Think Education

In this latest Think Education podcast episode, Chris talks to Judith about her recent trip to Romania.  In many ways this is the bookend to Judith’s 2023 trip to Sofia, Bulgaria with the British Council and represents a full commitment to developing sustainable approaches to partnership engagement. Judith talked about the preparation for this trip and how participants and organisers had developed the model over the course of the two events and used communication and engagement to ensure an interactive and productive experience – with a lot of pre work and interaction in place. The British Council event brought together the entire infrastructure of international higher education, including representation from QAA, OfS, Romanian and UK HEIs and Envisia – an organisation linking academia and corporate professional development.  This meant that as questions came up, you could simply turn to the person next to you for the expert answer and advice. Judith reflected that the huge advantage of this event, and indeed

We return to looking at origin series again in this Think Education podcast episode and the baton passes from Judith to Chris today. Chris reflects on his initial career aspirations and how they morphed into a life in international higher education with a seamless (at least in hindsight) journey all mapped out!  Judith and Chris talk about the lessons we learn along the way and how, one thing can quite literally lead to another.  The ability, and freedom, to be open to possibilities is a luxury that often pays off. Following on from Judith’s honest reflection regarding the challenges of living and working internationally, Chris looks back over his first major professional international move and reflects on his place within this process, what he gained from it and how he navigated the ups and downs.  Chris talks candidly about what happens at the end of a posting and how this can impact identity, wellbeing and indeed family life.  What happens next is a common question, and indeed concern, for many of us who a

In this special episode, we learn about Leif Erikson and what it means to be an explorer. I asked Sprout what it means to be an explorer and she explained how it is something we can all do, especially with the help of books.  Every book is a chance to visit somewhere new and have new adventures. In this podcast, Sprout talks about Leif’s travels to America and also talked about how Christopher Columbus never actually went to America, even though we all think he did and he gets credit for it.  She also made sure to tell us that even though explorers ‘find’ new countries, these are often places where people already live. Sprout gives us some advice on how to learn more about Leif Erikson and talked about the Magic Tree House book series by Mary Pope Osborne, where she first discovered Leif and the Children’s Museum in Copenhagen – part of the National Museum – where kids can play and learn all about being a Viking.  You can even sit in a Viking Ship!! We hope you enjoy this podcast where Sprout talks about Leif

In today’s Think Education podcast, Judith and Chris discuss the recent Sunday Times article regarding pathways to the UK higher education sector and an excellent piece by Sophie Hogan in the Pie News outlining the issues and realities. We lamented the manner in which the narrative has been framed by the Sunday Times and the potential damage that this can do the sector and to the people involved throughout.  It is important to establish facts and present them accurately rather than skew the narrative for political gain. Judith talked passionately about her experience, both practically and from a research perspective, with pathway students. Our conversation continued to explore the politicization of education and the extent to which higher education is indeed a political concern – particularly international higher education. Education certainly has an economic underpinning but it is possible to be a source of income to an institution and also a highly capable and motivated international student at the same tim

In this latest Think Education podcast episode, we try something a little different.  As our third book is looking into the more personal nature of international higher education and the journeys taken by those of us inside this wonderful world, we thought we would start with ourselves. We flipped a coin, and Judith won.  Or lost, depending on how you look at it. Judith reflects on how she began her career in international higher education – although it wasn’t remotely conceived of as such at the time!  The dreams of driving a truck were replaced with teaching.  This then took her far far away from home, to the land of the rising sun. Judith talks about her initial career aspirations, the opportunities that arose, the decisions she took, and the challenges she faced and overcame along the way.  In this personal reflection, we learn about the realities of working abroad and away from home and family, the challenges and the loneliness that are perhaps inevitable, and the power we have to take control of this an

In this latest Think Education podcast episode, Judith and Chris talk about the process of beginning book number 3 and how they have become increasingly comfortable with embracing uncertainty. Building on ideas generated in the first two books, where we looked at the landscape of international higher education (book 1) and the role and identity of universities (book 2), we are turning our attention to the individual.  To the experience and journey. We talked about the process of idea generation and how we navigate the idea of developing the next book while working on the current one! We talked about what we have learned writing together over the past few years and the impact that podcasting has had on our ability to develop ideas and to gain new perspectives from all the valuable conversations we have had in the past year.  Listening to people tell their stories was both fascinating and enlightening. It has helped to create ideas and content. We are looking forward to the opportunity to engage once more with

In this latest Think Education podcast episode, Chris and Judith discuss the role of mentors throughout their careers and the journey from mentee to mentor.  We played around with various titles for this podcast (as you will hear in the episode) but ultimately it is about the journey we take in our careers and the support we receive, and give, during that time.  We find ourselves coming back to the notion of community in our podcasts (and indeed in our writing) and this sense of connection and engagement is at the heart of this conversation. We talked about the role and importance of good leadership, how you know it when you see it, and how its absence can be all too powerful.  We talked about our own approach to this, and that we have appreciated in others.  We reflected on the fact that mentors come in all shapes and sizes and are not uniquely found in those more senior to us.  And are not always connected to direct career progression but forms of learning and development all the same. We would be delighted

