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In the latest Think Education episode Prof Hill and Prof Lamie are joined by friend of the show and frequent contributor, Douglas Proctor, Assistant Vice-President, Global & SIO, York University. Douglas joins us from Canada, by way of previous experience in Ireland, Australia, Malaysia.
It is always a pleasure to chat to Douglas and today we had the opportunity to learn about his first seven months in post in Canada and his reflections on the differences between Australia and Canada, in particular the role of leadership.
Douglas stressed the value of communities within the education sector and how their absence is acutely felt. Douglas reflected on his time in Australia where he was an active member of leadership structures and peer groups but notes that in Canada the system is very different. There is no national department of education or federal mandate for education. There are ten provinces with their own respective approaches and so coordinating these can naturally be a challenge. What Douglas is looking for is the connective tissue that exists in other countries – Ireland in particular – that would support engagement and interaction.
We talked about the intersection between internationalisation and collaboration at an institutional level and Douglas raised the need for increased engagement in Ontario in the field of transnational education. There is plenty of information about certain elements of the TNE process but not in the area of the actual ‘how’ you would go about it. From this perspective there is a need for a guidebook and handbook and increased dialogue and regulations to support activity.
Douglas then delved a little deeper in definition of terms and what is actually meant by different elements of TNE and the need for clarification and standardisation in places as this would naturally help the sector to grow.
What does competition look like in this space?
What is the benefit of cooperation?
Judith reflected on the value of previous Canadian strategic approaches and how much the UK was able to draw on these in the past. While there is scope for further development in this area it does raise the questions about knowledge exchange and interaction across national borders, not just within them as we discussed earlier in the episode. Douglas reviewed national strategies here from a value perspective, a call to arms and what this actually means on the ground.
What comes across clearly in this conversation is the extent to which Douglas is enjoying his new role, challenges and all, and the privilege it is to be able to work in a sector where you can have an impact and bring about positive change.
Please also take the time to listen to our previous episode with Douglas discussing issues with international student recruitment: https://thinkeducation.podbean.com/e/is-debacle-too-strong-a-term-or-not-strong-enough-international-student-recruitment/
