INTERNATIONAL THINK-TANK 4-6 July 2013, Cairns

Transcription

1 global education hubs: new imaginings INTERNATIONAL THINK-TANK 4-6 July 2013, Cairns This workshop brings together international invited researchers and practitioners from humanities, social sciences, education and policy in a think tank at The Cairns Institute, Australia. The aim is to explore how we can approach the complexity of studying higher education hubs and regional clusters. This opening up of the question rather than assuming a priori knowledge addresses a major call that has come out of research to date on global education hubs; the need for interdisciplinary research informed by theory that can offer new imaginings. Interdisciplinary approaches of the workshop include: cultural and postcolonial, network theories, anthropology of globalization, ethnography, cultural psychology, social work, Indigenous studies, economic, human geography, internationalization of education and policy. The Cairns Institute (TCI) is James Cook University s institute for advanced studies in social science, humanities, law, business and creative arts. It is located in the tropics of Far North Queensland where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. This tropical setting underpins the approach of the workshop which becomes a space where theory meets practice, where ecological modes of thinking are encouraged, and where a rich diversity of theory and practice are embraced. CONVENOR Dr Anita Lundberg, Anthropologist, JCU Singapore LIA TransOceanik (CNRS, Collège de France & JCU) Fellow, The Cairns Institute, Australia INVITED PARTICIPANTS Participants are invited from researchers and practitioners in fields of transnational education. Researchers are invited from PhD, early career, established and internationally renowned academics while practitioners are invited from university management, consulting etc. Participants must be available for the duration of the think tank. Participants are asked to seek their own travel funding. There is no fee for the think tank.

2 CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS Prof Fazal Rizvi, University of Melbourne, Australia, Fellow ASSA, Emeritus Professor University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: Philosophy and global education. Dr Ravinder Sidhu, University of Queensland, Australia, Post-Doctoral Fellow: Neoliberalism in global education. A/Prof Dr Chris Ziguras, RMIT University, Australia, Dean Teaching & Learning International: Political economy of international education. Prof Hurriyet Babacan, Adjuct JCU; Foundation Director of The Cairns Institute; Consultant: Cultural diversity and transformative education. Dr Christopher Hill, University of Nottingham, Malaysia, Director Graduate School, Academic Director PGCHE: Transnational education. Ms Rachel Cheng, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, Chief Administrative Officer: Transnational libraries and information networks. Dr Bui Tran Phuong, President Hoa Sen University, Vietnam, Core Faculty Member SIT Study Abroad Vietnam: Educational reform. Dr Albert Schram, Vice-Chancellor Papua New Guinea University of Technology: Education and development. Dr Michelle Barker, JCU Cairns, Australia; Future Taskforce, JCU; Australian Institute Tropical Health and Medicine: Sociologist of internationalisation Buddhist movements and globalisation. Dr Victoria Kuttainen, JCU Townsville, Australia, Colin & Margaret Roderick Scholar in Comparative Literature: English, postcolonialism. Dr Margaret Carter, JCU Townsville, Australia, Education Consultant: Transnational academics. Dr Narayan Gopalkrishnan, JCU Cairns, Australia; Consultant Not-For-Profit organisations; Social work and Human Services: cultural competence and transnational education. Ms Trina Jackson, PhD Candidate JCU Townsville, Australia, Project Coordinator Research and Teaching and Learning projects: English, Indigenous education and anthropology. Ms Lennie Geerlings, MPhil Candidate JCU Australia at Singapore Campus, VSBFonds Scholarship: Anthropology and psychology. Prof Sue McGinty, Acting Director The Cairns Institute; Associate Dean Research Arts, Education and Social Sciences, Professor School of Indigenous Studies. Welcome Address. Prof Kris Olds, Cultural Geography, has offered his virtual presence by including a couple of think tank posts on Global Higher Ed blog site.

