international students. For example, they don't say again or speak slowly, when someone does not catch their speaking. So, I hesitate to say something to them. South Korean student

Integration The fact that I don’t have any British friends. Well, not zero but really few…we Japanese are years old, and British students are I don’t exactly know why I don’t have friends. I believe, because they are younger than me. I hesitate to approach them…their speech is really really fast. I can understand what our tutors say though...I cannot understand my classmates’ English at all…so I am afraid, I may stop speaking during conversation…I cannot continue saying words. Japanese student

Groups There might be a generation gap. Inside the school, British classmates willingly talk to me, but if we leave our classroom, even one step, they stop talking to me and seem to enjoy chatting with other British. I hear that in another class, in which there are some mature British students, Japanese often have lunch with them... I have friends who are mainly from Japan or other Asia. Japanese student

Groups And the thing is that there are so many Asian people in our college… What happens is, I feel that they become lazy like, if you are with Indian people, we'll talk in Hindi, its only natural, you know, and so they also obviously only talk in Chinese or Korean or whatever it is. So they become too lazy to learn more. …When you have a group… mix everyone together. Indian student

Groups I hope they can put different nationalities of students in a group. We don’t speak much English when there are too many students from the same nationality. Also students from the same background tend to have similar ideas about design. There is not much to exchange. I learn less! Hong Kong student

Groups If there are too many international students, we will form groups according to our countries. Hong Kong student

Groups International students from Asia are generally very shy when they first come to this country. We really need the college or our teachers to facilitate engagements between and among students. Alternatively, they can help to initiate interaction among students, which is very important to international students. I am a very shy person and often go with Japanese, South Korean and Hong Kongese. Taiwanese student

Groups I think it is very difficult. This is because I have to communicate with those who come from different countries. We are very different in terms of cultural backgrounds, ages, degrees of maturity. When we discuss something, they may not understand where you come from to make certain conclusion. There are some UK students if they don’t accept your points, they would show to you that they don’t know to listen to you. Good discussion and communication need to be made on the basis of the certain degree of maturity... I can see there is a phenomenon that these Asian students in my course are relatively quite. Unlike UK students, these Asian students think more, but talk less. Our teachers can’t understand why these Asian students are so quiet. Taiwanese student

Groups It was a decision of my university, and has applied in practice since we started our course. Apparently, Group A and B are very UK oriented, whereas Group C and D are very international oriented. I really don’t think this is a good classroom management and teaching practice. Taiwanese student

Groups …the way the international students are integrated with home students isn’t really concentrated on by the management of the college. They don’t seem to be aware that an international student, say from Japan, has to come half way round the world to a country that they may not have been to before and settle in; and on top of all that personal upheaval they have to do the college work, as well. There must be some way they can make international students feel more comfortable and have stronger relations with home students. Home student

