Poster presentations        

Mobility posters   
Internationalisation posters   
Partnerships and collaboration posters   
Employability posters   

Poster presentations: partnerships and collaboration    

Abridging the East and West: higher education institutional collaboration and partnership model in Renmin Univeristy of China There are a variety of institutional collaboration and partnership models among universities around the world, on both research and teaching levels. The “two plus two” model is one of them. This model means that students receive the first part of their education at home and go to a partner institution abroad to complete their education with a degree. This poster details how Renmin University of China (RUC), began a two plus two model with Warwick University 2003 and has now extended the model eleven universities in UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It also aims to explain how the two plus two model has proved to be a real bridge between the East and the West for students, staff, faculties, the universities and more.
Speaker: Chen Ni, Vice Dean, School of International Education, Renmin University of China.

Collaborative masters in healthcare
Provision of successful healthcare is important to all modern countries and is reliant on the appropriate healthcare education. In order to provide good healthcare education the focus should not only be on specific health issues but also on the management of healthcare. This presentation discusses development of collaborative partnership which led to development and delivery of the MSc in Healthcare Education and Management course for Russian Healthcare Professionals, which was sponsored by the British Council. The poster will discuss how the course utilises formal teaching strategies, e-learning and also small group sessions, which are student led. The presentation concludes with the student and teacher evaluations of this novel way of delivering higher education.
Speaker: Dr Maria Ponto, Principal Lecturer and MsC Course Director, Kingston University.

IMPRS-Surmat: a PhD graduate school with a successful multi-lateral collaboration concept
The International Max Planck Research School for Surface and Interface Engineering in Advanced Materials (IMPRS-SurMat) was established in 2004 with the objective of attracting international students to do their PhD in Germany. IMPRS-SurMat is a collaborative effort between a number of institutions, including three German and three Chinese institutions. Since 2004 43 students have been admitted to “SurMat” and during this time 60 scientific articles, written by students, have been published in international renowned journals. This poster addresses how this high standard is ascribed to a well-planned and highly organized concept achieved by all cooperating partners.
Speaker: Rebekka Loschen, Coordinator, Max Planck Institute for Iron Research.

Partnership challenges for BRIDGE projects in Russia: a path to sustainability
This poster aims to illustrate the challenges encountered by both Russian and UK partners engaged in a BRIDGE project. This will include an outline of the major benefits and the path to sustainability for the partnership programme. It will use the experiences and hurdles encountered by Saratov State Socio-Economic University and Buckinghamshire New University during the development, validation and delivery of a double award in International Management. The key issue facing the sustainability of the BRIDGE CPD programme centres on the ‘currency’ or status of the qualification as it is perceived by professionals in Russia. Partners in the project have found a solution that they believe will render the programme sustainable in the long-term in the Russian market. This involves using the CPD programme and the Saratov MB as a bridge into the University of Buckinghamshire MBA. This will provide the experience of two different educational and cultural systems.
Speaker: Dr Lorraine Watkyn-Mathys, BRIDGE UK Project Coordinator, Buckinghamshire University.

The strategic implications of different forms of international collaboration
This poster presents a new three-year project funded by the Higher Education Academy. This project will carry out an extensive review of existing practices and compile case-studies presenting the dilemmas and decisions of different forms of collaboration bringing together different cultures. There are potential risks which accompany the intended benefits, however there are a large number of previous and current collaborations which can provide institutions with experience and advice. This project will review existing practices and compile case-studies presenting the dilemmas and decisions of different forms of collaboration. These case studies will enable the design of an interactive online tool which will allow institutions to enter the details of a proposed collaboration and generate a customised analysis. This poster will detail the different phases and development of the project.
Speaker: Dr Dave Burnapp, National Teaching Fellow, Northampton Business School, The University of Northampton.

