GRIFE Finnish Education and Global Perspectives Seminar Series XXIX

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming GRIFE Seminar Series XXIX, titled " Education for uncertain futures: new questions for international collaboration and global learning”.

Internationalisation has been a long-term aim in higher education throughout the world, implemented in different ways. International student and staff mobility have been the main instruments, and research collaboration has been valued. Rankings have further boosted internationalisation. All these means have been expected to improve the overall quality of higher education. Usually, international collaboration is reported by indicators such as numbers of projects and mobility with origin and target countries, and fields of study or work. In today’s world full of uncertainties, we may, however, need to reach beyond and review the purpose, tasks and significance of international collaboration, and the ways through which international collaboration is carried out. In this discussion, I present new dilemmas and questions from the perspective of global education and learning, with European lenses. Global Education Network Europe (2022) has defined global education as “education which enables people to reflect critically on the world and their place in it; to open their eyes, hearts and minds to the reality of the world at local and global level”. In line with this definition, global education is a cross-cutting theme in Finnish education. Still, internationalisation in higher education has had a rather Eurocentric or Western focus, thus failing to truly increase global understanding. In my research, I have studied international collaboration partnerships and university teaching with a decolonial approach, what students value, and what they find meaningful. Together with colleagues I have created encounters which encourage brave dialogue and pedagogies across cultures among participants, be they students, teachers or educational leaders. Findings suggest that knowledge sharing needs to be combined with dialogue and critical reflections on understandings and meanings, both differences and shared, for collaboration and learning and international collaboration to become meaningful. 

Please register from the following link for online participation!