In this blog, Dr Liang-Fong Wong shares some key insights into how we foster an inclusive environment for international students within our university academic systems and culture.
As 2023 drew to a close, I attended a ‘Show, Tell and Talk’ workshop run by the Bristol Institute of Learning and Teaching (BILT) on International Student Experience.
This is an area of work that is close to my heart – being an international student at Bristol myself many moons ago, my international roles, and serendipitously, it was being organised by my netball teammate Catriona Johnson, from the Centre for Academic Language and Development (CALD).
L-R: Assoc Prof Liang-Fong Wong, Dr Fiona Holmes, and Dr Claire Hudson at BILT International Student Experience workshop, 2023.
Catriona and I had previously shared many courtside and car conversations about her project work on academic language and literacy, but have never interacted within our work capacities. I was delighted to turn up on the day to find fellow BMERG members Fiona Holmes and Claire Hudson there as well!
International staff and students are an important community at our institution: they are invaluable to the diversity of our campuses, adding richness and vibrancy to our learning environments and making us all much better global citizens for now and the future. There is so much that we can learn from each other across different cultures.
During the session, we were given an overview of the numerous BILT-funded projects across the university that explore themes such as increasing inclusivity in the international classroom, decolonising curricula and developing sense and belonging.
Fiona Hartley (BILT/CALD) presented the ‘3 shocks’ that international students can experience:
- Pedagogical (knowing what to expect academically)
- Language (how to express oneself academically)
- Cultural (feeling a sense of belonging and community in Bristol)
What was really interesting was the observation that some of these shocks may not be unique to international students, and indeed may be familiar to others in the wider student population, particularly first-year students.
We discussed in small groups how different schools use effective interventions and ways to enhance teaching and learning experience within and outside of the classroom. There were so many great examples, such as:
- optional induction modules
- allocating groups and facilitating group work sensitively
- academic integrity training
- peer-assisted support sessions
- promoting opportunities through the Global Lounge, Bristol Voices and Bristol Connects initiatives
Through sharing experiences across the whole university and across disciplines, it gave us ideas on how we can implement some of these strategies in our own practices.
All in all, I really enjoyed the session; it was such an enriching discussion and I got to know many people outside of the medical school.
I am very much looking forward to going to more of these workshops in 2024 and if you, like me, would like to participate here is the events link to the BILT website: Events | Bristol Institute For Learning and Teaching | University of Bristol
More about this blog author:
Dr Liang-Fong Wong is one of the University of Bristol’s Associate Pro-Vice Chancellors for Internationalisation as well as working as an Associate Professor in regenerative medicine. She also works with the undergraduate students as the Year 4 co-lead for the medical programme and is one of the inaugural members of the BMERG committee.
