グローバルコミュニケーション学科コラム

One of the goals of the KUISs Department of Global Communications is to introduce its students to global trends --but from different points of view. The seemingly same phenomenon can take on different forms, meaning or significance depending on its national, societal or cultural context. The Department also believes it is important for students to visit and learn about different countries and cultures for themselves and experience these trends directly.

            Recently, one faculty member from the department, Patrick Shorb, was able to learn about transnational trends in Higher Education first-hand through brief research trips to the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Through the support of two research grants awarded by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science and funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports and Technology (MEXT), Professor Shorb was able to travel to these two nations and learn about the latest efforts to improve learning and teaching practices at the higher education level. Shorb's first trip to the United Kingdom was related to a research project exploring recent efforts to reform quality assurance processes in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. (for more details on this grant see https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/en/grant/KAKENHI-PROJECT-22KK0027/). In his second trip, Shorb visited Indonesia to learn more about that nation's efforts to improve teaching practices in university-level education programs. This is part of a broader project studying international collaborations between Japanese, Indonesian, Malaysian and Vietnamese higher education institutions (see https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/en/grant/KAKENHI-PROJECT-23K02514/). 

Professor Shorb in front of Museum Indonesia in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta

           In this increasingly interconnected world, it is important to look beyond one's own borders for new ideas, practices, and collaborations. Shorb hopes to introduce this transnational, intercultural approach in his own classes and seminars. Likewise, he would like to present students with a diversity of vantage points for considering the seemingly common -yet distinct-- challenges of improving higher education quality assurance and enhancement around the world. 

Professor Patrick Shorb in front of Newcastle Castle, United Kingdom