Groups Group work is difficult because of the strong character of each student… for group work we have to compromise and work together for a goal… now my group has six students, but each student’s work clashes with the others. In this kind of situation, I want the teacher to build cooperative relations among the students in the group. Japanese student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? He/she is very enthusiastic about teaching, and he/she is strict to the students who don’t work hard. The tutor remembers all the names and faces of the students… Japanese student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? THE STUDENT- TUTOR RELATIONSHIP I was really amazed to hear that students call their tutors by their first name…in Taiwan, our tutors give a more authoritative impression than tutors here. Tutors here seem to be relatively friendly, but would still see a clear line separated between tutors and students. I must add that this line appears to be much clearer in Taiwan. Taiwanese student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? THE STUDENT- TUTOR RELATIONSHIP There a lot of formalities with teachers here. Just because we address them by their names, it doesn’t mean that we have the freedom, that we have any compatibility. Just because we call them by their names, we have this kind of a chilled out relationship, it doesn’t mean it works like that. Indian student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? THE STUDENT- TUTOR RELATIONSHIP Taiwanese tutors are more subjective. The way that you do your work could be possibly directed by what the tutor thinks this is right or not. Here, you are free to do what you like to do. But, Taiwanese tutors tend to teach you and show you more stuff, and are more likely to push you to do more work. In comparison with Taiwanese tutors, tutors here don’t push you much and seem to be relatively passive. If you don’t approach them to ask them some questions or for supports, they don’t seem to think that they have responsibilities to tell you more than what they taught in the classroom. Taiwanese student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? THE STUDENT- TUTOR RELATIONSHIP TUTORS’ ENGAGEMENT They wonder why you don’t ask questions in class. But the thing is, if you don’t talk in class…There are 20 people sitting in the class, if you don’t understand, they just think you are dumb. Indian student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? THE STUDENT- TUTOR RELATIONSHIP TUTORS’ ENGAGEMENT S/he has great patience. At the end of the term s/he gave us a questionnaire concerning teaching and learning to fill in, and would offer extra support especially to international students. For instance, s/he told us that if we have problems with writing in English, we could possibly write in our own language. We could make an appointment with him/her, and discuss how to convey our ideas in English. Taiwanese student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? THE STUDENT- TUTOR RELATIONSHIP TUTORS’ ENGAGEMENT Some of our tutors, if they are very open- minded, would accept our ideas. However, some of them may find our ideas are really odd since they don’t really understand our cultural background and therefore may not accept what we have done. It depends on individual tutors. I believe that I don’t have to accept every comment they make. Taiwanese student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? THE STUDENT- TUTOR RELATIONSHIP TUTORS’ ENGAGEMENT Whatever western students say, no matter whether they attend courses, or whether they submit their works or not, our teachers seem to accept them all. In contrast to western students, international students are treated by our teachers in a completely different manner. Taiwanese student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? THE STUDENT- TUTOR RELATIONSHIP TUTORS’ ENGAGEMENT Once, the teacher told me off saying that it’s because I don’t speak English well. And afterwards, I couldn’t speak to that teacher, and I always tried to avoid him or her…this incident made me scared of him/her. I don’t feel anything easy in this course. When I couldn’t ask the teacher anymore, I tried to ask my friends, but there’s a limit, so I usually consult the books to finish my work. Japanese student

International Students’ Perceptions of their Tutors WHAT MAKES A GOOD TUTOR? THE STUDENT- TUTOR RELATIONSHIP TUTORS’ ENGAGEMENT The time to meet the teachers is quite short. I think it’s one-way communication. They listen, but I can’t have any feedback. I don’t think it’s a kind of communication. They think we just can’t adapt to their style. Hong Kong student

My favorite thing about the school is actually how diverse it is. I came from UCLA where everyone was from within six hours of each other and everybody kind of had the same background and here just meeting people who’ve been to school in different places, who have families in different places, who speak four or five languages sometimes. I really find that really impressive. It’s cool to like get a different point of view and even when its been difficult adjusting to that its been a good thing overall. American student

Conclusion: Cosmopolitan Learning I believe that our approach to teaching about global connectivity should begin with the local, but must move quickly to address issues of how our local communities are becoming socially transformed through their links with communities around the world and with what consequences... I believe that our focus ought to be on understanding the nature, scope and consequences of global transformations, rather than on some generalized principles of cosmopolitanism, global citizenship, or indeed the skills required in the global economy. F. Rizvi, ‘Towards Cosmopolitan Learning’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics in Education, 30 (3), pp (263-4).

Conclusion: Cosmopolitan Learning Cosmopolitan learning, thus, demands a new way of learning about other cultures and intercultural exchange. It requires the development of intellectual skills to examine the ways in which we create knowledge about others and use it to engage with them. In this way, it highlights both the cognitive and ethical dimensions of intercultural learning. It suggests that learning about others requires learning about ourselves...It underscores the importance of understanding others both in their terms as well as ours, as a way of comprehending how both our representations are socially constituted... F. Rizvi, ‘Towards Cosmopolitan Learning’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics in Education, 30 (3), pp (265-6).

Conclusion: Cosmopolitan Learning Cosmopolitan learning, thus, demands a new way of learning about other cultures and intercultural exchange. It requires the development of intellectual skills to examine the ways in which we create knowledge about others and use it to engage with them. In this way, it highlights both the cognitive and ethical dimensions of intercultural learning. It suggests that learning about others requires learning about ourselves...It underscores the importance of understanding others both in their terms as well as ours, as a way of comprehending how both our representations are socially constituted... This kind of learning is impossible within an emphasis on criticality. This is so because cosmopolitan learning necessarily challenges the prevailing orthodoxies both about education and about cultural formations. F. Rizvi, ‘Towards Cosmopolitan Learning’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics in Education, 30 (3), pp (265-6).