In Part 1, we shared Said’s findings from the 2014 Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) Conference held in Ottawa from November 19^th – 22^nd , 2014. During this time, Canadian institutions came together under the theme of “ Diplomacy of Knowledge” to discuss the strengthening of national and international collaboration between institutions, enhancing of student services, strategic recruitment models and creating workable approaches to educating future global leaders.

What is diplomacy of knowledge? The Governor General of Canada, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, opened the conference’s first plenary session with his personal and professional remarks on diplomacy of knowledge. In his brief address, the Governor General of Canada defined this term as a  “a shared knowledge across national and international borders leading to social and economic innovation“.

Through this knowledge sharing process and his personal obervations, Said offers considerations for the Faculty of Medicine, here at Dalhousie. International students make a very significant contribution to our university and in keeping with Dalhousie’s internationalization strategy, considerations under the following themes were offered:

Student Support & Services

International student support and services at Dalhousie University should:

1. Enhance intra collaboration (i.e., Work with stakeholders within Dalhousie to develop a consistent system of record-keeping to track international students to realize academic and cultural needs)
2. Enhanced faculty and staff cultural competency
3. Re-examine barriers facing international students within the Faculty of Medicine
4. Offer international students some of the same student services as domestic students. For example, bursaries and external scholarships.

Internationalization Plan for FOM

1. Establish a survey to collect information from departments in order to identify the number of international student within units and to assess students’ individual needs.
2. Identify departmental “recruitment” need for international students including strategic recruitment in collaboration with Faculty of Graduate Studies.

A few final remarks. . .

The CBIE conference highlighted many benefits and some challenges of having international student programs. It is conclusive that Canadian institutions need international students to compete in the “global race for research talent”. To remain competitive, Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine should take measures to distinguish itself from the growing number of players in international education. Dalhousie must not only continue to provide the current high quality educational experience, but also identify opportunities to conitnue to move toward a reputation as the most supportive educational environment for international students.

In late November, the Global Health Office’s own Said Msabaha attended the 2014 Canadian Bureau for International Education’s (CBIE) Conference. This year’s theme was “ Diplomacy of Knowledge” and brought over 800 delegates together to discuss on the topics of strengthening national and international collaboration between institutions, enhancing student services, strategic recruitment models and creating workable approaches to educating future global leaders, among others.  The conference featured over 60 concurrent sessions from recruitment, admissions, and retention to tracking of alumni post graduation.

In attendance was representatives from regional, national and international educational agencies, diplomats, private consultants, educational institutions and federal elected officials. The sessions and conversations among these delegates celebrated the many benefits of having international student programs. However, delegates also rallied around some key challenges Canadian institutions are facing in the “global race for research talent”. Themes to this effect included fostering a supportive medical education environment and tracking post graduate success. In Part 1 of this series, Said shares with us a few key observations from his experience at the CBIE Conference:

1. Transitions:

Several Canadian delegates representing institutions indicated that international students are experiencing difficulty during transition including but not limited to language difficulties, culture related learning differences and academic support issues. I noted some similarities with our experiences with the IMU students in earlier cohorts. Since 2010 our program continues to be more comprehensive and is gradually eliminating transition related issues.

2. Tracking post graduation:

Tracking of international students post graduation is also a challenge for most of our institutions. At the Global Health Office we began tracking our IMU students in 2010 using several measures including social media. This has proved helpful as we now know where and what most of our recent graduates are engaged in.

These observations demonstrated common concerns and hopes delegates shared in delivering high quality education to international students. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll offer considerations flowing from these observations!

For more on this conference please see Part 2 of this series.

Image courtesy of www.cbie.ca

Image courtesy of www.cbie.ca