University Professor from Dalhousie University ends seminars program on internationalization of curriculum

October 18, 2019

After three expository lectures about the fundamental role of internationalizing higher education, PhD Shazia Nawaz bids farewell to the Universidad de Santiago.

An open class for the community, a seminar on strategies for internationalization of the curriculum and an interactive workshop were the activities where students, academics and authorities could get to know the perspective of the Canadian university about including global aspects in curriculum design.

More than 20 students attended the first talk and learned about the main strategies of internationalizing the learning/teaching process in the classroom with an interactive methodology. They also reflected upon an extensive description of "Generation Z", a group of young people born in the mid-90s.

This is about the generation that is currently studying at different levels of engineering programs; they are “digital natives” with critical thinking and a tendency to be practical in their daily work life. This is how Nawaz, PhD in Education, explains it; she emphasizes that the teaching needs must be based on the challenges of globalization.

On the second lecture "Strategies for the Internationalization of the Curriculum" seminar, the academic discussed about how to develop better strategies for internationalizing higher education. In addition, PhD Karina Arias, Vice-rector of Outreach and International Affairs, provided a global explanation about the internationalization process of the Universidad de Santiago in the last years.

In that activity, PhD Nawaz argued that the main motivation for internationalizing the curriculum is that "we live in a globalized world; therefore, our lives are influenced by a global context. By studying globally, students would develop skills, roles and knowledge with international dimensions. Internationalization is not just about exchange, it is about “thinking” and “acting” in a globalized way.

After this meeting, the last activity of the academic in the Faculty of Engineering was leading a workshop on curricular internationalization strategies. It included the participation of academics and professionals who are currently working on curricular consulting topics and wanted to be immersed within the international dimension for the application of their analyses and diagnoses on their own classes.

Translated by Alexandra Cabrera