Edinburgh Napier University

  In an increasingly globalised education, with universities aiming to develop student mobility through exchange and study abroad programmes (Sweeney 2012), this study used the experiences of UK students in China and Chinese students in the UK to explore students’ evolving perceptions of own and host learning cultures. A qualitative exploration of verbal and visual data generated by different methodologies to engage the participants will be followed by the participants being asked to reflect on their students’ perceptions of culture of learning and how student mobility can enhance their own students’ intercultural skills.
The emerging results seem to point to the importance of study abroad as a key experience for the students’ evolving awareness of their own culture of learning and the hosts’, hence developing an intercultural dimension to the overall study experience. We will examine ways to ensure that international exchanges meet the educational demands of students and contribute to the evolving intercultural understanding, a key global graduate attributes (HEA, 2014), as well as the challenges involved in student mobility such as preparing students to be able to engage with and benefit fully from the new culture of learning.
This research informs HE institutions on how to prepare and develop exchange programmes which lead to improvement in the quality of student learning experiences for exchange students abroad and at home. The aim is to try to humanise and make accessible what in the first instance could be a daunting opportunity, particularly for any student who may be leaving home for the first time. The implications for staff development, especially for developing students’ intercultural capability will be discussed.