Internationalisation and cooperation:
lesson learned from the joint Master course in Information Studies by distance
Anna Maria Tammaro University of Parma
Annamaria.tammaro@unipr.it
Abstract
The paper is a reflexion on the experience of the International Master in Information Studies by distance, a joint course delivered by the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (UK) and the University of Parma (Italy) and now at its 4th intake. The following questions will be answered, focusing on the specific case study:
a) Why start a joint international course? Benefits expected and real outcomes of the internationalisation of the joint Master;
b) Is there good models or good practice for joint courses? The quality assurance experience of the joint Master has been based on QAA code of practice, trying to integrate Italian and English processes and system for quality control;
c) What are the main barriers or obstacles to overcome in a joint course? Specific cultural, legislative and financial obstacles will be defined togeher with the solutions applied.
In conclusion, lesson learned from the joint Master in Information Studies gives evidence that an international course is not limited to an international content but should include quality and recognition of qualifications issues and it addresses cross-cultural skills for all actors involved.
Keywords: Joint courses; Internationalisation; Quality Assurance; Recognition Introduction
In the framework of Bologna process, substantial efforts are underway to increase the transparency of programmes and study achievements in Europe, and to facilitate equality in recognition for mobile students and graduates. However, we feel that in order to move ahead in internationalisation, we need a more collective approach to the application of commonly agreed quality indicators and quality assurance processes. This could be achieved drawing together from the best experiences of academic cooperation in this field. Joint courses in Europe could represent the way in which Higher Education institutions respond to a rapidly changing environment in the international context, with a structured, yet flexible, learning framework.
The paper is a reflexion on the results of the International Master in Information Studies, jointly developed and offered by Northumbria University (UK) and University of Parma (Italy) since 2000, and now at its fourth intake. We try to reply to the following questions, focusing on the specific case study:
a) Why start a joint international course? What benefits were expected and what the real outcomes of the joint Master in Information Studies?
b) Is there a good model or good practice for joint courses’ quality? The quality assurance experience of the joint Master in Information Studies has been based on QAA code of practice, trying to integrate Italian and English processes and system for quality control;
c) What were the main barriers or obstacles to be overcome in the joint Master in Information studies? Specific cultural, legislative and financial obstacles will be defined togeher with the solutions applied.
The purpose and achievements of the joint Master are described in the first part. The quality process of the joint Master is outlined in the second part. Weaknessess and obstacles found are evidenced in the third part.
1. Purpose and achievements of the Joint Master in Information Studies
International work opportunities in Library and Information Studies (LIS) are increasing as the labour market expands to embrace the borders of the European Union. What are the competencies and skills needed by an European student in LIS? An initial collaborative work between English and Italian partners tried of understanding information professional education needs and in particular addressing the challenges of continuous learning in an international framework. The information professionals today are confronted with increasingly complex and conflicting missions:
they must interpret the impact of change on the institutions that record and preserve the human knowledge, in ways that maintain links with their traditional mission, and, at the same time, integrate new tools, technologies, and concepts that appear to threaten the values that are inherent in the historic mission of professional librarianship and information science. Job-specific technical skills in the Library and Information Studies are no longer sufficient, as employers scramble to fill an increasing number of interdependent jobs. The dual challenges of competing in an international world market and of the rapid technological advancements have necessitated a redesign of the role of information professionals into an innovative environment known as the digital environment. This implies also the convergence and harmonisation of different careers as archivists, librarians, documentalists and information scientists. The changing international and digital context for information professionals is affecting LIS schools, in the sense that increased efforts are needed to help students to make sense of the global Information Society and to assume an active role in supporting people to use information effectively. The project of the joint Master was then developed in the follow up to the Bologna declaration, building on the expertise of two well-established LIS Schools joining in equal partnership to offer a new course validated by both Universities, and thus recognized by both countries.
The joint Master has been built basing on a previous experience of the Master in Information Studies offered by Northumbria University. The learning outcomes of this Master course included the intellectual capabilities and the mental models of the reflective practitioner (Schon 1993). The reflective practitioner professional profile requires a behaviour and orientation toward work that go beyond step-by-step task performance. It expects workers at Master level to solve problems, create ways to improve the methods they use, adapt to their different context and engage effectively with their co-workers. To adapt Northumbria Master to the Italian context, it was expanded to include an European cultural environment. This was achieved focusing on methodology of social research and principles and criteria of the discipline. For the assessment of the assignments, the students were free of choosing the content of each task, so that they could apply the different modules outcomes in their work environment.
