The 3rd Space : a paradigm for internationalisation
Abstract :
A major consequence of a new global context is the general drive towards the internationalisation* of higher education. Jones, McCullagh and Watson (2006) argue that traditional concepts of higher educational have altered, and that:
“Globalisation has spurred technological, economic, social and cultural change as well as the greater mobility of capital, technology, information and labour. This phenomenon has created a growing demand for society’s capacity to acquire, process, disseminate and apply knowledge.” (UNESCO), (c) online) In meeting this ‘growing demand’ the movement and educational ‘migration’ of students is an area for concern, we have a duty to understand and develop forward thinking inclusive policy attendant to these concerns. Those migrant students are forming a constitution of societies in their global movement and intra-cultural relationships.
(Jones,C., McCullagh, J.F., and Watson,Y., CLTAD, Lisbon, 2006)
Increasingly higher education reflects a globalised educational structure where different cultures and customs language education style are brought in to contact. This has profound implications for education since movements of people bring to the surface difference and the particular.
(Morris, 2005, p. 135)
Ideally the process of embedding international, intercultural and global perspectives within all aspects of an institution’s programmes, structures and environment should provide a richer educational experience for student by challenging cultural stereotypes, enhancing the understanding of the cultured self, promoting subject-subject relationships and creating a positively destabilising, and therefore, potentially transformative experience. However, the reality can be somewhat different: patronising, full of cultural misunderstandings, reinforcing the sense of cultural centrality and superiority.
To fully realise the potential benefits of an internationalised curriculum a shift in mindset is needed within higher education in the UK: away from the old structures of self and other which implies a hierarchy where the ‘other’ is marginal or peripheral to the European perspective. The needed shift is already underway in the wider community. Benyon and Dunkerley (2000) suggest that at the outset of the 21st century, there has been a deposing of the traditionally held version of western superiority. Through the subverting of Eurocentric perspectives, and the development of greater media technologies, the reach of global communications has radically altered the ways in which people in disparate places now ‘know’ each other (Benyon and Dunkerley, 2000, p. 10).
This chapter promotes a shift in UK higher education towards what has been called a ‘Third Space’: a generative, incorporative, dynamic, experimental space of mutuality and exchange. A space where new ideas and identities emerge through negotiation and co-creation: a space underpinned by values of mutuality, recognition of multiplicities, a belief in the transformative power of international and intercultural** dialogue and a commitment to active listening. Case studies and narratives illustrate how we are moving towards Third Space thinking and how Third Space thinking could change current approaches.
*A suitable working definition of internationalisation was provided by Jane Knight and Hans de Wit (1997) in their article The process of integrating an international, intercultural dimension into the teaching, research and service of the institution.
Much useful information and analysis is provided by Professor Robin Middlehurst and Steve Woodfield in their report of the Research Project 05-06: Responding to the internationalisation agenda: implications for institutional strategy, for the Higher Education Academy 2007.
**We use this term as a means of identifying the recognition of cross-cultural dialogue. The terms ‘post modernity’ and ‘globalisation’ suggest that homogenous ways of viewing cultural identities is inaccurate. The use of ‘intercultural’ gives space for differences within and across cultures thus avoiding stereotypical accounts of different cultures.
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Why do we place emphasis on the need to adjust and assimilate the learners who come from different cultures to learn in UK art and design universities ? Is this because we regards them as artistically naïve if their practice differs from contemporary western norms ?
It was agreed that staff and students alike need to challenge their own assumptions about international students, in particular the idea that they are artistically ‘naïve’ – a suggestion which may reflect the naivety of some staff rather than the international students themselves.
At the same time, we need to question why international students come to the UK for their education, and not deny them the immersion in a different culture which they have chosen. It was also agreed that more understanding is required about the aspirations and ambitions of international students, in order to assess this.
How can we negotiate the established learning culture with culturally different students on the course ? How can we achieve ‘active listening’ from students without offending their particular cultural etiquette ?
It was recognised that this is a difficult task, and that the process requires the development of active listening as a tool for all academic staff and students to understand each others’ cultures more effectively. It is also necessary to find ways of encouraging home and international students to mix freely, and not to form native language friendship groups to the exclusion of intercultural mixing.
In order to ensure that international students fully understand the experience they will be undertaking, it was suggested that experienced academic staff need to start this process with them before they come to the UK, maybe in close collaboration with agents. The use of international alumni as mentors for students from their home countries was also suggested as a valuable tool.
How might staff maintain the established values and quality of education in UK universities while opening themselves to new styles of learning appropriate to students from different cultures ?
In order to foster the interchange of knowledge which is so valuable in mixed groups of international students, it is important to encourage all students, both home and international, to acknowledge their own cultural backgrounds, and to speak openly of their feelings.
It was recognised that the development of a ‘third space’ in which no culture dominates can be a valuable concept. But this should be balanced both by the needs of international students to learn about the host culture, and by the value for home students in learning about other cultures.