NEWS Malaysia

The future of international higher education has been a central issue during the era of global COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented health crisis has changed the landscape of prior perspectives on internalization and has caused substantial shifts in the physical international student mobility. Higher education institutions are required to find ways in adapting to the new norm in ensuring the continuity of these activities. During these travel restriction periods, virtual alternative programs are being actively pursued to allow students from different parts of the world to participate in their area of interests.

On 25th May 2021, the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Overseas Hub in Malaysia in collaboration with the International Relations Centre (UKM Global), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), have organized a webinar entitled “International Strategies on Student Mobility in the Era of a Global Pandemic” to discuss the challenges of student mobility in the era of global pandemic, to share their insights on the international strategies and approaches for successful virtual mobility programs, as well as to identify ways in addressing these challenges, in the short term and beyond. Four distinguished panellists were invited to share their thoughts and knowledge on the topic of discussion - Professor Ricky Wenkuei Chuang (Associate Vice President for International Affairs and Director of International Relations Division, NCKU, Taiwan), Associate Professor Dr. Abdul Latiff Ahmad (Director of UKM Global, UKM, Malaysia), Professor David Huerta Harris (National Director for Short Term Mobility at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico) and Mr. Darren McDermott (Team Leader Designate, EU Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE), Singapore).

NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia’s Director, Professor Dr. Noor Hayaty Abu Kasim started the event by expressing her thoughts that the pandemic has provided time for all to critically reflect on the internationalization efforts and the opportunities that COVID-19 presented to the higher education institutions. Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty who is also the Dean of Faculty of Dentistry, UKM urged that during these times of uncertainties, university leaders should learn from each other, share information and work together on how to do an effective virtual mobility program which provides a positive learning experience to students.

Dr. Tanot Unjah, the moderator, who is also the Deputy Director of UKM Global shared that students mobility has always been on the top list of many universities’ strategic plan to enrich undergraduate and postgraduate students’ learning experience and consequently improving graduate employability. Due to the pandemic, universities across the globe have been given three options: (1) to postpone the mobility programs, (2) to translate some parts of the mobility program to virtual mobility, (3) to create new virtual mobility programs. It is undeniable that the shift towards virtual learning has significantly improved the innovation in teaching and learning strategies. Dr. Tanot raised three important questions to further steer the topic of discussion between panelists: (1) Is the present approach of virtual mobility able to create the same impact as physical mobility?, (2) What is the feasible future of studtent mobility in this era?, and (3) What are the strategies for student mobility in this global pandemic or the future after the post-vaccination era?

The first panelist, Prof. Ricky Wenkuei Chuang shared on how COVID-19 has affected the student mobility in NCKU. Virtual exchange option was provided to NCKU students, as student exchange programs have been temporary halted due to the pandemic. The current trend shows that most students prefer to defer their exchange program for another year rather than participate virtually. Nonetheless, NCKU widely accept students who wish to enroll virtually. For example, NCKU’s College of Management has accepted a few students as virtual participants. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Latiff Ahmad from UKM and Prof. David Huerta Harris from Tecnológico de Monterrey also iterated that they were experiencing similar challenges in their respective universities.

Mr. Darren McDermott in Singapore shared a brief introduction on the SHARE program, which was first introduced in 2015 and is the largest higher education cooperation program with the Association Southeast Asian Nations, particularly the ASEAN secretariats in Jakarta. SHARE, an EU Grant funded project with an overarching objective to strengthen regional cooperation, enhance the quality, competitiveness and internationalization of ASEAN higher education institutions. In addition, Mr. Darren McDermott shared that currently they are in the process in reaching consensus on what is going to be the most agreeable form of building the virtual mobility for SHARE program. He believes that there is a lot that could be potentially explored, and the idea would be that it remains credit bearing; so that students participating in any virtual mobility or virtual exchange or collaborative online learning experience are able to secure their credits.

Prof. David Huerta Harris then shared his university’s approach in setting up their virtual mobility program. He mentioned that they look to their partners and the resources they have in networking throughout the years of building relationships. They also relied on regional consortiums. They had initially taken a different approach in transforming physical mobility to virtual, which were not necessarily structured but moving towards smaller pieces of collaboration. One initiative which has been taken place at Tecnológico de Monterrey was the global classroom, in which they put two linking courses together and collaborated through five to six weeks on similar topics or activities. They also work on even shorter periods of collaboration by using methodologies like COIL—collaborative online learning— to provide the basis, to make sure that the students were having the opportunity to first create some sort of trust or openness to discuss then collaborate before they are able to reflect on the experience.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Latiff Ahmad felt that the pandemic has also been a blessing in disguise as it allowed them to explore the virtual mobility platform. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Latiff Ahmad mentioned, “If the world goes back to how it’s been before the pandemic, then I am sure traveling would take place, physical mobility will still be exciting. But I do believe there could be some cost-cutting measures instead of a fully physical program, it could be a hybrid mobility program”. Through the hybrid mobility program, it could provide opportunities for underprivileged students to have an international experience, as well as making friends online and learn from scholars across the globe.

When asked about his take on the future of student mobility once the pandemic ends, Prof. Ricky Wenkuei Chuang believes that the virtual exchange program will continue to stay because it has changed the perspectives towards how education should be delivered in the future. He echoed Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Latiff Ahmad’s sentiments that all economically deprived individuals should not be left out from the process, and he raised the question of how to include these students in the mobility programs. “So, if we can give them another option, a virtual exchange experience, then that probably would fulfill their dreams to study abroad, virtually,” said Prof. Ricky. He also added that funding should be allocated for individuals designing the virtual courses on online platforms and how can these courses be made interesting.

The 1 hour and 44 minutes webinar was attended by 330 participants from 16 countries. Among the participating universities were Universitas Airlangga (Indonesia), Phnom Penh International University (Cambodia), University of Tsukuba (Japan), and Mapứa University (Philippines). Representatives from local universities such as UKM, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia Multimedia University, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin and Universiti Malaysia Perlis, also attended the webinar. The live webinar session was recorded and is available at https://fb.watch/5P90cLo1IU/.