UniSA staff win a global view
by Amelia Mulcahy
Two UniSA staff have won Endeavour Executive Awards which will see them travel to Malaysia and Lebanon in search of new approaches to teaching and learning.
Dr Peter Hill, Lecturer in Academic Development, and Stephen Parsons, Deputy Director of UniSA’s Learning and Teaching Unit, are both interested in learning about integrating other cultures into Western education.
Dr Hill, who will spend two months in Lebanon at the American University of Beirut (AUB), believes professional development in higher education is important to maintain UniSA’s global profile.
"It is important that UniSA develops networks and collaborations in various regions," Dr Hill said.
"The globalisation of higher education makes it vital that we better understand the ways in which different cultures acquire and use knowledge.
"The placement at AUB can help this in particular because of the University’s long experience in being a bridge between Western and Arab learning cultures," he said.
Dr Hill hopes his placement as a visiting fellow in the AUB centre of teaching and learning will also give insights into encouraging inclusion for Muslim and other international students in Western education.
"I’m interested in learning more about how teaching and learning is currently supported and practiced in a premier Middle Eastern university," he said.
UniSA’s other award recipient, Stephen Parsons, is looking forward to a one month involvement with the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM).
"There has already been quite a bit of collaboration between UniSA and IIUM through student and academic exchange," he said.
"I’m interested in the way they provide student support services for Muslim students from more than 50 countries around the world. I also hope to get a sense of the diversity of cultural contexts within which Islam exists."
The Endeavour Executive Awards, run by the Federal Government, provide skill-building opportunities for achievers in business, industry and education, by supporting recipients to visit a host country. Both of the UniSA recipients will visit their chosen countries later this year.