UniPID takes part at the SANORD Conference 2023 in Hamar, Norway.

With a round table on virtual education in collaboration with Global South partners, UniPID contributes to the SANORD Conference 2023. This year’s discussion is “the role of higher education in contributing to just and sustainable futures", a topic closely linked to UniPID’s strategies.

In 2019, the Universities Finland - UNIFI (the Rectors’ Council of Finnish Universities) published its theses on sustainable development and responsibility, highlighting that:

• Universities play a key role in combatting and solving climate change.

• The learning outcomes of degrees include understanding and implementing global responsibility.

Nonetheless, mutual learning and interaction between students of the Global South and the Global North is far from common among Finnish universities. Student mobility in Finland is dominated by European partnerships, whereas e.g., Africa is the destination or country of origin for 1-7% of mobile students (EDUFI, mobility statistics).

In the past 30 years, internationalization of higher education has focused more on internationalization abroad than on internationalization at home. It has been the interest of a small, elite group of students and staff members instead of focusing on global and intercultural outcomes for all (de Wit 2020). In other words, internationalization activities of higher education institutions have not been fair, equitable and socially responsible (Leask 2020). However, new definitions of internationalization are mitigating the Northern domination and shifting North-South partnership paradigms with decolonialization as a tool (Chasi 2023).

Following the Collaborative Online International Learning – COIL concept, UniPID’s education pillar grants equal opportunities not just for teachers designing the course content, but also for students located both in Finland and abroad, interested in discussing international development. UniPID’s strategy grants students access to high-quality courses on global development pathways, while it also represents an opportunity to work collaboratively with peers from the Global South.

Since 2021, UniPID has been collaborating with TENK, the National Board for Research Integrity, with the aim of developing complementary guidelines for responsible academic partnerships with the Global South. (Please see the concept note of the launching event taking place on 25 October 2023 here).

Leaning on this work, UniPID organized a round table discussion, with the aim of focusing on ethical, equal, and responsible partnerships in offering courses held in collaboration with Global South partners where different challenges may be taken into account.

Furthermore, the participants were encouraged to join the discussion, by bringing together contributions on both practical and structural issues when planning virtual courses accessible by students all over the world, regardless of their location.

The discussion was moderated by the UniPID director Kaisa Kurki, and the discussants Dr. Mikko Perkiö (SAFINET coordinator at Tampere University and UniPID virtual studies teacher), Dr. Lavern Samuels (Director of International Education and Partnerships, SANORD Board chair, IEASA President and Chair-Elect of the Network of International Education Associations) and Jessica Omija Korpela (Global Health Researcher, Tampere University) interacted with the attendees around some key points. Questions like “How to consider different contexts of the partnership?”, “How to provide a space for knowledge dialogue to foster inclusive co-design, co-creation, and co-implementation of courses?” and “How to avoid uneven distribution of resources and opportunities?” were some of the guiding questions brought to the panel discussion.

Amidst this active space of dialogue, the round table discussants provided enriching and inspiring feedback. Dr. Lavern Samuels detailed the successes of initiating COIL at Durban University of Technology which now boasts more than 100 COIL projects and is able to support universities new to the concept, by offering a toolkit on virtual engagement. Dr. Mikko Perkiö was able to reflect on his experiences in teaching UniPID virtual courses that were established in 2007 and served also the need to provide teaching for international students. Jessica Omija Korpela stressed the need to increase consciousness of power imbalances and power dynamics in partnerships towards equity. She drew on her experiences in working on a project on decolonizing Global Health Education in the Nordic countries. Dr. Samuels called for the democratization of internationalization and the need to focus on the 99 percent of student populations not able to take advantage of physical student mobility

After this fruitful session, we can say that COIL can provide an impactful, transforming tool for internationalization towards democratization of internationalization. It is important to choose partners who share your values and pedagogical approaches, to be flexible and open in agreeing on learning outcomes, and to avoid strict policies in collaboration. We look forward to a continued dialogue and learning from our Southern colleagues in developing ethical and equal practices in UniPID virtual studies.

What’s next? UniPID is committed to continuing to foster a more sustainable and fair education. Should you have any ideas for virtual studies addressing topics on sustainable development and global challenges? Then consider participating in the virtual studies call for proposals 2024 which is opening very soon. Stay tuned to our channels (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn), website, and mailing list, and be among the first to hear the latest news.

Photo credits: Tim Mossholder, 2021 on Unsplash.

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List of references

• De Wit, H. (2020). Internationalization of Higher Education: The Need for a More Ethical and Qualitative Approach. Journal of International Students, 10(1), i–iv. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v10i1.1893

• Finnish National Agency for Education: mobility statistics for higher education, available at https://www.oph.fi/sites/default/files/documents/Ulkomaanjaksot%20maanosittain%202022.pdf

• Leask, Betty (2020). Watershed moment on internationalisation. Presentation given on 31 November 2020 in SGroup webinar series.

• O’Dowd, R. (2018). From telecollaboration to virtual exchange and the role of UNICollaboration: An overview of where we stand today. Journal of Virtual Exchange, 1(1), 1–23. [online journal]. Available at http://journal.unicollaboration.org/article/view/877

• Universities Finland UNIFI: theses on sustainable development and responsibility, available at https://unifi.fi/viestit/theses-on-sustainable-development-and-responsibility/

• Van Mol, C., Caarls, K., & Souto-Otero, M. (2021). International student mobility and labour market outcomes: An investigation of the role of level of study, type of mobility, and international prestige hierarchies. Higher Education, 82(6), 1145–1171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00532-3