12. Teachers shall be aware of their key role
and take responsibility for the effort to make
more students study abroad
The teachers are the students’ direct
contact to their education, and the
teachers, therefore, are instrumental
to how the students perceive the value
and benefits of a stay abroad.
A large part of the teachers do not
inform of studies abroad in the course
of teaching (almost one third). Several
of them explain that they think it is
the duty of the international office to
inform of studies abroad, or that they
were not aware that it might be relevant
to inform about this.
Yet more striking, approximately one
fourth of the teachers wouldn’t recommend
the students to take a study
period or internship abroad. The
teachers express that they do not think
that a stay abroad is a good idea
because, in their opinion, the benefits
are not sufficient compared to the
Danish study program, or that they
will only recommend a stay abroad to
the best students.
When asked about obstacles to studies
abroad, most of the teachers at the
educational institutions refer to
limited international experience.
On this background it is
recommended
-
that one or more persons at each
institution be made responsible for
international coordination across
each curriculum,
▷ that the teachers’ own international
competences, linguistic skills, experiences,
and networks be strengthened
(see text box),
▷ that the teachers to a fuller extent
use and integrate knowledge and
experience from students who have
studied abroad in their teaching.
Moreover, the Ministry of Education
will work for
-
a requirement being posed that an
international perspective is applied
when hiring lecturers and when
assessing associate professorship
candidates, for instance that the
applicants have participated in an
international activity.
| Strengthening the teachers’ international competences, linguistic skills, experience, and networks |
| Here are some examples: - Every teacher is required to establish and maintain collaboration with an
international colleague.
- The teachers’ international involvement is discussed as an item in the yearly
employee development dialogue (MUS).
- Greater focus on international experience when recruiting teachers.
- Competence development of teachers focuses on international networks,
exchange, and development projects.
|
13. Academy profession and professional
bachelor
education programmes shall facilitate
study periods and internships abroad
Today, it is a requirement that the
educational institutions plan the
academy profession and professional
bachelor education programmes so
that there is a delimited course of
study that in contents and duration as
estimated by the institution may be
substituted by a relevant study period
and/or internship abroad. This implies
that a part of the study program
should be planned in such a way that a
student who wishes to complete the
education by including a stay abroad
will be able to continue the course of
study when returning at the same
stage as the other students of the
same year group. For some study
programmes, this may require added
modularisation of the education
because it has the consequence that a
study programme cannot be arranged
as a progression or share courses
between several academic fields. In
order for a study program to be
accredited,
an institution must have
accounted for and documented that
the students will have the opportunity
to complete one or more parts of the
study abroad within the standard
duration of the study.
Since it is typically easier to substitute
an internship by a stay abroad, many
institutions will choose to meet the
planning requirement by accounting
for how internships may be completed
abroad. However, it is important that
it also be possible to complete a study
period abroad.
On this background, the Ministry of
Education will work for
-
a more stringent formulation of the
planning requirement in connection
with accreditation of the study
programmes that will ensure that
more students get the opportunity to
spend time abroad in internships
and for studies.
Furthermore, it is recommended
-
that the institutions, when planning
the study programmes, allow
for the option of completing study
periods as well as internships
abroad,
▷ that students in teacher education
programmes with a foreign
language as main subject have
the opportunity to study abroad so
that a student, for instance, with
German as main subject may study
parts of the subject in Germany.
14. More parallel and joint study programmes
shall be developed and established
The opportunity to arrange these
education programmes as parallel and
joint courses of study was established
by the Act on academy profession and
professional bachelor education
programmes.
The new opportunities for internationalisation
have resulted in more institutions
working actively today to establish
parallel study programmes, and
some institutions are considering the
possibility of developing joint
programmes. The work has been
actively supported by development and
implementation funds, and looking at
the number of applications in 2008 and
2009, a markedly increased interest in
developing and implementing parallel
and joint courses of study has been
noticed.
Parallel and joint study programmes
are innately international studies. The
studies contain either an optional or a
compulsory study period abroad,
planned and credit-rated in advance.
This way in particular, the establishment
of more parallel study
programmes in the existing education
programmes lead to far more students
getting the opportunity to go abroad in
a way that is flexible and unbureaucratic
because it has been credit-rated
in advance.
On this background, the Ministry of
Education will
-
gather and make visible experience
and knowledge from the projects
that have been initiated and implemented
with grants from the
globalisation funds so that the institutions
may learn from each other’s
experience,
- clarify the framework for parallel
and joint courses of study so that the
institutions have an unambiguous
basis for establishing these types of
education programmes.
15. Management rooted internationalisation
strategies shall be transformed into concrete
plans of action
Almost all institutions report they
have an internationalisation strategy.
The question is to what extent these
strategies are rooted centrally in the
management and manifested by
concrete plans of action for the specific
academic fields or courses of study.
Surveys show that the single most
significant factor in supporting internationalisation
in an institution is
that the management is committed
and actively supports the activities.
Moreover, surveys show that a
successful implementation of international
initiatives in particular requires
that the body of teachers is involved in
the undertakings because they are the
ones who first and foremost shall
promote the international dimension
to the students.
On this background it is
recommended
-
that all institutions have a central
and management rooted internationalisation
strategy,
- that the strategy take a conscious
starting point in various approaches
to and models for organising the
internationalisation effort of the
institution,
- that the internationalisation
strategy be linked to the goals of the
development contract of the institution,
- that the strategy be transformed into
concrete plans of action for the
specific academic fields and/or
courses of study including specifying
the role of the teachers in realising
the goals.
16. Assessment of pre-approved and final
credits shall be based on an overall assessment
of the learning benefits
The possibilities available to students
to go abroad as a part of their education
without going beyond the
standard duration of the study is
based, for one thing, on pre-approval
of credits for the internship and/or
study elements included in the study
abroad and, for the other, that the
institutions subsequently award full
credit for the study abroad.
The assessment of pre-approved credits
and final credits may turn into a
bureaucratic process where, in some
cases, a narrow one-by-one assessment
of courses and contents of modules is
made. In order to create flexibility and
motivation for studies abroad, it is
crucial that the credit assessments be
based on an overall evaluation of
whether or not the learning benefits
have been achieved and not on whether
the specific contents, method, and
theory of the modules are equivalent.
Another problem may be that students
who have been given pre-approval of
a number of specific modules at a
foreign institution may get caught in
the situation that the foreign institution
after all does not set up one or
more of these modules. The consequence
may be that a student subsequently
does not receive full credit for
the study abroad and thereby is
delayed in the study.
On this background it is
recommended
- that assessment of pre-approved and
final credits is based on an overall
evaluation of whether the learning
benefits match the Danish part of
the education for which the credits
are requested,
- that the institutions ensure that
they live up to their duty to counsel
the students about the possibility of
appealing a credit decision to the
Board of Qualification,
- that institutions establish procedures
for following up on students
abroad so that alternatives may be
found early in case the foundation of
the credit pre-approval changes.