Empowerment model for international collaboration and partnership
This poster presentation focuses on the role of the Mahidol University Alumni Association Nepal in enabling regular and frequent exchange of knowledge, ideas and skills among graduates of Mahidol University in order to promote their common academic, professional and other mutual interests. The association has met in Kathmandu since 2006 and carries out a number of functions, including academic and developmental project collaborations between Mahidol University and other universities in Nepal such as Kathmandu University, Tribhuvan University and Pokhara Univesity. One of the most significant contributions has been the Higher Education Scholarship, giving successful candidates the opportunity to attend graduate programmes at Mahidol University, Thailand. A south-to-south partnership model has been explored through a series of meetings between the Graduate School staff at Mahidol University and the graduate enrolled students.
Speaker: Dr Chanuantong Tanasugarn, Deputy Dean, International Relations, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Mahidol University, Thailand.

Opportunities for transnational education in Jordan
This poster presentation will focus on the need for greater UK transnational education opportunities in Jordan. It will outline previous transnational education providers in Jordan and consider their success factors, including statistics of students who actually benefited from the opportunity, the number of interested students and information on how the opportunities were provided, e.g. partnership, off campus, etc. It will consider obstacles to transnational education and how they can be overcome by looking at experiences in other markets such as Malaysia and Dubai. Conclusions will include the prospect for each type of transnational education in Jordan, how to promote each type, the Ministry of Higher Education in Jordan’s regulations and lessons on how to promote positive transnational education there in the future.
Speaker: Shifa Askari, Education Counsellor, British Council Jordan.

Knowledge-sharing collaboration in technology-enhanced language teaching and learning between language instructors in Universiti Malaysia Pahang and University of Tsukuba Japan
This poster presentation will discuss the collaboration between the Center for Modern Languages and Human Sciences at Universiti Malaysia Pahang and the Foreign Language Centre at University of Tsukuba, Japan in technology-enhanced language teaching and learning. Despite key technical and cultural differences between the two universities, the collaboration provides an opportunity for language instructors to share best practices and apply cutting edge technology to language classrooms learning. This poster will use examples to outline the collaboration and the importance of using technology to enhance language teaching.
Speaker: Abdullah Adnan Mohammed Lecturer, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia.

Teacher education in Sub-Saharan Africa
The Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) programme is one of Africa’s most wide reaching and ambitious initiatives, led by a consortium of eighteen African universities and international organisations across nine African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The programme directly addresses the challenge of providing high quality teachers to meet Millennium Development Goal 2 to achieve Universal Primary Education by 2015. Its key purpose is to improve access to, and raise the quality of, all aspects of teacher education and training. TESSA has produced a wide range of multi-lingual open educational materials (print and on-line) which cover the core areas of primary, basic education teaching in five module areas: Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Life Skills and Social Studies and the Arts. The materials are available in four languages: Arabic, English, French and Kiswahili across 750 study sections and 2,250 classroom based activities. By combining best international practice with authorship by leading African specialists and localisation by national experts, the TESSA approach provides classroom focused materials, activities and advice designed to improve teachers’ practice. The TESSA website, www.tessafrica.net, is the world’s largest multi-lingual open educational resource site devoted to teacher education and training in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaker: Anne Roberts, Senior Manager, TESSA, The Open University, UK.

BRIDGE
This poster presentation will focus on the work of the BRIDGE project, set up in 2004, which aims to increase collaboration between Russian and UK universities, increase awareness of the education systems in each country and build sustainable partnerships between institutions. The project involves funding for partnerships between UK and Russian higher education institutions to develop dual awards, masters and CPD programmes, science and technology projects to develop dual awards and research collaboration, and other initiatives. The poster will discuss implications of the project, including changes in the institutional systems. In Russia, for example, BRIDGE has contributed to educational reform towards Bologna beyond the level of the individual institutions involved.
Speakers: Nina Gunthorpe, Partnerships Manager, Open University and Ewa Helienek, International Manager, Nottingham Business School.

DCSIMG