Beyond National Boundaries

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Beyond National Boundaries

• Supporting the needs of international students

Caroline Gale
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Todays session

• Background
• Initial needs
• Specialist needs
• Staff training
• Whats next?

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Background

• International student market
• Income generation
• Specialist provision
• Too much or too little?
• International Student Barometer (ISB)

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Initial needs

• Cultural expectations
• Asia/Pacific
• North America
• Middle East
• Arrival information
• Level to pitch
• How much?

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Initial needs

• Visibility of staff
• Named librarian
• Presence at Welcome Week events
• Work with International Office
• Get photo/article in newsletters
• Website
• Pre-arrival
• Back-up arrival information

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Initial needs

• Induction sessions
• Timing location
• Contingency planning
• Content
• Extra time
• Books
• Study in the UK cultural adaptation
• Textbooks loan periods
• Extra-curricular

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Specialist needs

• Jargon
• Not just for international students!
• Extra time
• Face to face
• Virtual
• Language issues
• Roman numerals
• Alphabetical/right to left order

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Specialist needs

• Referencing
• Issue for all students
• Particularly alien to many international students
• Plagiarism
• Cultural differences
• Specialist sessions

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Staff training

• Frontline staff need specialist training
• Generic ED training can help
• Book stock
• Race Equality Group

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What next?

• Further enhancements
• Evening functions?
• Special events?
• Reading groups?
• Increasing the librarys interaction

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Resources

• lib-international_at_jiscmail.ac.uk -subscribe at
  www.jiscmail.ac.uk
• The cultural gaffes pocketbook / Angelena Boden,
  Management Pocketbooks 1997, 9781870471435
• The cross-cultural business pocketbook / John
  Mattock, Management Pocketbooks, 1999,
  9781870471732

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Resources

• Feeling at home a guide to cultural issues for
  those working with international students,
  British Council, International Student Services
  Unit, 1997, 9780863553523
• Get set for study in the UK / Tom Barron.
  Edinburgh University Press, 2003, 9780748618101

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Resources

• Rules, Britannia an insider's guide to life in
  the United Kingdom / Toni Summers Hargis. Thomas
  Dunne Books, St Martin's Press, 2006,
  9780312336653
• Watching the English the hidden rules of
  English behaviour / Kate Fox. Hodder, 2004,
  9780340818862

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Resources

• Serving them right? How libraries can enhance
  the learning experience of international
  students a case study from the University of
  Exeter / Caroline Gale. SCONUL Focus 39 2006 pp.
  36-39 http//www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/newslet
  ter/39/13.pdf