A number of common objectives were sought for, as follows, together with the achievements:
- attract students . Both Northumbria and Parma Library schools have had a continous decrease in number of students enrolled. Parma Libray school with this joint Master has been innovating the curriculum for a better match between education supply and demand in Italy. Both partners LIS schools were also trying to improve employability and to stimulate mobility of students in an international labour market;
- staff development . Staff of the partners institutions has included administrative staff, teachers and librarians. They all have had benefits from learning others policy and regulations (but there were also misunderstandings and contrasts between different
administrative regulations of the two Universities). The teachers of the two Universities have also collaborated in research and achieved complementarity in learning, having different subjects background. A particular improvement has to be evidenced from the part of Italian teachers. A number of professional perspectives were enhanced in Parma University as: new intercultural relationship, new learning methods, new ways of thinking;
- enhance international reputation of LIS schools involved in the partnership . This objective aimed to better competitiveness of the two Universities, expecially important for Northumbria University administrators and Italian Minister of Education and Research (MIUR), who has financed the first intake of the joint Master. The joint Master was reacting to the recommendations of the “Bologna process” and working towards attaining the
“Bologna process” objectives. Partners Universities have considered it as an indicator of expanding horizon and also enhancing intercultural understanding of foreign students.
Some factors of success of the joint Master can be identified in: innovation in curriculum, quality improvement of learning and teaching, enhancement in productivity, staff development, harmonisation of intercultural relations.
Innovation in curriculum offering is the main benefit to be evidenced. The joint Master has started a new programme, and not re-packaged an old one (the previous experience of Northumbria University). In order to try and offer maximum flexibility, the course is modular delivered by distance learning and involves part time study for two calendar years. Internationalizing the LIS curriculum means integrating the concept of international culture into an educational setting to give students a more comprehensive understanding of the potential implicit in the Information Society.
The core of the curriculum content has been focused in the social and behavioural impact on the profession of Information Technology (IT). The pedagogy was also very innovative, with little scope for theoretical study and applications of social research methodology. The joint Master demonstrates that a research-based education can hopefully produce candidates who are able to participate actively in the processes of change towards Information Society. The International Master in Information Studies, in particular, has been a good mix of theory and practice, and has taught the “research method” for the first time in LIS schools in Italy.
The consortium of Universities was able to offer a course in areas where there were no short, or separate, programme at this level in Europe. This improved productivity was a benefit for both partners institutions, bringing more students and resources to Universities. For the issue of sustainability, it should be said that the Master at its start has had some financement from Italian Government but the student’s fees have sustained it in the following intakes.
Staff development and improved learning is the other most important area, where results of internationalisation of the joint Master can be measured, compared with its initial objectives and expectations. The joint International Master in Information Studies purpose of teaching something new, as the application of research methods to LIS in Italy, has been combined with an innovative delivery of the course by distance. The course pedagogy can be considered an important factor of success. In particular, success factors were the involvement of students in active learning methods with international Study Schools periods, and students participation in the development of course content, through the application of the research methods.
In the case of the joint course of Parma and Northumbria Universities (Dixon, Tammaro 2003), it can be demonstrated the importance for internationalisation success of the harmonisation of the intercultural relationship. This means to build a mechanism to resolve conflicts and gaining consensus with regular meetings, spend efforts for defining common strategy and involvement in course commitment together with clarity of expectations.
To achieve these results a number of activities have been done, represented in the Table 1 (below). All these activities have been considered part of the quality process of the joint Master, as described in the following paragraph.
Table 1. The Basic Components of the joint Master management
Purpose To educate the Reflective Practitioner profile: this role is needed in
the Knowledge Society in Europe
1) Technical Agreement
Partners institutions support (based on Quality Agency (UK) and MIUR (IT) regulations)
2) Operations Manual
Sharing the Totality of Local Resources (Human, Libraries and Information services)
Common objectives Attract students
Staff Development Better competitiveness
- Integration with Bologna process - Innovation
Evaluation Criteria and Goals of the joint Master Skilled/Educated Students
Cultural Diversity and Integration Integration with Bologna process Competitive attractiveness of the Master Quality enhancement of Learning and Teaching
Recognition of qualifications
Students Handbook Common reference tools - Dublin Descriptors
- European Qualification Framework
- ECTS
- Learning Outcomes approach Other regulations
- QAA
- MIUR
Partnership Formation principles Mutual Trust
Co-operation in Quality Assurance Transparency
Accountability
Active Stakeholders Participation Innovation
Flexibility
Building External Relationships
2. Quality process of the joint Master in Information Studies
Quality has to be considered a communication language, particularly important in the management of international joint courses. For the two LIS schools’ network, each University has maintained its own quality assurance system. Each University accommodated, more or less painfully, each other’s system where necessary, combining together the partners different systems, without any standardization. This involved each University assuring itself that the other was of the necessary standard and had the necessary infrastructure and academic support to offer the course. The quality process realised in this way has been the foundation of the collaboration between the two Universities. It can be said that the initial idea of starting the joint Master came from the two Course Leaders of Parma and Northumbria Universities. But they have had to obtain the institutional support, involving both Universities administrators and facilitating the development of mutual trust, cooperation in quality assurance, and transparency of the joint course processes. A Committee for Quality Improvement and Academic Standards of Northumbria University has visited Parma, for a first evalutation of the support given by Parma University to the joint course, at the beginning of the partnership. Later, after two years of collaboration, the QAA has visited Parma University for an evaluation of the collaborative link. The joint Master has also received the accreditation by CILIP, the UK Chartered Institute of Information and Library Professionals.