3 THINK-TANK OVERVIEW Days 1 and 2 - key thematic talk, topic sessions, breakaway clusters and roundtable hubs. Day 3 - reflection and brainstorming outdoors. The day consists of an outdoor activity snorkelling and rainforest walk interspersed with fast writing reflection sessions. Key Thematic Session: Networks, hubs, clusters Helicopter views of key themes. Open up approaches to global education hubs and regional clusters. Topic Sessions Think tank participants are asked to lead a session on area of expertise or emerging interest minute presentation followed by min discussion. (Summary notes taken by Workshop Team and posted on the blog). Breakaway clusters Breakaway cluster teams are asked to set a global education hub or regional cluster case study. The Cluster Leader will present findings. A Workshop Team member is available to take notes summaries to be posted on the blog site. Roundtable Hub Roundtable discussions drawing together insights in mind maps. The aim is to trace how new imaginaries can be put into practice. Cyber portal A Cyber Portal is maintained before, during and after the workshop. It is a place for information and a space for sharing and reflection. Professor Kris Olds has offered to link the portal with his GlobalHigherEd blog and Twitter feed. Networking Café Networking cafés include morning and afternoon teas, lunch, the network dinner on the first night and the think tank dinner on the second evening. Non-thinking-thinking Think tanks require non-thinking activities to induce aha moments. Non-thinking activities include: walks along the beach and a yoga session run by our member Narayan Gopalkrishnan. Day 3 highlights outdoor activity interspersed with short writing sessions. THEORY THEMES Selection of Themes that may inform topic sessions and key talks Network Theory How does the science and mathematics of networks help us understand global education hubs? What is the implication of weak ties in international higher education? Postcolonialism How is postcolonialism helpful in understanding the shifting nature of subject formation and knowledge production in the emerging globalised knowledge economy? What stories form global education hubs? Language and literacies What are the effects of English as an international language? What are the potentials and problematics of multiple literacies and multiple intelligences? Discourse Analysis How do reflections on the discourses of governments and education policies shed light on these new forms of globalization and their governance?

4 Habitus What is the contribution of ideas such as habitus, cultural and economic capital? How are these concepts best applied to the circuits of global education? Ethnography How are various and multiple subjectivities formed, unformed, reformed in hubs of global education? How can ethnography engage in the grounded research of higher education hubs? Cyberspace What are the realities of virtual domains in international higher education? How are hubs experienced as virtual reality? How is elearning learning from its place in global education hubs? Rhizomatics How can the theory of rhizomatics contribute to understanding global education hubs and regional clusters? Phenomenology What is the lived experience of working in, out and through global higher education networks from various and multiple actors perspectives? Material poetics How does the relation between the material world of things, environments and bodies, and the poetics of metaphor, creativity and the unconscious emerge in global education hubs through curricula, policies, structures, people, thoughts, dreams? Geographic imaginary How are global education hubs imagined through Euclidean notions of space and places of flows of people, products, knowledge, histories and stories? How do different imaginings create hubs? Eastern Philosophies How can research informed by Taoism, Confucianism, Tantra, Buddhism and animist philosophies such as Shinto inform research of global hubs, networks and regional clusters? Indigenous knowledge systems How can specific Indigenous knowledges and animist practices and their understandings of both local senses of place and complex systems inform research of global higher education networks? Living systems theory ecology of thought The ecology of thought argues for a move away from Cartesian dualism to holistic approaches informed by living systems from cosmos to quanta, including: ecology, Chaos Theory and Quantum Physics. How can living systems theory inform research practice? Sustainable education How are higher education hubs and clusters implicated in sustainable education? How can notions of sustainable education inform policies for global and international education? Neo liberalism How is neo liberalism assumed in global education hubs? How has it become normalised and how can it be analysed? Transnational, Internationalization and globalization How are these terms used, abused, and refused? Cultural Psychology How does the spread of western epistemological psychology in the S-E Asian education hubs inform discussions on education hubs? What are the potentials and problematics of universal curricula?

5 HUBS & CLUSTERS The workshop concentrates on the Asia-Pacific region. Singapore Global education hub. Malaysia Two knowledge corridors on Peninsula Malaysia Iskandar EduCity and Kuala Lumpur Education City (KLEC). Sarawak is rarely mentioned but has two foreign branch campuses next to Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). Hong Kong & China Island and mainland links and separations. Hong Kong education regional hub including the Pearl River Delta, Southern China. Vietnam As a regional cluster in Indochina. Papua New Guinea-Northern Queensland, Australia A potential regional cluster? Taiwan, South Korea, Bhutan Regional clusters on the rise. Incheon Free Zone in South Korea offshore. Sri-Lanka Plans to set up ten world class universities. Japan An old regional cluster: demise or phoenix rising? OUTCOMES Papers from workshop published in edited book (Routledge Singapore has expressed interest) Blog site In keeping with the theme of networks and to enhance the processes of a think tank, a blog site will run simultaneously with the workshop. The blog can link with participants associated sites and/or with twitter accounts. The blog provides an open documentation for consultation by participants for further analysis and in writing of papers. The blog site and Twitter feed will be linked to The Cairns Institute and James Cook University. Prof Kris Olds has offered to publish a couple of think tank blogs on Global Higher Ed. Media releases