Evolution of Global Citizenship Program at Ustinov College: Benefits, Challenges & Future

1. Ustinov College Global Citizenship Programme & Scholarships: Benefits and Challenges Second Collegiate Way International Conference, Canberra Dr Rebecca Bouveng, Durham University 15 November 2016

2. Outline • About Ustinov College • Evolution of the Global Citizenship Programme • The Global Citizenship Programme today • Benefits of the Programme • Challenges of the Programme • Global citizenship in a wider context • Conclusion and questions

3. About Ustinov College • Founded in 1965 as the Graduate Society, in 2003 renamed Ustinov College after Chancellor Sir Peter Ustinov • Postgraduate only, taught Masters and PhD students • 1700 members – Durham University’s largest college • Highly international membership, 100 nationalities, ca 20% UK membership.

4. The Global Citizenship Programme today • 15 – 22 GCP accommodation scholarships annually, part or full awards • GCP scholars are assigned to teams and have set responsibilities for leading projects and organising events.

5. The Global Citizenship Programme today • The Ustinov Seminar • Ustinov Café Politique • Ustinov Café des Arts • Ustinov Café Scientifique • Ustinov Volunteering • Race, Crime & Justice • Ustinov Intercultural Forum • Ustinov Annual Conference • Media & Communications Team (The Ustinovian)

6. Benefits of the ProgrammeTransferable skills development & employability • “As a global citizenship scholar I have had the opportunity to broaden my skill set to encompass event planning, advertising, and volunteer coordination. I have also benefited from meeting academics outside my field of study which has enabled me to develop new interests. My experiences on Cafe Politique were crucial when securing employment.” • Thomas Knight, MA International Relations

7. Global citizenship in a wider contextDelivering the new Academic Strategy • Durham University Academic Strategy 2017-27 (Education), aims: • “To provide outstanding educational opportunities for undergraduates, postgraduates and research students, producing critically and socially engaged graduates of the highest calibre who enrich society through their employability and role as global citizens”.

8. Global citizenship in a wider contextDelivering the new Academic Strategy • Student feedback via focus groups on how to promote internationalisation and global citizenship at Durham – we need: • Better integration between international and home students (e.g. accommodation allocation) • More funding for international students • More lecturers from outside the UK and the Global North • More diverse academic curricula • Include global citizenship piecemeal in ordinary programmes, in existing structures rather than create an add-on programmes or courses.

9. Global citizenship at Durham University Delivering the new Academic Strategy • “Education is about contributing to something. If you can’t conceptualise your learning, you will never fulfil your aims.” • Female undergraduate, Durham University Student Consultation on Internationalisation and Global Citizenship, May 2016

10. Global citizenship at Durham University Delivering the new Academic Strategy • Planning starting for add-on course in global citizenship to be delivered in Colleges alongside with a course on critical thinking • Both courses part of a personal skills development programme, the Durham Award • A working group with staff from Colleges, the Education Department, and undergraduate and postgraduate students will consider what forms this might take and propose models.

11. Global citizenship at Durham University Delivering the new Academic Strategy •  “Of course, it is often observed that the different tribes within a university speak in different languages. ‘Management speak’ differs from the various jargons used by academics amongst themselves and from the ‘educational speak’, employed by educationists and educational developers [. . .] However, the problems of communication are deeper than ‘language’; they are founded in fundamental differences between the world views of the constituencies involved”. (Haigh, 2014:7)

12. Global citizenship in a wider contextMatariki Global Citizenship Programme • The developing Matariki Network of Universities Global Citizenship Programme offers a basis for a critical, reflective and practical approach to global citizenship, centred on three strands: • Empowering learners • Community engagement • Creating spaces for dialogue • Ustinov Global Citizenship Programme has adopted these strands as a guiding framework for activities. • https://youtu.be/KjOSduRyDTA

13. Global citizenship in a wider contextMatariki Global Citizenship Programme • ‘Empowering learners’ • Seeing students as co-creators of knowledge, and of academic environments. • “There is a subtle, but extremely important, difference between an institution that ‘listens’ to students and responds accordingly, and an institution that gives students the opportunity to explore areas that they believe to be significant, to recommend solutions and to bring about the required changes.” • (Dunne and Zandstra, 2011)

14. Global citizenship in a wider contextMatariki Global Citizenship Programme • ‘Community engagement’ • Enabling students to become community-engaged, socially and environmentally aware learners, as a central part of their higher education – vital in Durham, one of the UK’s most socially deprived areas with a strong town-gown • divide.

15. Global citizenship in a wider contextMatariki Global Citizenship Programme • ‘Creating spaces for dialogue’ • Commitment to creating/sustaining physical spaces, with functioning routines and practices, for dialogue, debate and collaboration between: • staff and students • postgraduates and undergraduates • academics and strategic management • international and home students • University and local community • Liberals/conservatives of all forms • Spaces for students and staff to reflect on • their context and their own and others’ assumptions.

16. Conclusion and questions • What do we as Universities mean by global citizenship, and what is our purpose in employing the concept? • How can we find a way to engage with global citizenship – as a contested concept – which can translate into the different ‘languages’ and worldviews of the different constituencies of the University? • What is the role our students – consumers of a student experience, and/or co-creators of academic knowledge and communities? • Trump’s election has been based largely on Othering – defining itself in opposition to a number of ‘Others’. How can we ensure global citizenship initiatives do not unwittingly end up doing the same in an increasingly socially divided world? Or is there a case to make for supporting global citizenship as a distinctive identity? • The Collegiate way enables interdisciplinary academic communities where the local and global intersect – an ideal vehicle for reflective engagement with questions of global citizenship. How do we best preserve it?