Since the beginning of the collaboration, Northumbria University has followed the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) code for the arrangements of the quality control for collaborative links.The joint Master went through the Northumbria validation procedures for joint courses, thus it was submitted to the UK regulatory framework. Documentation was prepared jointly and the course team, with representatives from both Library Schools attending the validation event in the UK. The validation panel, made up of external and internal academic members of staff, and again including representatives from both universities at senior management level, assessed the course, and then this was validated by Academic Board of Northumbria. On the whole, this worked well.
In Italy, the reform of Higher Education was at its beginning in 1999 and no experience on quality of international courses could have been evidenced. An initial approval of the joint Master was done by the University of Parma and submitted to the Italian Government. After two years of collaboration, a self-evaluation report was asked by Italian Government to Parma University, asking about course delivery process and quantitative indicators on students and financement.
Northumbria University for its experience was leading the organisation and management of the joint Master. The quality process has been explicit, comprehensive and documented in detail in three documents: the Technical Agreement, the Operations Manual and the Student Handbook.
The Technical Agreement was signed by the Rectors of the two Universities. The Technical Agreement has included some regulations for the managemetn of the course, as:
- the scope and limits of the arrangement;
- the governance of the joint Master;
- the financial arrangements;
- the quality assurance procedures, including those related to continuing joint course development and monitoring;
- the rules concerning information, publicity, public relations, and promotion of the Master;
- and also explicit procedures for the resolution of differences between the signatories and arrangements for the termination of the collaboration.
The arrangements of the Operations Manual, as an addendum to the Technical Agreement, were particularly important for the administration of the accessibility and appropriateness of learning facilities, such as library, computing and laboratory provision, and other relevant student support services Access to resources for supported self-study has been vital for the joint Master by distance. Both Universities have continually developing library services which support distance learners, but as the course is open to students from any country (students came from seven countries), ensuring access to meaningful national texts was an issue. Print-based, interactive,
high quality teaching and learning materials are used to deliver the taught elements of the course.
The Operations Manual included the quality control systems and sharing data derived from these by the partner universities (as assessment of students tasks) and the staff development programme. Such activities have included visits and regular meetings of the staff and also the application of full external examining procedures of Italian teachers, in accordance with the stated requirements of the UK awarding institution.
The Student Handbook was guided by a student-centred approach in learning and teaching adopted by the joint Master. It promotes active learning and helps develop autonomous learners who are able to take responsibility for their own learning, and transfer this to their work place.
Students have:
– the timetable for all activities, including the deadlines for the submission of any assignments and the consequences of not meeting deadlines;
– information on the communications the student can expect from different parties in the institutions;
– a statement of the responsibilities of the Universities to the student, and of the entitlements and responsibilities of the student, in respect of the programme of study under the distance learning system;
– a clear statement about the nature of the award involved and the information which a successful candidate would expect to see recorded on the award certificate and/or the transcript;
– the availability to local students of complaints procedures and provision for student appeals to the awarding institution;
– information on any professional recognition formally accorded to the award.
In order to ensure that academic standards are maintained, and their assurance is secured through appropriate systems, partners have had particularly rigorous procedures in respect of the points at which standards are established and monitored. These should always apply to:
– admission/entry qualifications;
– initial programme validation/approval;
– student assessment.
Entry requirements have reflected the level of knowledge, skills and understanding required to embark upon the program of study at Master level. The integrity and standards of awards are tested most critically by student assessment and completion requirements. Partners institutions have ensured the integrity of the examination and assessment process as a whole. Both Universities have used the common reference tools developed in the framework of Bologna process, as: Dublin Descriptors, the European Credits Systems ECTS, and later, the European Qualifications Framewok.
Students have received information on the assessment methods and requirements and the procedures followed in determining the results and on the mechanisms for regular feedback on their performance, both formative and summative.
The continuing evaluation of the joint Master has been centered on learning outcomes and achievements of students. The criteria used includes:
– Skilled/Educated Students – Cultural Diversity and Integration – Integration with Bologna process – Recognition of qualifications Other criteria were:
– Competitive attractiveness of the Master
– Quality enhancement of Learning and Teaching
The benefits for students of an international course can be many, and the added efforts and resources needed by academic cooperation should be evidenced by the outcomes. The preparation of graduates who have strong knowledge and skill base in intercultural relations and communications can be considered as one of the strongest reason for internationalisation. In much the same way, the synergetic approach to academic cooperation should focus on the development of intercultural and international competencies of the individuals, students, staff and teachers.