In this first podcast of 2024, Judith and Chris reflect back on the previous year (again) and think about the year to come. We don’t necessarily have a plan for the direction we would like the podcast to go but we do know that more of the same would be most welcome.  Last year was filled with fascinating and insightful conversations with colleagues from around the world and we look forward to being able to enjoy more again this year. If you are interested in being a guest on the podcast, please do get in touch and let us know.  We are always open to talking to, and learning from people – we know and don’t know.   #newyearnewconversations #engagement #interaction #internatioanlisation #internationalhighereducation #podcast #thinkeducation #communityofpractice #research #practice

In this, the final Think Education podcast of 2023, Judith and Chris reflect back on a year of podcasting; a year of conversations; and a year of global engagement. We managed – with a lot of help from our friends – to put up 50 original episodes (we had two repeats over the summer break) and had the opportunity to talk to people from Australia, China, Egypt, Germany Hong Kong, Malaysia, Netherlands, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK, the USA, Wales (of course), and Zimbabwe. We are grateful to be part of a community of engagement, that we get to learn from others and hopefully, that we get to keep the ideas moving a little bit ourselves too. Thank you to all who came on the podcast and shared your reflections and insights. Thank you to all of you who listened. We look forward to more conversations next year.   Andrew Disbury Jazreel Goh Michael Pelletier Edward Harcourt Lisa Wallace Vivienne Stern Jason Makwabara Ceri Nursaw Nigel Healey Vicky Lewis Arlene Griffiths Rachel Soundy Bola Ibrahim Mark Garrat Douglas Proct

In this second part of our conference podcast series Chris and Judith talk about the fun and frivolity of organizing, chairing and running a physical conference.  We have both had experience with this in the past and direct experience lately and we share some tips and tricks we have picked up along the way. We talked about the creative process involved in developing conference themes and the tremendous value in being able to create a platform for discussion and presentation. Once you have been on the other side of conference organisation, you have a much higher tolerance and respect for things that may (and most likely will) go wrong.  Judith shared an example of a recent PIE event that involved a massive last minute shift of venue – which they masterfully solved. We talked about the hope that conferences can in fact be conversations.  We need to bring the coffee break chat into the panel sessions and develop a platform for debate and engagement. Things that can go wrong, will likely go wrong.  Things you did

In this first part of a series on conferences, Judith and Chris discuss recent conference attendance and engagement and reflect on the value of discussion, uncertainty and working through ideas. Chris reflected on his attendance at COP28 in Dubai and outlined his participation in a panel organised and chaired by Dr Zeenath Reza Khan.  The panel session was Academic Integrity as key competence for UN SDG 13 - Climate Change and brought together speakers for high schools, university, policy makers and students – from university and high school.  Chris talked about his experience being on a panel with no fixed presentation agenda and where speakers reflected on practice and were not defending an institutional position.  This can be liberating. Judith reflected on her attendance at UKENIC 23 – Reconfiguration and her participation in a plenary session looking at the future of international higher education.  Judith discussed the nature of the event and how the audience make-up can alter the conversation that take

In this episode, Judith and Chris talk to Tim Rottleb -  science manager at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) @BTUCS where he is an officer in the Department for Regional Transformation. Before joining the BTU, Tim worked as a researcher at the Leibniz-Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS) where he was part of a research group investigating international branch campus development from urban and economic geographic perspectives.  He recently submitted his PhD thesis in geography at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Tim studied Politics and Economics of the Middle East at Philipps-Universität Marburg and worked for UN organizations in Cairo and Berlin. We asked Tim about his work with international branch campus development and he talked about his recent work on gateway cities and educational hubs and the motivations for engaging in this space.  He pointed out that motivations here are often in conflict – or at least not entirely complementary – with the sending na

Have you ever wondered what goes on at a big international conference?  How sessions are organised?  How people prepare for them, or engage with them?  If so, this is the podcast for you. In this latest Think Education podcast episode, Judith reflects on her recent attendance at Going Global 2023 in Edinburgh. Judith talked about the style and structure of Going Global and outlined the interactive nature of the panel sessions.  We talked about the interactive nature of these type of panels and the value of engaging the audience and leveraging their expertise.  I asked Judith how she prepared for these types of events – both from the perspective of a presenter and a chair (session, not furniture). We rounded off the episode discussing identity and Judith reflected on how this issue was framed and discussed during Going Global.  Internationalisation is an opportunity to engage with, and learn from, others.  Judith was struck by the openness of colleagues to discuss this issue and the clear focus on transparency

In this latest Think Education podcast, Chris reflects on two recent events he attended – The IC Global Café TNE: Impactful Collaborations, Meaningful Student Experience and Achieving Sustainability and Equity, delivered by Dr Vangelis Tsiligiris and the 4th TNE Hub Research and practice symposium – Advancing Horizons: Transnational Education Partnerships in a Pluralizing World.  TNE’s role in Empowering Graduates, Fostering Impact and Promoting Equity. Vangelis spoke about the need to place students in the centre of partnership activity, particularly in the TNE space and Dr Katherine Lupton, Lead for Academic International Partnerships, Leeds Trinity University, presenting in the 4th TNE Hub symposium, outlined the approaches taken at Leeds Trinity to support student engagement and used the excellent phrase of ‘name not a number’ to indicate their connection to each of their TNE students. These two presentations got us thinking about how we view students in the TNE space and how we should perhaps view them. 

