DECEMBER 2015 - Issue 4 - Edition 42

What An International Year It’s Been!

It was back in January 2015 that I noticed we had no mention of our international

activities on the bunting for our Open Days. I asked "Why not?" It was said to me

that we just didn't have a "strong enough story to tell". So I started Global Matters

after Chinese New Year to show that we not only have a story to tell - but that

we have 3–4 stories a week to tell! As I look back over 2015 it’s been a remarkable

year of international activity and engagement across the University.

As this year ends, our advertising campaign is

"Invest locally. Study globally", and a big red arrow

on the Open Day welcome tent (which is right next

to our twenty international flags by A-Block) says "Taylor's Makes Global Connections Right Here".

Looking back over the year there have been many highlights - just some of these

would include launching our Global Strategic Plan at World Fest, hearing about

our students win so many international awards, holding our first ever 'International

Week', welcoming so many exchange students (including our first batch of

exchange students from the UK), hosting internationally focused conferences in

pharmacy, tourism and teaching & learning at our Lakeside campus, as well as

completing overseas development projects in places such as East Timor, hosting

the President of the United States and also receiving 5 QS–Stars for our

Internationalisation.

It’s exciting for me to support and work with so many colleagues and students

who initiate and participate in these activities. Finally, let us not forget that the

second most important reason that AC Nielsen reported that students and

parents choose Taylor's University, was because of our 'international recognition'. A big "Thank you" to everyone that has sent us news and photos for Global

Matters. These stories are not only sent internally around the TEG group, but they

are also posted on our website and the student portal. We also already translate

a summary of all these stories into Mandarin (and a big 'thank you' to Elvin Tan for

doing this) for TIAN, and next year we plan to launch Global Monthly which will

go out to a more wider external audience made up of our various partners and

external contacts. Also a big thank you to my colleague Catherine Gwee who

manages to organise the news once I have written it up or edited it, and is able to put out Global Matters every week.

Season’s Greetings to everyone and here's looking forward to an even more

globally connected 2016 – Prof. Perry Hobson, PVC Global Engagement.

Internationally Recognised: Students Graduate with Degrees from both

Taylor's University and University of the West of England

Taylor's University has had a successful decade-long relationship with the

University of the West of England (UK). Currently some 3,500 students are enrolled

in a variety of international dual degrees within the Taylor's Business School (TBS),

School of Communication (SoC) and School of Computing and Information

Technology (SOCIT). This means that these students will not only obtain a degree

from Taylor's University, but also another one from the University of the West of

England (UWE). To highlight the continuing links and strong relationship between

the two institutions, academic colleagues from UWE attended the recent Taylor's

University convocation ceremony at the Lakeside campus to congratulate the

graduating students. Professor Perry Hobson, PVC for Global Engagement,

commented that "in these fields of study, obtaining two degrees is highly

advantageous for these students and it offers additional international

recognition". To obtain both degrees, it is not a requirement for students to go

and study at UWE in the UK. However, many students do opt to spend a year at

UWE as part of their study programme – and we also have a number of UK

students from UWE on exchange at Taylor's University. Furthermore, some Schools

also offer a short-term mobility opportunity to the UK, so students can go over to

UWE for 2-3 weeks. To find out more about the global study options at Taylor's

University click here.

Students from SOCIT (centre) graduating with their international dual degrees

with academic staff from Taylor's University (left) and UWE (right)

Exploring Anime – Design Students Head to Tokyo

A group photo of The Design School students during the tour of Fuji Television Network Inc.,

Japan’s largest private network during Activity Week

Seventeen students from the Taylor's Design School (TDS) at Taylor’s University

recently found themselves at the very heart of anime culture in Tokyo as part of

the School’s annual Activity Week. The 8-day study trip to Japan was an

experiential-immersive learning approach, moving away from the traditional

classroom-setting towards practical teaching and learning. “Essentially, our aim

is to enable students to use theories learned in classrooms into a real-life setting

and experience foreign culture. This will help them develop an awareness of

opportunities and challenges posed by culture differences,” said Dr. Noorhayati

Saad, Associate Dean in TDS. She added that “This unique method supports

collaborative learning among the students, as well as promoting critical thinking

through hands-on workshops - challenging students with industry relevant

projects and face-to-face expert interactions". During their stay, the students

from the Graphic Communication Design and Interactive Multimedia Design met

with prominent industry speakers who pursued their passion in animation. The

common theme found among Shigetaka Mochizuki, Founder and Chief

Executive Officer of ASURA FILM Inc; Shuhei Morita, Founder and representative

of YAMATOWORKS, LLC and Mirai Mizue, Founder of MIRAI FILM was their desire,

perseverance and hard work which garnered their success. The group was also

treated to a 2-day workshop producing their own LINE mobile application stickers

and introduced to tools used in manga comics conducted by Otasaka Hirokazu

from the Graphic Design Department and Kawaguchi Mizue from the Manga

Department at the Tokyo Designer Gakuin College. The final site visit for the group

was a tour of Japan’s largest private television network, Fuji Television Network

Inc., a 25-floor futuristic building with several independent designed studios for

news and entertainment content. For the full story click here.

