Developing the global graduate: how first year university students’ narrate their experiences of culture

Dippold, Doris; Bridges, Stephanie; Eccles, Sue; Mullen, Emma

Abstract

Developing global graduates or global citizens is a goal often expressed in university mission statements. This study draws on Amadasi and Holliday's (2017) distinction of block narratives and thread narratives of culture and applies these to interviews with first year students. It shows that some ability to draw on thread narratives and therefore non-essentialist views of culture is in evidence from the start of students’ university careers. Universities need to implement policy and practice to foster the emergence of these abilities and thus enable students to acquire the attributes of a ‘global graduate’. This will also ensure that ‘internationalisation at home’ is not a value-free concept.


In ihren Leitbildern setzen sich viele Universtitäten das Ziel, sogenannte ‘global graduates’ oder ‘global citizens’ auszubilden. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht Interviews mit Studienanfängern auf der Basis von Amadasi & Holliday's (2017) Unterscheidung von Sperr- und Strangnarrativen. Sie stellt fest, dass die Fähigkeit, Strangnarrative zu verwenden, schon zu Beginn der Universitätskarriere dieser Studenten erkennbar ist. Universitäten sollten durch Leitlinien und praktische Maßnahmen die Herausbildung dieser Fertigkeiten fördern, um es Studenten zu ermöglichen, die Eigenschaften eines ‘global graduates’ auszuprägen. So kann sichergestellt werden, dass ‘internationalisation at home’ kein wertfreies Konzept bleibt.

Citation

Dippold, D., Bridges, S., Eccles, S., & Mullen, E. (2019). Developing the global graduate: how first year university students’ narrate their experiences of culture. Language and Intercultural Communication, 19(4), 313-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2018.1526939

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Oct 3, 2018
• Publication Date: Jul 4, 2019
• Deposit Date: Nov 29, 2023
• Journal: Language and Intercultural Communication
• Print ISSN: 1470-8477
• Electronic ISSN: 1747-759X
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 313-327
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2018.1526939
• Keywords: Global citizenship; global graduate; higher education; block narratives; thread narratives; internationalisation at home
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/27864636
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14708477.2018.1526939
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rmli20; Published: 2018-10-03