Students, in the framework of the Bologna process, have the right to ask for academic qualifications recognised and accredited at national and international level. In this sense, we can say that quality and recognition of competencies are strongly related. The recognition referred here means that students, as part of their joint Master participation, must gain credits and recognition of the academic title for continuing the studies in other universities. The accreditation referred here as certification of the quality, means that students, as part of their Master participation, have been able to give evidence to employers of the professional qualification obtained, for gaining a job or advancement in their career.
3. Barriers and obstacles
Some obstacles met by the joint Master depend on the national regulations and cultural background in LIS, together with the legislative and administrative context of Italian LIS schools.
The interrelations between the three levels involved: international (Bologna process), national and course level, examined by the article, reveal partial achievements for the joint course.
In the UK the focus has been on quality assurance of the course. Northumbria follows the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) framework for all its courses, including this one. All due procedures were followed, including the evaluation of Parma University as an appropriate partner. The language comprehension and the cultural differences have been a real obstacle for the communication of the administrative staff of the two Universities during these procedures, and remain so. However it was not a problem for students and teachers involved: they accepted English as language of the joint Master.
In Italy, it can be said that regulatory and budgetary problems were the major obstacles. The level of budgetary support received by the Ministry for establishing the international program has corresponded to the level of administrative support. The formal signature of the Technical Agreement was gained by accumulating enough requests for admission by students. However the case for internationalizing LIS education is compelling, and administrative support to internationalization should be improved in the future in both Universities. The drawing up of the legal contract was fraught with difficulties, the two different systems and the seeming intransigence of the legal experts nearly proving fatal! However, the flexibility of the Parma administration and pragmatic approach of the Course Leaders ultimately proved effective.
Some problems also arose with academic staff and integration with existing faculty structures:
apathy towards programmes in which they have no part, perception among certain academic areas that an international programme can threaten them, possible belief among certain faculty members that international experience is not necessary. The validation process demanded from Northumbria University was perceived in Parma as a control and depreciation of Italian teachers’ competencies.
Some Northumbria administrative staff were insensitive and condescending. In such cases, it was necessary to improve the internal communication system. Cultural adaptability, determination and motivation of the Course Leaders were prerequisites for success. However, when the international course started, student enthusiasm and support confirmed to all interested that the course is meeting a real need by prospective students for such a programme. The joint Master needs now to be totally integrated into the “mainstream” activities of both schools, and the circle of staff involved needs to be widened.
It can be said that while the higher education institutions look at financial and marketing indicators, harmonisation and synergy in the intercultural relationship contributes to overall performance and
satisfaction of joint courses and only indirectly to improvement in productivity. However it must be stressed that harmony between partners institutions and staff development should be considered as the foundation of the overall joint course performance and following university satisfaction.
Conclusion
International joint courses has been seen as one of the major development of the Bologna process and their importance has been described in Tauch and Rauhvargers (Tauch and Rauhvargers 2002). Although recent research has detected increased interest in joint courses, the intercultural aspect has not been analysed enough. International co-operation is strictly related to intercultural aspect, more than usually assumed; then more attention should be paid to inter-partner relations than to other issues such as administrative procedures and contractual obligations. Inter-partner relations can be called the soft dimension of the joint courses and common quality processes are the main tool for the collaboration. In particular, different values and cultures have been evidenced in the Parma and Northumbria joint course for the topic of quality control, which has been a source of considerable discussions, and it has needed a specific strategy formulation.
The internationalization of higher education demands a European dimension to the quality assurance/certification mechanism. But what is the appropriate answer? A European agency, an agreed set of rules at the level of country, a region, a network or a discipline, as in the case of LIS?
While the national quality system of universities is focused mainly on accountability, in an international context what is needed is more visibility and comparability of European professional qualification and related competencies. Quality indicators can assume the role of a powerful communication language between all stakeholders. If Europe does not have an international dimension in quality evaluation, private agencies, perhaps out of Europe, will do this job.
In conclusion, from the experience of the joint Master, it is evident to the teachers that the need is not only to have an international recognition of academic titles of LIS schools and to develop a new curriculum, but also to ensure that the marketplace recognizes this move. The key to progress towards internationalization in the two LIS schools seems to be systematic planning and support of multiple points of contacts across the entire faculty, student and administrative body. Frequent and extended contacts at local and national level are also critical features. At first, the vision, commitment and determination of the Course Leaders is the crucial success factor, but in subsequent years, this commitment must be reflected throughout the whole university, and indeed throughout the profession and employers.
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