STEP Up: Hospitality Employer Initiatives Highlighted

at THE-ICE Int'l Panel of Experts Forum

Professor Perry Hobson, PVC for Global Engagement, recently attended the

International Centre of Excellence in Tourism & Hospitality Education (THE-

ICE) annual International Panel of Experts Forum (IPoE) at Stenden University of

Applied Sciences (UAS) in The Netherlands. The focus of this year's IPoE was on

"Real World Learning" and Prof. Perry Hobson was invited to speak on a panel

titled "Going Beyond the Case Study". The Chair of the session was Mr. Emanuel

Donhauser from the Swiss Education Group (SEG) Switzerland, and other panel

presenters included Professor Christian Maurer from IMC University of Applied

Sciences Krems (Austria) and Ms. Hanny Kadijk from Tourism Research Projects at

Stenden University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands). He spoke about the

several initiatives being undertaken by the School of Hospitality, Tourism, &

Culinary Arts (HTCA) at Taylor's University - including the STEP programme

initiative. As the Asian Correspondent has pointed out "This one-of-a-kind

partnership enables students to undergo training with industry partners, typically

hotel industries, as well as provides an avenue for the leading hotel groups to

map out its long-term recruitment plans and secure potential talents". STEP

industry partners include Shangri-La Hotels, Hilton, Mandarin Oriental, Starwood

Hotels & Resort and also Accor. Selected student are able to attend regular

workshops with the company, undertake two internships and get a company

career mentor. To find out more about STEP click here.

(L-R). Prof Perry Hobson, PVC-GE Taylor's University; Ms Hanny Kadijk, Stenden UAS;

Prof Christian Maurer IMC Krems; Emanuel Donhauser from SEG

China Opens Up Dual Masters Programme in the USA

Amid the flurry of press coverage surrounding President Xi Jinping’s visit to the

United States in September, his gift of a dawn redwood tree to be planted on the

campus of the Global Innovation Exchange, or GIX, programme in Seattle

received little attention. However, the GIX programme, a collaboration between

China’s prestigious Tsinghua University and the University of Washington, reflects

a next step in China’s soft power strategy. While over the past two decades,

American and other foreign universities have flocked to establish campuses and

centres in China, GIX will be the first outpost of a Chinese university in the United

States. The GIX campus itself is still being built and designed, but when it opens in

the fall of 2017, the institution will host the second year of a dual degree

programme offering a master’s degree in technology innovation to

approximately 30 students. There are plans to offer other programmes and by

2025 to enrol 3,000 students. For the full story read the World University News.

Radical Shift in Global Science Identified by UNESCO Report

The focus of global science has radically shifted from basic research to applied

research, with high-income countries cutting back on public spending while

private sector funding has been maintained or increased, according to the

newly-released UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030. “The debate between

quick scientific gains and long-term public investment in basic and high-risk

research to enlarge the scope of scientific discoveries has never been so

relevant,” Irina Bokova, the UNESCO director-general, said. But a second

interesting trend is that the North-South divide in research and innovation is

narrowing, as a large number of countries are incorporating science, technology

and innovation in their national development agendas, in order to be less reliant

on raw materials and move towards knowledge economies, Bokova said. For the full story read the World University News.

Myanmar – Opening up a Pandora's Box of Reforms in Higher Education

Since the opening up of its economy and its democratisation process,

Myanmar’s government has understood the importance of education, including

higher education, in supporting the country’s national development plans

especially in sustaining economic development. Two of the latest developments

that need to be discussed and addressed are the results of Myanmar’s 2015

national elections and their recent decision to grant institutional autonomy to all

its higher education institutions. The lack of a consensus about its higher

education governance structure and the lack of awareness, capacity and

limitations of institutional autonomy in Myanmar higher education, however,

opens up a Pandora’s box within its higher education sector. With Myanmar’s 169

higher education institutions under 13 ministries, including the Ministry of

Education, the absence of a higher education law makes for lack of clarity

around current and-or future higher education governance structure in

Myanmar higher education. To read more, click here.

International Student Numbers Have Shot up – But Pace Could Slow Warns OECD

Student mobility has increased dramatically over recent years along with the

exploding demand for education. But “the economic climate, shrinking support

for scholarships and grants, as well as tighter budgets for individuals”could yet

slow the pace of that flow, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-

operation and Development, or OECD’s Education at a Glance 2015 report,

released last week. Currently there are more than four million international

students worldwide. In six countries – Australia, Austria, Luxembourg, New

Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom – they represent 16% or more of

the student body. In tiny Luxembourg, 44% of students enrolled in tertiary

education are from another country. By contrast, international students account

for 3% or less of total tertiary enrolments in Chile, Estonia, Mexico, Poland, Slovenia and Spain. For the full story read the World University News.