Amy Wong, Associate Professor in Medical Education, University of East Anglia, shares her insights and experience on building global education collaboration and partnerships as a bridge to academic excellence.
When you walk around campus, you see colleagues and students from all over the globe who contribute to the academic excellence and cultural richness of higher education. This makes me question how we can better cultivate a globally aware and inclusive learning environment as suggested in Advance HE’s framework for Internationalising Higher Education.
One possible strategy is the investment in global education collaboration and partnerships, to foster an understanding and sharing of excellent educational practice and research.
A recent online partnership in education research between Norwich Medical School and the School of Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA), and the Medical Education Centre at the University of Sharjah (UoS) in the United Arab Emirates, has highlighted key elements for success for global education collaboration and partnerships.
Build on individual professional working relationships
Seize every opportunity to develop an individual professional working relationship with colleagues at global institutions. This may involve an initial e-introduction, followed by regular online meetings and possible face-to-face visits down the track. These interactions help identify mutual educational interests and synergies to build potential education collaboration, projects and research. Individual professional working relationships provide a stepping stone for institutional collaboration and partnerships at a global level.
Build research collaboration on existing partnerships
UEA has a long-standing partnership with UoS for curriculum provision developed by colleagues at the School of Health Sciences. I was involved in co-teaching the Masters of Leadership in Health Professions Education module earlier this year. This experience offered me the opportunity to work with colleagues in person across the two institutions.
Discussions during the visits highlighted common research interests that have been consolidated through the recent online partnership launch, resulting in the development of at least six research projects. Every professional working relationship has the potential to become a successful research collaboration.
Mutual trust and respect
Mutual trust is pivotal to maintaining a productive research collaboration. All parties need to have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities, and realistic expectations of what to achieve within a specific timeframe. Using digital tools such as Padlet, helps effectively capture and document real-time discussions across different time zones.
All disseminations need to acknowledge the contributions of all colleagues, regardless of their roles. This gives the opportunity for all involved to be respected and to showcase their contributions.
Strategic alignment of goals
Different institutions are likely to have different strategic priority areas for education provision and research. Open and transparent discussions are needed to ensure the alignment of goals in common priority areas.
Discussions between UEA and UoS resulted in six strategic priority areas focusing on improving pedagogical practice, and student and academic support within the next 18 months:
- technology-enhanced learning and artificial intelligence
- student wellbeing
- social accountability, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- experiential learning
- faculty development
- interprofessional education.
Aligning strategic goals which are meaningful to colleagues from all institutions is critical for individual engagement and institutional buy-ins.
Cultural literacy
Cultural literacy is essential to understand and respect different cultural contexts and practices. For example, I was mindful of planning research and teaching activities to accommodate colleagues in Sharjah who had prayer time during the day. This extended to adjusting plans and meeting times during Ramadan.
Clear and consistent communication is critical to avoid miscommunication and interpretation.
Formal structured and informal networking opportunities
Formal structured discussions set clear aims and expectations to focus on, for example, clarifying the problems, brainstorming ideas, considering potential solutions and developing an action plan. While this is important to ensure progression with collaboration and partnerships, informal networking conversations create the opportunity for colleagues to develop more in-depth individual, personal and professional relationships. This helps build a robust and meaningful working relationship which is fundamental to successful collaboration and partnerships.
Take-home messages
With my experience as an international student in Australia and relocating to the UK to advance my career, I highly recommend getting involved in global collaboration either as a leader or a participant.
The engagement will widen your horizons of imagination of what can be achieved with global partners. The network you develop will be an asset to keep for life. The experience will not only make you a better educator but also a global citizen, contributing to strategic directions on an institutional level and the education of the next generation.
Be Adventurous, Bold and Collaborative (ABC). Go global in education collaboration and partnerships!
Acknowledgment of the colleagues who played a leading role in their institution, contributing to the online partnership launch in May 2024:
- Professor Julia Hubbard, Professor of Clinical Health Education, Department Head, Midwifery, Nursing and Nurse Apprenticeships, Director of International Partnerships, School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia
- Mr David Aziz, Associate Professor in Medical Education (Placement Director), University of East Anglia
- Dr Mohamed Hassan Taha, Assistant Professor, Coordinator & Director of the Medical Education Center, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah
Dr Amy Wong is an Associate Professor in Medical Education and a Senior Fellow and Advance HE professional recognition lead for the postgraduate clinical education programme at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, UK. Amy is passionate about building and expanding global education collaboration and partnerships in teaching, learning and research.
