Preparing for the South Africa ISC 2014!

Following the success of the inaugural 2013 International Study Centre (ISC) which saw 31 York students of varying disciplines and levels of study spend three weeks enjoying a cultural experience in New York City and an academic experience at Mount Holyoke College, Hilary Layton, Director of Internationalisation and Jenny Oxley, International Relations Officer visited Cape Town to prepare for the ISC 2014.

The ISC 2014 will be held in conjunction with the University of the Western Cape. The course will concentrate on the theme of "20 years of Democracy", focusing on international relations, human rights and the transition from Apartheid to democracy over the last 20 years. A fascinating programme and highly relevant in this region with all its turbulent history, it is hoped the course will appeal to students from many different disciplines and backgrounds.

Hilary and Jenny also visited the University of Cape Town, ahead of the WUN AGM which will take place there in April 2014. UCT are also keen to be involved in the ISC programme and offered their assistance both with providing advice on student safety and arranging some African language classes for the students! This will certainly be a new and interesting experience for the students and will really give them a taste of the many varied cultures of Cape Town.

The final institutional visit was to Stellenbosch University, based in the historic town of Stellenbosch in one of the many wine growing regions of South Africa. A visit here will make a fascinating day trip for the ISC participants. There was also the opportunity to discuss exciting ideas for the future, such as the proposed PG Cert in Global Citizenship, currently in development with the Centre for Life-long Learning.

Keep up to date with all the ISC developments as our plans take shape on our website!

A big thank you for all the contributions to our charity bake sale to raise funds for typhoon-hit areas of the Phillipines

Thank you to everyone who made cakes - and bought and ate them - we made a fantastic £204.36! This has been donated towards the relief fund in they Philippines.

 

 

 

Charity Bake Sale to raise funds for typhoon-hit areas of the Phillipines

Welcoming back the Korean teachers

For the second year running the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education (South Korea) will be sending us a group of fifteen primary and fifteen secondary state school teachers to attend a four-week course. The aims of the course, which runs from 22nd July to the 16th August, are to enhance the teachers’ English language and English language teaching skills. The course participants will receive input sessions from practising primary and secondary teachers from local schools, as well as experts from the department itself on specific areas related to teaching and language.  An important part of the course is the peer-teaching component, where participants are encouraged to put into practice what they have learnt by teaching their peers and receiving feedback from them. They will also be visiting four local schools to see the British education system in action and to talk to local teachers.

Each week the participants will be introduced to other overseas students from a variety of different cultures for the International Conversation Afternoons, where lively discussions and cultural exchanges take place.  This was a very popular activity for the participants last year.  For the first time this year we are holding a publishers’ afternoon in the third week of the course, where representatives from the main education publishing houses will present their wares and course participants will have the opportunity to look at the latest on-line teaching materials and the most popular English language teaching resources.

The high point of the course last year was the Playday, an event where the primary and secondary teachers organised activities for primary-aged children from York holiday clubs.  The event was very successful with around 86 children plus helpers attending on a beautiful, hot, sunny afternoon.  The Korean teachers did an excellent job of keeping the children entertained with traditional games such as Korean kite-flying, their version of hopscotch and some quite complex-looking activities which the children nevertheless threw themselves into.  This year we will be holding the Playday event over at the sports centre where there is lots of room for the children to run around and sample the activities.

During the course, participants will be encouraged to reflect on what they have gained from the course and how what they have learned will impact their teaching in the future.  In the final week, each participant will produce their own poster to illustrate these changes and these will then be displayed.  Staff from the department, other students on University teacher training courses and colleagues will then be invited to view the posters and discuss the points they raise. 

The course was very successful last year and received excellent feeback from the participants, the teachers involved and the holiday clubs. We hope that by responding to participants' comments from last year, this course will be even more successful!

Stateside experience for York students

A group of York students is enjoying three weeks in the United States as part of the University’s inaugural International Study Centre (ISC) this summer.

‌The ISC, held from 20 June to 7 July, is designed to offer a short-term alternative to those wishing to study abroad but unable to commit to a longer stay, allowing more students to gain valuable international experience and improve their employability.

The 31 students are taking part in an intensive cross discipline academic programme in Leadership and Social Change based at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, one of America’s leading liberal arts institutions.

The first three days of the trip involved a cultural experience in New York, with highlights including visits to the Tenement Museum, the 9/11 Memorial and a harbour cruise, as well as an inspirational meeting with York alumnus Dan Simon, the President of Cognito, a global communications firm based in the Big Apple.

The students have chosen to study one of four themes – food security and hunger, community organising, youth development, and arts and activism – and are working with local community-based organisations to apply the theory they learn to real world situations.

The International Study Centre

It's now less than two days to go until the start of The University of York’s inaugural International Study Centre!

This new initiative offers York students an exciting cultural and academic experience in the USA. The students will first of all spend three days exploring the sights of New York, the city that never sleeps! The theme for this part of the visit is American History. Students will undertake a wide variety of activities including a visit to The Tenement Museum  in order to better understand the experiences of early immigrants to the USA, a visit to the moving 9/11 Memorial and a harbour cruise taking in the spectacular sights of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

They will then travel on to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts to undertake an intensive academic course in Leadership and Social Action. The course will divide the students into four groups, each group will concentrate on a specific topic and students will be assigned to a group according to their own particular interests. The topics are diverse, covering areas such as using the arts for youth engagement and community activism. Students will complete group projects and undertake field visits in order to meet practitioners putting the theory into practice. At the end of their course students will present their work and mark the 4^th of July celebrations with a BBQ and a baseball game! Somewhere in all this we will also find time to visit the historic city of Boston!

The overarching aim of the ISC is to offer students an international experience in order to improve their employability, leadership and advocacy skills. The university is committed to offering as many students as possible an international experience, highly valued by employers in today’s globalised and ever increasingly competitive job market. The overwhelming response from students has clearly demonstrated the need for a new initiative such as the ISC and we wish the participating students a highly enjoyable and worthwhile experience! 

A new look for the International Relations Blog

The International Relations Office Blog 'From a global perspective' is currently being transferred over from Wordpress to Blogger......