Kansal Monika, Chugh Ritesh, Weber Anthony, Macht Stephanie, Grose Robert, Shah Mahsood
School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University, Queensland, Australia.
School of Engineering and Technology, Central Queensland University, Queensland, Australia.
Tert Educ Manag (Dordr). 2022;28(2):171-185. doi: 10.1007/s11233-022-09094-8. Epub 2022 Jul 12.
The growth in student numbers from the Indian subcontinent countries has increased exponentially in the Australian higher education system over the past decade. Unfortunately, this growth has not been accompanied by initiatives to address the distinctive cross-cultural challenges faced by this cohort. This paper seeks to identify academic and professional staff perceptions of how they can help alleviate the social and academic challenges faced by subcontinent students. Thematic analysis of multiple focus group interviews established a range of simple initiatives that university staff and decision-makers could introduce to alleviate these challenges. Academic and professional staff should clearly and repeatedly articulate course, assessment and integrity expectations and make use of pre-arrival and orientation interactions. The pedagogic environment should be customised to subcontinent students in the classroom, and written teaching materials should be supplemented with engaging videos, ideally subtitled. The introduction of cross-cultural awareness training for academic and professional staff would improve the learning experience of subcontinent students. Adequate resourcing of academic skills and English language support and mental health support services also emerged as valuable initiatives. The cross-cultural awareness training for academic and professional staff should also be customised to their specific roles.
在过去十年中，澳大利亚高等教育系统里来自印度次大陆国家的学生数量呈指数级增长。不幸的是，这种增长并未伴随着应对这一群体所面临的独特跨文化挑战的举措。本文旨在确定学术和专业人员对于如何帮助缓解次大陆学生所面临的社会和学术挑战的看法。对多个焦点小组访谈的主题分析确定了一系列大学工作人员和决策者可以引入的简单举措，以缓解这些挑战。学术和专业人员应清晰且反复地阐明课程、评估和诚信方面的期望，并利用入学前和迎新互动。在课堂上，教学环境应针对次大陆学生进行定制，书面教材应辅以引人入胜的视频，最好配有字幕。为学术和专业人员引入跨文化意识培训将改善次大陆学生的学习体验。为学术技能、英语语言支持和心理健康支持服务提供充足资源也被视为有价值的举措。针对学术和专业人员的跨文化意识培训也应根据他们的具体角色进行定制。
