Internationalize/Inclusive Curriculum

UFV graduates benefit from having the opportunity to communicate with people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, as well as acquiring and being aware of international perspectives. Two important considerations when internationalizing your classroom are content and teaching/learning. Internationalizing content can involve including course-specific information from a variety of cultural backgrounds to reflect the diversity of the classroom, as well as connecting students to international research. Internationalizing teaching and learning is slightly more challenging as it is more concerned with how content is taught and the consequences for learning. In these regards, academics are primarily concerned with:

• developing intercultural perspectives and encouraging effective communication with students from diverse cultural backgrounds
• the need for awareness of students’ difference experiences and expectations while catering to them through their teaching
• developing students’ skills to be able to work anywhere in the world and the implications for this on learning

It’s also important to keep in mind that domestic students benefit immensely when they engage with culturally and linguistically diverse students who can offer different cultural perspectives on local and global issues.