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The international, the global and the intercultural: an exploration of the graduate attribute of the ‘Global Outlook’ at one UK university

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posted on 2022-11-17, 10:36 authored by Suzanne CorazziSuzanne Corazzi

This research was prompted by a perceived lack of meaningful interaction between the home and international students in one UK university, which has a graduate attribute of a ‘global outlook’. It aimed to investigate the role of this attribute in the development of intercultural understanding by examining the different stakeholder perceptions of graduate attributes and the approach taken by the institution, the different interpretations of the ‘Global Outlook’ and the factors affecting the development of intercultural understanding through intercultural interaction. 

The research sits within an interpretive paradigm and uses a case study methodology to hear the voices of senior managers, academics, and students and to capture their experiences and perceptions of the graduate attribute of a ‘Global Outlook’. Individual interviews were carried out with senior managers, academics, recent graduates, and undergraduate students. Five focus groups were held with undergraduate students and a questionnaire was completed by 152 students. Mezirow’s (1991) transformative learning theory was used as a theoretical framework, not to test for transformative learning in the delivery of the graduate attribute, but to explore the potential for a transformative learning experience. 

The findings suggest that group identity as an international student creates a sense of belonging, which excludes the home students. This sense of exclusion combined with the marginalisation of the home students in comparison to their international peers appears to lie at the heart of the segregation on campus. The top-down approach taken by the institution to embed the graduate attributes in the curriculum seems to have resulted in a tick-box exercise rather than provide an opportunity for reconsideration and full-scale change of the curriculum. These findings imply that meaningful intercultural interaction will only be brought about when the different groups of students come to realise that they have shared goals and equal status, with a learning environment which embraces who they are and who they are becoming.

History

Qualification name

  • PhD

Supervisor

Theophile Munyangeyo; Vivienne Caruana

Awarding Institution

Leeds Beckett University

Completion Date

2021-11-01

Qualification level

  • Doctoral

Language

  • eng

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