In today’s somewhat blurry eyed episode of the Think Education podcast, Chris reflects on his (very) recent trip to Taiwan and talks about his long standing relationship with Taiwan and with colleagues there, like Angela.  Chris talked about the content of his recent trip and discussed his experience in light of recent podcasts about travel and value. Judith and Chris talked about language development and classroom practice – both as a tool to support international recruitment and mobility, and as a capacity building approach and Judith shared her reflections and experience on the Japanese example of international teachers.  Chris talked about his experience working with EMI teachers in Taiwan and the changes to government policy – over the past few years – that have dramatically increased the percentage of teaching conducted in English in Taiwanese universities. Judith asked Chris about his experience working with students in different contexts and the types of research they conduct and the challenges they f

This Think Education podcast was prompted by our last few episodes on travel (Bulgaria and China) and two recent LinkedIn items: one post by Cheryl Yu on power politics of English in global higher education and the subsequent comments on how we as a community can effect change; and one post by Vicky Lewis, and The IC Global, on leveraging post-conference energy to keep the momentum going?  This got us thinking about discussions we have with colleagues and the impact this can have back at home. Judith and Chris reflected on their own experiences of balancing trip energy with office expectations and discussed the reality that at times, the day to day can simply overtake the best of intentions.  We talked about the need to carve out space to keep the momentum going – taking a leaf from Vicky and writing a blog post, or having a conversation (or podcast) to further develop ideas and identify possible avenues for action. We looked at this issue from both the institutional level: the challenges in developing releva

In this latest Think Education podcast, our intrepid hosts talk about Judith’s recent trip to Bulgaria.  Judith was part of a delegation, with the British Council, to discuss TNE activity and collaboration opportunities.  Many of our listeners might not be as aware of the current capability and appetite for TNE in Bulgaria as they could be. Many of our podcast hosts, may likewise not have been as aware of the opportunities as they could have been.  It is always deeply gratifying, not to mention really interesting, to learn about TNE development and activity in ‘non-traditional’ TNE hubs/markets.  There are more things out there than often dreamt of in our philosophies after all. What seems very encouraging, is the desire to produce something tangible, rather than relying on the MoU collection process.  Judith highlighted the diversity of current approach and we talked about the real value of exploring research partnerships in TNE and not solely focusing on student exchange.  We talked about the role of indust

Welcome, Bienvenido, مرحباً, Wilkommen, 欢迎, and Bienvenue Friend of the show Vicky Lewis joined us again today for a conversation about language, learning languages and the advantages this can bring. This episode began when we saw Vicky’s LinkedIn post on language learning a few months ago.  We wanted to have a conversation about this to learn more about Vicky’s perspective but she sensibly asked to wait until she had time to review the feedback and responses she had received.  Clearly, this was the right approach as it brought us here today! Vicky walked us through her own experience of learning languages in school, university and further afield – she had reached a clear level of success when people thought she was French speaking German!  We talked about immersing yourself in another culture and language and how this can significantly increase our empathy towards others experiencing the same thing.  Being confused and frustrated when trying to communicate is a great leveler and makes us better educators and

In this latest #ThinkEducation podcast episode, Chris and Judith talk to Stephanie Martin, co-founder of Edvance Education Consultants, about decolonising the curriculum: what this means from both a philosophical and practical perspective – including some tips on how we might approach this at a nursery level!   We asked Stephanie for her thoughts on the process of decolonisation within TNE and how we can attempt to navigate this process – and sometimes dichotomy – of expectations, quality and reality.   Stephanie talks passionately about the need for representation and multiple voices to be heard; not for the deletion of history but rather for a more critical awareness towards motivations and contexts.   We talked about the difference between diversity and decolonisation and how simply including multi-cultural examples in our teaching is a good start but more must be done to critically address issues and discuss varying perspectives.   We talked about the term decolonisation itself and how it can be viewed ne

In this latest Think Education podcast episode, Judith and Chris discuss the partnerships in international higher education: how they come about; how we sustain them; how we measure their value and impact. In a call back to our first book together (with our colleague Tim Gore) we discussed the purpose of partnerships and the motivation behind entering into them.  Chris reflected on his time in Malaysia and the wonder that is collecting MOU’s.  We talked about how the balance of power has shifted in TNE partnerships over the past decade and how this is a positive thing by increasing the need for accountability and transparence, while also promoting more targeted development and capacity building. Judith reflected on partnership activity during the pandemic and we discussed the way in which approaches to it have changed since the pandemic and how this aligns to our previous conversations about international education travel – we need to demonstrate value for money and ensure we are getting the most out of our e