International Conference Supports International Teaching
A high profile conference has been held at Swansea Metropolitan University aimed at higher education staff who regularly work with international students.
The Teaching International Students Conference was organised by Swansea Met’s Assistant Dean of Business and Management, Paul Osborne, and Head of Quality Learning and Teaching, Dr Nick Potter. It was aimed at practitioners who work with international students on a day-to-day basis, whether in the classroom or in support of the students’ studies. An international audience of over fifty University representatives was in attendance.
The conference was arranged as part of the two-year Teaching International Students (TIS) project. TIS is a joint initiative of the Higher Education Academy and the United Kingdom Council for International Student Affairs with funding from the Prime Minister’s Initiative 2.
The project focuses on the ways that lecturers and other teaching staff can maintain and improve the quality of teaching and learning for international students. This is achieved through providing guidance and information about how to meet the diverse learning needs of international students.
The event offered a series of practical workshops where delegates were able to work with the resources created as part of the TIS project and to hear individual papers from experienced representatives from a number of UK higher education institutions.
Themes included issues of plagiarism, the experiences of Swansea Met’s Business School in the teaching of international undergraduate students, strategies for feedback and assessment of international students and managing international student expectations.
Paul Osborne said: “ I am delighted to see such a strong turn-out of practitioners from all over the world at today’s conference which, I hope, will further strengthen the excellent teaching and learning practice both at Swansea Metropolitan University and throughout HEI’s in Wales. “